Pocketmags

It seems to me that the use of pocketmags has introduce another cost to be borne by the subscribers and another level of complexity in accessing the digital content, after some delaying in actually getting pocketmags to recognise that I have actually paid for a subscription, print + digital for ME and digital for MEW I find that a cannot download anything and that through pocketmags you only get the copies from your last payment date, no digital archives, in fact a pretty expensive waste of time and probably money in my opinion.

The laptop wins hands down for accessing both the digital editions and the archives. The sales promotion certainly must have been good when pushing pocketmags to be taken up by Mytimemedia, so good that they seem to have forgotten us the subscribers, or simply like most things today to do with money no one gives a damn.

what is a pocketmag!!!

The reason for going over to Pocketmags is that if/when your subscription expires you will still be able to view what you have purchesed via Pocketmags rather than loosing access to all digital issues which you can only view via ME website with a current subscription number.

I can't find out how to download anything from there for offline viewing though

J

Springbok, its basically an online newsagent only problem at the moment is they won't let you take the mags home to read, you can only look at them in the shop. In other words you need an internet connection to be able to view the digital magazines you have purchased

Pocketmags

Pocketmags only allows me to view issues that go back to my last direct debit payment, July2013 all others it asks me to pay form it seems that the rush to get your 'app' accepted by industry has led to some real rubbish amongst the few excellent 'apps' out there.

Essentially this is false advertising. I read many of your offers that claimed that a digital subscription included access to digital back issues. Apparently not since pocket mags want to charge me for the few back issues they have. Since so many of your articles have many parts unless I go back the magazine is not very useful until you start new projects. I am going to send a snapshot of your claims of offering back issues with digital subscriptions to the management at Apple iTunes and request removal of the misleading app from the iTunes store.

Steven Naslund

Chicago IL

Steven I assume you have a digital subscription in which case you have access to the digital archive on this site as well as access via pocket mags of any magazines since you registered with pocketmags.

I see nothing false about that.

Enter your subscription number in your details and then you will see "magazines" along the top green bar, click that, click what magazine you subscribe to and the archive will be infront of you.

J

It is misleading because the pocketmags app shows you back issues and wants you to pay for them when you should not be. I bought a subscription and paid for several back issues before I realized that I should not have had to pay for them. That is wrong, wrong, wrong.

If someone subscribes via pocketmags you need to at least send a confirmation email with the instructions and account numbers to access the web site.

When you subscribe on Pocketmags you don't get a subscription number so there is no way to enter that into your web site. Why would you not have everything accessible through Pocketmags? That is pretty confusing to have back issues for free on the web site but in the app that you use to access your subscription you get charged for back issues, It also means I need to use two different user interfaces and possibly two different devices depending whether I am reading a current issue or a back issue. Have not tried to access the back issues via an ipad yet so I don't even know if that is possible, maybe once I figure out how to get them I will find out.

If you happen to know where one would get a subscription number if you sign up in Pocketmags, that would be nice to know. All you get in the app is an eight digit Pocketmags account number which is apparently not the same thing.

By the way, I develop iPad apps professionally and I have been a web developer since 1992 so if I can't figure out how your system works, you are going to have lots of subscribers that don't get it. I have digital subscriptions to several magazines in the US. Popular Woodworking and Fine Woodworking do handle online subscriptions properly, I would suggest you see how the Fine Woodworking site works.

So I am now reading the fine print and I am seeing that if I purchase the subscription through the iPad app instead of your website, I get a subscription that does not include access to the online archive.

WHAT DIFFERENCE SHOULD IT MAKE WHERE WE BUY THE SUBSCRIPTION!?!?!?

This is the app that you recommend for the iPad. Why should it be a worse deal than your website? You have more fine print than the last mortgage paperwork I signed. Here is a novel idea : A digital subscription includes the same features no matter where you buy it.

You guys seem to be online here trying to explain why your system is fair without noticing that you are getting tons of complaints. You might feel you are right but if your customers don't see it, it does not matter. You seem very concerned that your customers might get something they are not entitled to but remember that the digital subscriber is the most profitable one for you. The digital subscriber cuts a lot of your overhead expenses like paper, printing, postage, etc.

As a voluntry Moderator this is now something that I can no longer help with but I have asked that someone from My Time Media takes a look at your query.

J

Edited By JasonB on 23/12/2013 18:04:52

Edited By JasonB on 23/12/2013 18:06:19

Since you see nothing false, look here : **LINK**

In item 11 it states :

"Digital Subscribers are currently entitled to access an Online Archive of their magazine in addition to their downloadable subscription issues."

Now look here in your FAQ : **LINK**

Q: I bought my subscription through the app on my mobile device. Do I get any subscriber benefits?

A:Unfortunately as all of our subscriber benefits are driven by your MyTime Media Subscriber Number we are not able to provide any benefits to Apple/Google/Amazon subscribers. If you would like to switch to subscribe directly through us you will need to cancel your subscription with your app store provider and call our customer services on 0844 543 8200 (UK) or +44 1858 438 798 (Overseas) (Phone lines are open weekdays 8am – 9.30pm & Saturday 8am – 4pm (GMT)), alternatively you can subscribe online by through the Subscribe section on this website.

Seems to me to be a conflict between your FAQ and your Terms and Conditions.

It would also seem to me that the page entitled Terms and Conditions would be definitive, would it not. Here in the US Terms and Conditions are considered legal statements of fact. If you violate the Terms and Conditions of a contract (which is what a subscription is) you are in breech of contract. When I subscribe we are both agreeing to the Terms and Conditions not your FAQ.

Are you quite certain it is my fault that I am confused?

Steven,

The Terms and Conditions that are listed on this website refer to purchases made through the Website i.e. Directly from MyTimeMedia.

If you buy through an app the then you are purchasing from Amazon/Apple/etc (NOT MyTimeMedia) so their Terms and Conditions apply. So No Conflict.

Dave

(If you purchase a Sony TV from Amazon, it is Amazon Sales T&C's that apply and not those listed on the Sony Website)

Edited By Steambuff on 23/12/2013 18:39:32

Reply received today from Kate at My Time Media

"If an individual takes out a subscription directly through us we can give them access to the Online Archive which is a system run in-house. Basically the access runs off the subscriber number that is created by our Subscriptions Bureau and we can therefore only automate access to people that subscribe directly. If an individual signs up through PocketMags or Apple (in the app on an iPad) for example then no subscriber number is generated and we have no way of knowing that that person is a subscriber - in some cases (especially with Apple), we do not even have the customer information unless they have chosen to share it with us for marketing purposes.

We do not advertise that access to back issues is available anywhere except in our own adverts and on our own website. This benefit is not promoted in the app store, or on Pocket Mags as it is not part of these subscriptions – any subscriptions taken through these routes are also subject to the supplier’s terms and conditions, not ours, as the contract is with them.

I hope that helps to clarify the matter"

You must be joking with that response. If you look at the right advert bar on your home page you will see a link saying digital back issues now available in app. I clicked there which took me to the iTunes store and the pocket mags app which I assumed was how you deliver digital issues. I got the app and saw a link to subscribe. There was no sort of warning that that digital subscription was different from yours. It's not like this is an unauthorized source since your site linked me to it.

As far as your Sony reference, if Sony says the tv includes a remote control than no matter where I purchase it I will get one. Your comparison is ridiculous.

Looking around your web forums there are a lot of complaints like this so maybe instead of explaining this ridiculous policy over and over, you might want to change it. So just for arguments sake, if I purchased a subscription direct from you, would it work on an iPad?

Obviously I needed to do more research before subscribing to your magazine. I now understand that your official app developer seems to sell their own digital subscriptions that are different than yours. My point is that you cannot expect a person that first lands on your website to read your terms and then your app developers terms and then you r FAQ to figure out what to do. I linked to your app developer, saw the mag and pushed the subscribe button. My fault I guess but I would think that is how you would want people to buy from you. Most people do not want to go through a lot of details. Trust me on this because my day job involves running an e commerce site that does 30 million us dollars a day in business for a 10 billion us dollar corporation.

My advice would be to clarify the relationship with your app developer so they are just your app developer or convince them to offer the same terms you do. Your customers should not have to divine your business relationships. No matter where I buy your magazine in print or digitally it should be the same product.

Here is how I would do it.

1. A print subscriber should pay the digital rate plus the cost associated physical mag and get access to online issues and back issues. The idea is to give them the print mag they want and get them to see that digital is useful and maybe switch to it which is more profitable for you. When their subscription runs out, they of course keep their physical magazine and the online access to the issue during the term of their subscription. Back issues are no long er available. That is the enticement to resubscribe. Allowing permanent access to purchased issues removes the main argument against digital which is loss of value after the subscription ends.

2. A digital subscription should work the same way without the hard copy. Access in perpetuity to the paid for mags and access to the archive only during the term of subscription.

The answer to the hard copy subscriber that feels they are paying for digital they don't need is that they get the benefit of the digital archive. Print media is dying worldwide, just ask the newspapers. If they want this content, at some point digital will be the only way to get it. Think about the process of daily or weekly publications chopping down trees printing on the paper, shipping it worldwide and having people do it all again tomorrow or next week. There is no way that can compete economically with digital. At some point the print subscriber will have to pay ridiculous rates or go the way of stone tablets.

You can debate these points but just remember that this is the opinion of a tech savvy new international customer. I am guessing that this type of customer is desired in a global digital world and also the most profitable type of customer. Once your content is produced there is very little overhead in scaling that to millions of digital subscribers. Compare that to the expense of adding millions of worldwide print subscribers. Rules 1 of business is not to anger your most profitable customer.

Lets see how you could fix this. You could just verify with pocket mags who subscribed with them and authorize the account for online access.c if pocket mags won't do it, don't let them sell subscriptions. Simple isn't it.

One more thing and then I promise I will shut up on this subject. If you look to the right on this page you will see and box that says "digital back issues available". That is where I clicked, there is no indication that is anything other than the official way to get to digital back issues.

Next, I noticed that your contact Kate had to relay her comment through a volunteer moderator rather than respond here directly. If the magazine management cannot figure out how to answer a forum post then they are truly digitally doomed. Come on Kate, let's have some lively digital discourse here. Digital companies need to connect more directly with their customers. Do I need to send a telex to contact your office

Hi Steven, I'm no computer whiz kid or web expert, but all I see is a link that says "Digital Back Issues" that when you click on takes you to an apple.com web site. I can see no mention of free access to the online achive metioned there, nor have I seen any mention of it on the pocketmags site either. If you click on the subscriptions link below the digital back issues link, it takes you to the subscriptions on this web site which does mention free access to the online achive. I therefore think that any misleading advertising, if any, is in the apple.com web site.

Please feel free to correct me if I have misunderstood the two links.

Regards Nick.

G'day.

All this bleating and whining makes me pleased that I never bought/would buy anything with an 'i' in front of the name (the people who track the users). Like thing's with a 'Mc' in front of their name that do not come from Scotland. Total personal enema! At least the whinger has promised to shut up about whining about trying to duck out when the fine print was not scrutinised properly. What a web developer!

* Danny M *

Irrespective of the problems with the app (on an android nexus 7) trying view digital issues ( current or back ) via the official model engineer website on google chrome produces only a blank screen.

No need to get personal Danny. All I am saying is the there should be no need to read fine print to buy a subscription and there should be no difference between the two digital sources.

Nick you are right that the link does not talk about the online archive but the web site does, the magazine itself advertises that fact, and it is all over the forums. I made a mistake assuming all digital subscriptions to this magazine were the same. I admitted that . I am just telling the magazine that it is dumb to have these second class subscription available.