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aggravated Zinio is a way for magazines to publish an "online" version without any of that tedious mucking around with making it into actual HTML. Instead it's like a PDF on steroids - fixed layout, fixed fonts, fixed colors, and an unhealthy dose of DRM. Basically, this allows all the hidebound paper layout guys at the magazines to go on pretending they are publishing to a piece of paper, thus neatly negating almost all the benefits of online reading, but allowing them to continue their A4-limited habits. About the only features of electronic use they actually provide are electronic distribution (to selected platforms) and links.
They have an "online" (Flash) reader which doesn't function at all on my PC (Firefox 3, Flash 10). It still manages to be really slow to load, before displaying a blank grey page.
They have an offline reader which sucks in almost all ways. Within 30 seconds of trying it I was too annoyed to continue.
- It won't let me move it to my second monitor. Unfortunate, because that monitor is perfect for such reading tasks. I'm not sure what kind of idiotic coders they have who would not know about multimonitor support - this is the MEDIA industry, guys.
- Clicking the mouse on the page zooms in and out (page width to full page maybe?), but you also click to move the page around. So if you click and don't move enough, instead of moving slightly you've suddenly zoomed out to unreadably small.
- There doesn't seem to be any way to have a table of contents permanently visible - the contents button just goes back to the front page of contents. It's not paper, guys. You can actually have a structure for the document that is navigable.
- Infuriatingly, pressing the cursor down key when already at the bottom of a page, scrolls to the top of the same page, and pressing page down goes to the next page, so there is no way to adjust your position while reading to be sure you're at the bottom of the page.
- There is no back and forward like a browser. Accidentally click the contents button? There's no way to get back to where you were before. The buttons that look like back and forward are just previous and next page.
- There is no "continuous" page view as even Adobe's PDF reader has - so you can't see the bottom of one page while moving to the next.
- Amusingly, even though I just updated Flash to try and get the online reader working, the Zinio reader still claims I don't have it installed. Nice. Even worse, it pops up this dialog to tell me I don't have Flash, EVERY SINGLE TIME the page is displayed for any reason, even just resizing the window. There is no "don't warn about this in future" option.
- It doesn't have a standard window, so
- it doesn't have a title bar to tell you what the actual application is
- you can't tell the difference between the application being focussed or not, so you can't tell looking at it whether keypresses will work
- there is no standard menu
- therefore the toolbar is cluttered with mostly useless things like "annotations", options, "give a friend a free copy" (yeah right, I want to keep my friends)
- no standard border, so you can't tell if the borders are sizable or not
- There is no way to select and copy text. Not even small pieces.
- The "check for update" function just goes to the download web page, and doesn't tell you anything about whether an update is available or not.
I'd give them feedback, but the Zinio website is devoid of such frivolous features and contains only the most barebones "FAQ".
This proprietary stuff limits them to basically Windows PCs or Macs, they don't support any mobile devices or e-book readers or Linux.
If you Google for Zinio discussion, there is not much, but some people do seem to like it, mostly those who are unable to get the paper version or want to avoid the waste of paper. Both reasonable issues and I suppose Zinio does achieve those.
I'll just go back to reading the PC Magazine website for free, I think.
March 22 2009, 15:49:34 UTC 3 years ago
Thank you for your feedback!
First, to be clear, I work at Zinio and saw your post and wanted to take a few minutes to respond.We appreciate product feedback, and the issues you raised will be shared with our product development team. We are always working on new releases and updates to the software and have some very exciting releases coming up very soon. Several of the issues you raised are, I believe, addressed in those updates, but some may not yet be. I hope you will try us again at a future date to see if you like our improved reader experience.
The point you raise about it being difficult to figure out how to give recommendations and feedback is well taken. We do welcome feedback to our customer service email address and that feedback does get routed to our product support team. However, I am working on a project now that is designed to improve that aspect of our customer experience, and have already been thinking about the best way to gather suggestions and feedback on our reader.
Ultimately what we are trying to achieve at Zinio is not to create a website or a magazine, but a unique experience in its own right. The digital format combines the editorially organized selection of content and hi-res graphical reading experience of a printed title with the technical benefits of a website like interactivity, animation, searchability, zoom, etc. Finding the best ways to integrate the benefits of print and online into one experience is a tricky balancing act, and we are always looking for ways to improve our experience.
I truly do appreciate your thorough thinking and detailed feedback and will make sure that it reaches the appropriate parties at Zinio. I can never guarantee that we can meet every requirement of every user, but the more feedback we have the better we can make the experience for everyone.
March 24 2009, 07:24:18 UTC 3 years ago
Re: Thank you for your feedback!
Thanks for coming back. I didn't expect any response, and I understand there are often other priorities. Well, lets break things down into areas.Firstly there is the user interface of the reader. I think I've said enough about that. If you feel so inclined, you should be able to fix most of my complaints without treading on any toes in terms of layout or DRM.
Secondly, there's the idea you're "not trying to create a website or magazine". Well, you could have fooled me: it looks like PC Magazine at least just wanted to turn their paper magazine into electronic form without having to think about it at all. Basically, it looks like a paper magazine shoehorned into electronic form.
The "hi-res graphical reading experience of a printed title" is just a giant pain in the ass on a screen. A screen is not hi-res, so trying to make the content hi-res just results in the inevitable zoom in and out.
As far as the technical benefits of a website - yes you have some of the capabilities of a web browser, but are missing some of the most important parts which made the web a global phenomenon: deep linking, flexible layout, copy and paste, customisable appearance...
As yet I can't see any benefit to the user, of your Zinio approach over just a website. Sure, there are some benefits to the editors.
BTW, Why not PDF? Zinio reader seems some distance behind PDF in terms of features, and PDF has DRM as well...
March 24 2009, 16:18:58 UTC 3 years ago
Re: Thank you for your feedback!
Happy to engage you on these issues; as a company we will always be stronger if we reach out to our critics and even if we can't satisfy every need the process will surely improve the product for everyone.Please be assured that your feedback has been shared with the appropriate tech team members here. I will make sure multi-monitors issue you raised with Jeanniey gets particular attention; I have seen the request from other users before.
As to my comment on not being a website or a magazine, it is broadly true but I will be frank and say we have been somewhat constrained by magazine industry rules about how magazine replicas are created. While we can enrich the experience for readers with enhanced content, there are guidelines that have required us to present an experience which is largely in line with the physical format of the printed title. Some of those rules have recently loosened, and it is my hope we will see more and more titles take advantage of greater flexibility.
I also understand your point on hi-res. Perhaps I should have instead used the term "rich." A typical website simply doesn't recreate the image-rich experience of a magazine in the way that the Zinio reader does, and that was more my point: we attempt to create a format that is visually engaging like a magazine, but which has the core benefits of a digital product.
On your last points, I would say that the Zinio reader does support hyperlinking and many publishers incorporate deep linking in that way - "get more information on our website." Ultimately though we are still creating publications that have editorial focus like a print publication does.
I want to thank you again for your feedback. It really is a great help to get such concrete and specific feedback on how to improve our reader, and I appreciate the time you took to do so.
March 26 2009, 08:58:17 UTC 3 years ago
Re: Thank you for your feedback!
Indeed. I can see that.
In what way? I guess you can use some more exciting fonts and some more imaginative layout, but nothing critical. Once again, things that work on the printed page with lots of high-resolution space, are just wasteful or invisible on a screen.
The closest analogy for Zinio I can think of, is like trying to read a magazine via digital photos you took of the pages. You can do it, but it's a constant pain.
Hm, I see I forgot something: why the heck does Zinio start full screen (but not maximised!) and not remember what size I had it last? Or does it sometimes? I can't tell now...
Also: when using the next/prev page buttons, the reader zooms out to show the full page, instead of staying at the (much more readable) page width zoom.
3 years ago
Anonymous
April 24 2009, 23:08:06 UTC 3 years ago
Re: Thank you for your feedback!
When I first installed Zinio Reader I had no problems with it, however at one point I did a System restore to an earlier point because I wanted to remove a certain program that had made changes to my system and I thought they might be difficult to undo. Ever since I did the system restore, Zinio reader has not played Rich Media content saying that I needed to install Macromedia Flash Player (which incidentally is now Adobe right?) I click on the option in the dialog box that comes up to install it, my web browser opens and takes me to a page that says "Sorry the download or magazine that you are seeking is no longer available." or something like that. I have reinstalled Zinio reader a time or two and uninstalled and reinstalled flash 10 at least once as well for both Firefox and IE but still get the same result. Not sure what do do here, does Zinio reader only work with Flash 9?Charles
Anonymous
March 22 2009, 21:11:11 UTC 3 years ago
I'm bummed you think Zinio sucks
Hi. I read your post this am and wanted to respond. I'm the CMO of Zinio. You can email me at jmullen@zinio.com or reach me at empg on Twitter.Thanks for sharing your mood and thoughts about possibly migrating from print to the Zinio version of PC Mag. It's always good to get candid feedback from people using our technology. It helps us improve our product and adjust our roadmap.
Hope you dont mind, but I wanted to respond to a few of your comments from the top.
* DRM- yep... big debate these days about the publishers need/readers desire to have DRM. Hope you can help us spark more conversation about this. Truth is, right now DRM allows us to maintain revenue streams for all digital magazines so they can keep covering the cost of the high quality editorial and pictorial content print readers pay for and love. Maybe there is a totally new or better way to address this online (other than 100% advertising fees) but until we find one, DRM is one of the ways we can ensure we can keep paying those who contribute to designing our magazines.
*A4 layout- I am 100% with you on this one. Not specifically speaking about PC Mag, but a statement in general. Digital Magazines should break free of the print layouts and utilize the very cool online technologies we have available. And, many publishers are starting to do this. Check out vivmag.com and popsci.com/geniusguide for 2 examples of how content and ads can breakthrough the A4 restrictions.
That said, I do need to say that the current website layout for many magazines is not much more engaging than A4 in digital. I have seen long stories get lost in endless vertical scrolling, and photos become less than exhilarating when restricted to online boxes. Digital magazines, even in A4 format enable the high def for photos, and ability to creatively layout long edit in a much more engaging manner.
* The reader features....I sent this blog along to our development team. We are continuously working to improve our readers, both online and offline. Would love to have you be part of the consumer review committee if you are game.
The whole world of print publishing is going through a bit change right now. There are bound to be some great things, some things that are so-so and some things that need improvement. For millions of people Zinio does offer them a new way of reading they enjoy. I hope that you get in touch with me directly so we can continue our conversation.
Sincerely,
Jeanniey Mullen, CMO
jmullen@zinio.com 973-204-0023
March 24 2009, 07:58:33 UTC 3 years ago
Re: I'm bummed you think Zinio sucks
Hello Jeanniey, thanks for your response. As to DRM ... well, it's not going on in a vacuum, you know there has been massive debate about this in the music and movie industries, and now the record labels have more or less given up on it - most of iTunes and Amazon are now DRM free.To be clear, I *do* want to pay for content, and it annoys me to see many free sites struggling, but when I came to pay for PC Magazine I got a bad experience. I really just wanted a paid subscription to their content in a website - couldn't care less about the A4 layout style. At least until we have ultra high res screens.
Incidentally, the most annoying reader problem is the multimonitor thing - I have a portrait mode 1920x1200 monitor on my desk, but Zinio reader won't allow itself to be positoned onto it.
Anonymous
April 7 2009, 01:09:44 UTC 3 years ago
Re: I'm bummed you think Zinio sucks
I just want to add my two cents worth please. You really need to fix the multiple monitor issue fast, even if you have to do a minor rlease. I have a small notebook screen that does not allow me to read my PC Magazine at all. Right next to it I have a huge hi-rez second monitor that I can't use with Zenio. If I can't read the magazine, there is no sense continuing with my subscription. BTY - I stumbled on this post trying to find a way to get the app on a second monitor. I really can't read it at all. Next cnage... So I tried printing, but the app treats each page as a doument, so I cant print double sided, which is a huge waste of paper.Anonymous
November 22 2009, 00:54:11 UTC 2 years ago
Re: I'm bummed you think Zinio sucks
I'm not impressed with the Zinio reader but if there was one thing I would ask for is support for dual monitors. It bogs down my laptop if I read for more than 20 min, I don't like the zoom in or out but not around the page while zoomed in, those are annoying but I guess I could live with them but not supporting 2 monitors? C'mon... As it stands now when my digital subscription ends I will most likely just go back to buying from a newsstand.March 24 2009, 16:26:48 UTC 3 years ago
Zinio!!
Hi there,My name is Doug Carlson and I am the Managing Director and co-Owner of Zinio and VIV.
I wanted to send you a quick note to thank you for taking the time to share all of your thoughts and concerns about Zinio!!
You hit the nail on so many fronts in your thinking!
We are focused on many of the issues that you have raised and hope that you will continue to provide us your candid feedback as we work step by step towards what we think is a very bright future for consumers, publishers and advertisers in the world of digital publishing.
Thank you again,
Doug
Anonymous
April 2 2009, 19:16:12 UTC 3 years ago
Re: Zinio!!
I to am a Zinio user who has had a less than a great experience with the reader. I subscribe to a technical automobile racing magazine however the quality of the graphics is so bad, for example, when I zoom in to see a graph I cannot even read the axis labels. I wrote to your support about the problem, while they were very polite and courteous they basically could not help me.Slow is the only word to use when starting the reader, this need to be fixed. When I have a few minutes to catch up on some reading I use up half of it waiting to get the first page up.
Anonymous
April 7 2009, 05:08:18 UTC 3 years ago
Re: Zinio!!
I am a Zinio reader and have 4 current subscriptions. However, I also have a new 64-Bit laptop, which, as I am sure you know, has Flash issues with the IE 8 64-Bit browser. Apparently, it is affecting Zinio, and I also get that ridiculous annoying pop-up that says I do not have Flash installed... But, the truth of the matter is that I do have Flash installed, through the 32-Bit Firefox browser. There are definitely some bugs to work out, both on Microsoft's and Zinio's end.3 years ago
Anonymous
July 7 2009, 13:44:38 UTC 2 years ago
Re: Zinio!!
There's one thing I LIKE about Zinio - it's very easy to browse a mag using just the arrow keys/Enter. Zoom, page turn, navigation, all very easy to do, without using the trackpad. This makes Zinio a good solution for tiny netbooks, I can read a mag with just my thumb on the arrow keys.-JH
April 17 2009, 21:41:55 UTC 3 years ago
Zinio Site Down! April 17, 2009 and counting...
Zinio sucks for a number of reasons, and the latest seems to be that I can't get access to my magazines. It's been down now pretty much all day:Our site is currently down for maintenance. Please check back soon, or click here to be notified when Zinio.com is back and receive an exclusive special offer.
I like the part where you get a special offer because the site is off line!
I will post again when I find out when they come back and what the "special offer" is. Bet you five dollhers it's a ziniostic magazine.
Anonymous
April 21 2009, 02:46:26 UTC 3 years ago
Re: Zinio Site Down! April 17, 2009 and counting...
If one of the Zinio representatives sees this...I too am very dissatisfied with this product! I'm a new customer who signed up because I purchased a digital textbook for my graduate level class... only I haven't had the opportunity to use it yet. I was able to access the book right after I purchased and downloaded it and a few days later, my account showed that no book was ever purchased. I have my receipt and confirmation email so i at least have that to prove I purchased it. I'm really upset because the class, which is only a month long class, is halfway done and I have no book to study from. I haven't been able to contact any zinio people either because i cant get through to the website, which seems to be down every time I attempt to get through to the website. I feel really deceived because when I first checked out the site, everything seemed fine and promising of a quality product, which is why i made the $70 textbook purchase. I guess I was wrong to assume that I would get what I paid for. I need for someone to fix this problem... actually, at this point, i dont even want another copy of the textbook... i want a refund asap so i can go purchase a physical textbook that I will have to rush order!
May 12 2009, 06:14:45 UTC 3 years ago
Zinio offline reader subscription management
In addition to the reading glitches mentioned previously, there are subscription management glitches in the offline reader, per my experience:1. I renewed under a different Email address, then found out I cannot download the renewed Popular Science issues. Apparently, the offline reader is irrevocably tied to the old Email address.
2. The FAQ solution is to contact support to combine the Email addresses, but my and others' experience is that support is basically non-existent.
3. There is no way to view what Email address is being used by the offline reader, or change it, except possibly by uninstalling and reinstalling (which I haven't tried yet).
4. The offline reader has no known capability of downloading from more than one Email address. What if my wife and kids want their own Email addresses on the same computer. Or I want to categorize my magazines under more than one Email address.
5. What happens to the offline reader connection if I change the subscription Email address (which is described in the FAQ). There is no FAQ answer to this.
6. What happens to the offline reader connection if I swap two Email addresses, both with subscriptions. Can I use this technique to download both to the offline reader. No clue in the FAQ.
7. Will I lose the ability to read downloaded magazines if I try the swap technique described in #6 above. No clue in the FAQ.
8. The offline reader does not distinguish between expired subscriptions which have no remaining issues, and non-existent subscriptions, when you run "Check For New Delivieries". See #6 and #7 above. The message should state the checked Email address, number of issues subscribed, and number remaining.
9. Can I copy magazine issue files downloaded under a different Email address on a different computer, to the download location on my current computer. Will the offline reader on the current computer see those copied issue files.
10. Although unrelated to subscriptions, the technique stated in the FAQ for changing the downloaded location, is to edit the registry. Even viewing the registry is FORBIDDEN to anyone who wants to avoid destroying their operating system.
All of the above should have been implemented in the original offline reader preferences or the FAQ, before the reader's first release.
(Reply to this)
May 14 2009, 18:34:57 UTC 3 years ago
Re: Zinio offline reader subscription management
Some registry sleuthing and experimentation uncovered the following. However, unless you are an expert hacker, have backed up your registry, and have a Windows recovery disk handy, do NOT attempt the following registry changes.1. The Zinio preferences are in the registry path HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software, Zinio, Reader, Preferences. Common operating system-indepedent practice is to put preferences into a file with extension .ini or .cfg. Zinio implemented preferences the hard way.
2. The Email address is in the preference EmailCG. This is automatically updated when "Check for New Deliveries" runs. This answers #3 and #5 above.
3. "Check for New Deliveries" uses the Username preference to locate the subscription. If this preference is changed slightly (plus Restart), the Email address is requested instead. This technique can be used to change which subscription is accessed. This answers #4 and #6 above.
4. "Check for New Deliveries" will download from a different Email address, and also allow reading from magazines downloaded from other Email addresses. This answers #7 above.
Anonymous
May 20 2009, 15:26:55 UTC 3 years ago
Zinio on Windows Mobile
I also use zinio and I am really annoyed by a great many number of things.However I find it adequate for what it does... flip through digital copies of magazines...
What bothers me the most of course is that Zinio do NOT have any plans to port the reader on Windows Mobile or other mobile platforms. (or so they said to me couple of years ago when I asked them about that.)
This, in my opinion, is the biggest mistake of Zinio, and they will pay for this at the end...
I think Zinio should follow the example of the Mobipocket reader. (e-books reader for pretty much any device). With a simple way, it handles DRM, allows activation on desktop pcs or windows mobile or other mobile devices, and you can read your books anywhere. Light, simple, secure (and not to the boiling point for legitimate users Adobe Reader goes with DRM... Oh please, show mercy...).
I cannot understand Zinio and Adobe who believe that someone waiting at the bus stop who want to read something will actually pull his/her laptop out instead of his/her mobile phone! Wake up guys, bring to the people what they really need...
I hope someone from Zinio read this... I pray...
PS: Lately Zinio crashes on my Vista 64bit ultimate on my laptop... any ideas why?
PS2: Could you please stay away from adobe, flash, DRM and their rest subpar technologies? They suck big time... I think you'd be better off rewriting zinio from scratch using other software...
Anonymous
August 2 2009, 12:54:42 UTC 2 years ago
Also, agree with all the original posters issues with UI and with trying to shoe-horn a passive print model onto an interactive, linked environment.
But that might reflect more of the deficiencies in the print media customers thinking than Zinio's.
Anonymous
August 27 2009, 00:07:09 UTC 2 years ago
Multi-Monitors
I found this thread whilst looking for a way to shift Zinio over to my other monitor so I can work on some tutorials from Layers magazine in my main screen.So it would appear that this issue has not been resolved, which means I won't be subscribing to Layers magazine once my trial period ends.
Please sort this out Zinio, it is a major issue and it's hitting you in your pocket.
Anonymous
February 3 2010, 22:11:46 UTC 2 years ago
Partial solution to the Zinio multi-monitor FAIL - for UltraMon users ...
If you happen to be using UltraMon, I found a workaround for you all -- while in Zinio, press the (undocumented) Alt-space combo, and BINGO - the UltraMon option to "Move to Other Monitor" is available, and seems to work (Windows 7, UltraMon 3.0.9 RC Beta).Not a complete solution, but what the hey!
Anonymous
July 28 2010, 03:05:34 UTC 1 year ago
New Zinio user, can't find subs
Hi, I'm late on this issue as I've only just discovered Zinio through wanting to get a sub for Modern Painters magazine. My subscriptions are hidden, I guess this is DRM. I have a direct sub for Scientific American which comes to me direct from their website in PDF form. This gives me access to my paid for magazines, a much more useful scheme than Zinio's way of hiding my paid-for magazines.Will this change?
With the Scientific American sub I am also able to download individual articles, this is useful as with a current issue in our family where some of my grandchildren are being treated for mild autism - individual articles re this from Scientific American are sent to them by email.
This kind of info interchange is a vital part of both science and arts research.
Keep evolving, cheers, Barrie
Anonymous
August 21 2010, 16:07:31 UTC 1 year ago
zinio sucks
Agreed. zinio SUCKS... it is designed like a magazine (they are trying to be cute I guess), but that ends up a horrendously terrible experience on a computer. Actions like zooming and turning the page (probably the most necessary functions in their current model) are awful. They need to 100% remake it with a computer/digital experience in mind. I have a specialized wheel on my mouse designed to optimally scroll down pages, etc...Anonymous
March 5 2011, 23:11:00 UTC 1 year ago
Zinio Still Bad
Another long outage? I understand the nature of digital storage and how small items can get mucked up to create a much larger problem, but outages by Zinio are becoming habitual. (I have only traced this back to 2004) Have you guys/gals ever heard of redundant backup and mirrored sites while performing large updates and/or moves so your customers will not notice? I too work with large stores of digital data and this type of outage in my business is rarely heard of, much less happens to the same company more than once. If it does millions of $$ can be lost and quite possibly my job. This along with poorly written software and a handful of other issues are pretty much the last straw for this user. I will going back to print henceforth.Anonymous
October 16 2011, 18:55:03 UTC 7 months ago
zinio email
why does this app not give you the option to recover your email address if you have forgotten it