Earlier this month, we changed our Digital Edition to an online reader. The reason for this change was that we found out that copies of the digital edition were being passed around to people who did not subscribe. Not wanting to turn a mountain into a molehill, we decided to only allow the online reader version.
This is one of those times you wish you had just left things alone. The online reader is slowing page time badly when the site gets busy. It also isn’t compatible with most Apple devices (which make up almost 30% of our readers!), and it’s very wasteful of space and time to set up a new issue.
So yesterday, to help the Apple users out, I emailed most of our Apple users. The results were startling and eye-opening. So, we’re back to the old PDF, and I’ll have to redo the archives (again!), but that’s fine; the first thing we are concerned about is the reader experience. If that isn’t good, we have nothing. The second is keeping our digital assets stable.
This comes with one drawback: we are probably going to be working with a DRM company to ensure that our products are not being pirated. Download versions are tagged with an internal asset number so that we can track who downloaded it from us and when so that we can prosecute thieves. We hate to do this, but theft affects legitimate subscribers, as too much theft could mean having to increase subscription rates, something we’re hoping to avoid for as long as possible.
Please remember. Your subscription comes with a free Digital edition for your household. That means a family unit living at one address. If you share your file, you’re stealing, this could lead to increased subscription fees, as well as possible legal issues. Piracy can cost you a lot as well. The maximum civil penalty is $150,000 PER INSTANCE. Criminal penalties can be as much as $250,000 and 5 years in prison (this is in addition to civil penalties). We hate to take a hard line, but this is costing everyone, and frankly, I really dislike thieves. If you have a legitimate reason to hand out copies, please talk to us, we’re actually very reasonable, and love promoting the paper. Something can usually be worked out.
Author: Andy Anderson
Andy is publisher of Foxys Publishing Co, as well as pressman, ad sales, distribution and sometime janitor. He occasionally makes a wild attempt at writing but quite often is seen running around our offices trying to "Get 39 million things done today..."
