Digital Drift

At last. Some naysayers...

Digital magazines don't work. That's according to the publishers of a UK surfing magazine, Drift. Ignoring the deliciously ironic title for a minute, let's have a look at the facts - and the product.

Drift is a surfing magazine, based in the South West of England, and despite targetting surfer types - young, internet savvy and above all eco friendly, it isn't cutting the digital mustard.

Ultimately,according to editor Howard Swanwick, is that "I think digital magazines have had their day. As a medium to put features in, they don't work." That evidently is why he's switching to print - more costly, less accurate, less measurable and er, less eco - friendly.

Gosh.

Now I need to flag up immediately that I used to work with Howard in my dark and distant past, but despite that I have no axe to grind. I just think he's got it wrong.

Its about the ads Howard, and you haven't got any, so switching it to print is going to make f*** all difference. Plus, I'm afraid that your site is (1) slow to load (2) confusing in terms of downloading the digital product and most importantly (3) the text on the magazine is in places unreadable.

Back to the drawing board I think...

The path to surfing goes green

The Surfer’s Path, the first truly ‘green’ surfing magazine, today launched a digital web edition of its magazine using the Exact Editions platform for delivery. This is the first time the full contents and some of the back issues have been made available online.

The current issue and archive are obtainable for subscribers to browse and search online.They are replicas of the print edition. A trial issue of the magazine in the Exact Editions service is available for testing and free reading from the site at http://www.exacteditions.com.