Will you be getting your genealogy magazine online?

To the list of things I learned this week I've added the knowledge that Internet Genealogy magazine, published by Toronto-based Moorshead Magazines, is also available online. Editor Ed Zapletal says that most people prefer to read a hard copy edition, either by subscription or newsstand purchase. To my surprise he told me online subscription has always been available and you can also purchase individual issues from the website at http://www.internet-genealogy.com/.

Individual edition purchase online, delivered as a pdf, would likely be of interest to someone who sees a must-have article in the table of contents, which you can find online at http://www.internet-genealogy.com/issue_contents.htm, or people outside North America where there is no newsstand distribution.

There's a lot of buzz in the magazine industry about making content available electronically on eReaders. I've tried a newspaper subscription on a Kindle and although the content was there, mostly, I missed the visual stimulation of colour and graphic design. I didn't miss all the advertizing in the hard copy version, and the enclosed flyers, nor having to go to the door at the coldest part of the day to collect it.

Tablets, such as the iPad, will presumably address the presentation issues. I read that the industry is presently wrestling with Apple over subscription issues (money) which will get done when the market gets big enough and competition kicks in.

After that will come the question of how the product will change to take advantage of the capabilities of the technology. Just as newspapers and magazines evolved with pictures and colour as technology permitted, when you have an interactive and audiovideo capability will clients be satisfied with a simple electronic version of the paper product?