Well it’s been another one of those nights where I spend most of it sitting on the computer unable to sleep. I’ve had a blasted cold for 3 days now and being horizontal has me coughing away. Blah! But on the other hand it gave me a bit of time to browse around the web.  Sometime in the night I found myself at Rapid Media’s website and that gave me a chance to look at their new digital editions.

I can’t say I read all the kayak mags as much as I used to. I don’t envy them, they are caught at multiple fronts at the moment. For starters there is a plethora of content online and readers are adapting.  Many of us get most of our news and information on the web while never actually holding a magazine or newspaper in our hands. Like it or not, print is having to deal with the digital revolution with varying degrees of success. In addition with the economy going silly costs of producing a print magazine are going up, while readers incomes are going down.  Then of course there is the normal churn that happens as people move through their paddling career and don’t always read as much as they may have in the beginning.

Magazines are a bit limited in how they can actually respond.  You can only cut costs so far without losing quality and the whole online thing is just a beast.  Churn?  Well, that’s up to the gods.  But it does look like Rapid Media may have an answer for at least the first two, digital subscriptions.

Yeah I know you think we’ve been here before and no one wants to pay for online content. Especially when there is so much free stuff out there and current online pay-to-read models feel so clunky.  Still unique original content has value if you can overcome the common downfalls of digital presentation.  A quick glance at Rapid’s new online editions gives me the impression they may up to the challenge.  I am pretty impressed with how it all works and I’ll tell you more about that in a minute. Currently they are offering Adventure Kayak, Rapid, Kayak Angler & Canoeroots online. You can view their latest digital editions until the end of the year for free. This gives you an opportunity to see how the whole thing works and figure out if the digital version works for you.

Once I gave them my email address (I think they have it already!), I was immediately at the cover. A menu appears at the top that is similar to an Adobe Acrobat product but much more streamlined. I blasted right past the options, content & print menus and went right for flipping pages. Honestly this seems to be the biggest hang up with online publications. Usually the first thing we do when we pick up a magazine is “flip and scan”. I think the inability to do this easily is one thing that often turns people off with online magazines. You just want to turn pages as simply as you do with a print copy. Thankfully this feature works like a dream with the new Rapid publications. Pages load quickly, clearly and fit right in the window. Having the 2 page spread actually default to fit your computer screen is a great thing. You don’t get lost and find yourself dragging pages all over the place to find the content. It also gives you the presentation as it was intended. Maybe most importantly you can flip right through the magazine just as if you were holding a print version, just stopping for the bits that catch your eye.

Just as in the print versions the magazine is loaded with ads. Not banners or tiles, but the same ads and the same layout you see in the regular magazine. When you first open a page with an ad, the advertisement will subtly flash in red to let you know this is clickable. (Advertisers will be happy that it catches the reader’s attention.) You can then click on any ad in the magazine to go out to the advertisers content. Of course you don’t have to, but it’s simple and not distracting. The fly in the ointment was a small technical glitch. If I clicked on an ad then returned to the magazine, the page would suddenly be zoomed and all out of sorts. I was not able to use the zoom function to get it back down to normal size. I found that if I clicked the “toggle to fit” icon a couple times I could get it back. That was the only hang up I found with usability.

Depending on your monitor and your eyes, you may not be able to read everything and then the provided zoom feature comes in handy. One click on the zoom icon will produce a slider that allows you to adjust the size. Once sized to your liking you may click directly on the content to drag the text where you need it to continue reading. (just don’t click on an ad or you’re outta there!) I found I had to click twice on the “toggle to fit” again to return to normal browsing size.

Other features include the ability to download the magazine, tag content, print, and search. There’s also a funky auto presentation that will flip the pages for you at an interval you set. All in all it makes it fairly easy to read in whatever way you like to do it.

I think they did a great job making their online edition user friendly. The online version is simple to use, looks nice, the colors are rich, the photos are clean and the text is precise. The bonus of course is that a subscription to the online version is less than half that of the print version, being only $9.95 for 4 digital issues. Oh, and maybe you’ll help save a few trees in the process. Success of the Rapid Media digital subscriptions will simply come down to the readers. If they are ready to make the jump to digital subscriptions, Rapid makes it work. If you are a tactile reader who keeps copies of your kayaking magazines in the bathroom you may have to stick to the print version. One thing though, it does seem like a good idea to just include access to the digital version to those who subscribe to the print version. (just a thought).

Head on over and have a look. I’m interested to hear what you think.

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