Digital magazines online!

[Futures1]

We've been working on this for a long time. We now have copies of the magazine (back to issue #50) online! We are planning to offer a digital only subscription option in the near future but we want to test the software out before we take that step. Please check out the digital magazines at Turbo Diesel Register: The Number One Resource For Dodge Cummins Turbo Diesel Owners! - Website Guidelines" and let us know if you have any problems. Make sure to take a look at the icons that are on the screen and if you point your mouse at them and pause you'll get a description of what the different icons do. Enjoy!



-Steve St. Laurent

TDR Webmaster

Awesome. . I have a Mac. , seems to work well for me. . Great job !

 

[sarj]

I would also like to see issues in Adobe PDF File form. This would be great as I travel and can't always get my mail ontime. Having an issue to read offline sounds really good.

Ted

First of all, fantastic job, and secondly, I'm with TT... being able to read offline makes it a win-win for me since travel around quite a bit with my laptop and don't often have internet access. A PDF would work excellent for me.



The full-screen on my home MAC is as good as you could ask for.

 

[BrianJ]

With all these comments on the PDF and reading offline... I guess I don't get it. Why go through the trouble of logging in and extra expense of printing PDF's when you already have a hard copy via the magazine?

 

[brods]

Back issues.

 

[kenny61]

I hook my laptop to my phone if needed so it really doesn't apply to me but one example could be having all the articles that pertain to your truck on you laptop in pdf if you break down you have a handy reference sitting besides you instead of 50 magazines or a bunch of cut out articles in a folder spilling out all over the truck

 

[AHuska]

Offline access essential

Offline access is essential for mulitiple reasons including flexible reading options (airplane, iPhone) and no lost resource anxiety (we can keep backups on disk and not have to worry what happens when we end our subscription or when the next new e-reader technology comes along). PDF is a great choice for both of these reasons. Being able to search the entire library for keywords would be a sweet feature of PDFs, too.

 

[sarj]

With all these comments on the PDF and reading offline... I guess I don't get it. Why go through the trouble of logging in and extra expense of printing PDF's when you already have a hard copy via the magazine?

Two big reasons.



On a day-by-day basis, I can be anywhere and suddenly have time to kill while I'm waiting for something to happen. Lots of times I'm in a basement where I have a laptop running but my wi-fi card doesn't work for an internet connection. I even run into that on rooftops or in the middle of building where concrete and steel interfere with a wireless internet connection. A PDF download means I can spend the time I'd like to browsing through each issue when the time presents itself.



The second is access to the issues when traveling and camped out in an area that doesn't have any internet access (with a potential truck problem that you need info on). That speaks for itself.



I spent a few minutes in the digital magazine area playing with it. I could print pages that interested me and convert them to my own PDF's as needed, but aside from being time-consuming, it takes the enjoyment out of going through sections of each issue page-by-page, seeing things I didn't see the first few times through. That's the enjoyment of a magazine.



Lastly, I plain don't have the time around the house to sit and read the four magazines I subscribe to. 3/4's of the WSJ's in my drive don't get opened.

As it is, I may only see 5% of an issue since I'm too busy when I'm at home. Sadly, I might go three or four issues of TDR without ever opening them. A PDF on my iTouch or on a thumb-drive gives me access to read when the time presents itself and an internet connection isn't in front of me. That's what works for me. Carrying around magazines in my back pocket isn't an option.



A downloadable PDF would allow me pass on the printed issue and save the cost of postage and printing, and help keep TDR's costs down. Any thing less, and I'm still going to want a hard copy for when I don't have an internet connection.

 

[Flinty]

How do I get to the magazine index with out going through this thread or bookmarking the link provided? The home page "magazine index" tabs do not give the same result as your link. Is there a tab on the home page that I can use after logging in? This is a huge service... Thank you.



Jon

 

[Super Briar]

I'm new to TDR & owning a Dodge Ram 6. 7... I think think having online access to back issues is a better than "sliced bread". In a short time I have gained a wealth of insightful knowledge... keep up the good work.

 

[moonranch]

Another thanks for a great resource.

 

[CTD12V]

This is GREAT!!! I have wanted to be able to see back issues for a long time, but I didn't know what back issues to order because I never knew what issues had articles I was interested in. Thank you SO much for digitizing these older issues!



I agree with the other memebers who would like to have these available as a PDF version as well.



CTD12V

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

FYI - we're not ignoring you guys on the PDF issue. Here is the problem that we are struggling with - input is welcome. With PDF's there is no way for us to protect the content from being distributed. There would be nothing stopping a member from copying all the PDF's to his PC and then emailing them to 100 of his friends. If you could get the magazine easily for free what would be the reason for you to subscribe? That said, if people don't subscribe then the magazine (and website) goes away. By having it online we can restrict it to members only and not have that concern. We work hard at providing what you guys want, continually coming up with new ideas to push us forward. But in order to do that we need to have the resources (members, etc) to get the job done. Opening the magazine up in this way seems counter to that and would hurt the organization and our ability to serve you in the long run. Thoughts, ideas?

 

[BrianJ]

That is a great point and I personally respect that position. If I want the hard copy bad enough I alway have the printed magazine to refer to. I appreciate the effort you all have given to provide us the option to read online in it's current form.

 

[dlmetzger]

Can the viewing window be larger? I'd like to see at least a full page that I can also read. I lose perspective when I zoom in.

 

[StephenBailey]

I second the pdf idea.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

There is a full screen option - at the top, second icon from the right the green arrows pointing in all directions.

 

[seafish]

While in general I am a big fan of PDF's. I do understand the dilemna that TDR would have in formatting the old mags that way. As suscribing members, we ALREADY recieve hardcopies of this great magazine, so I see no reason for TDR administration to risk losing copyrighted material by posting the old mags in PDF format. And lose it they would for sure!! I think that the way you guys are doing it now is fine and acceptable, particularly with the full screen option AND print option AND search feature.

The ONLY problem that I have is that on my iMac I can't seem to use the search feature while in full screen mode and I wonder if there is a way to fix that??

I appreciate ALL of the hard work and thought that you are putting into this project, and TDR as a whole.

THANKS!!!

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

The search feature doesn't work in full screen for anyone right now. It is a request that's into the supplier we are using and hopefully they will be supporting it soon. That part of the code is locked in and isn't something we can change unfortunately.

 

[seafish]

The search feature doesn't work in full screen for anyone right now. It is a request that's into the supplier we are using and hopefully they will be supporting it soon. That part of the code is locked in and isn't something we can change unfortunately.

Well, that will certainly be useful if they can fix it.

 

[dblake]

This is great!! Now I can reference back issues I didn't even have. I'm also taking all my old issues and giving them away to all the Cummins Rams I see down here in Puerto Rico to hopefully recruit new members. Good work!