Digital Edition - really getting there!

Hello there

It's now, what, almost a year since the digital switch? Maybe not that long but long enough that I now feel able to comment.

Like many lovers of the paper edition, I was taken aback by the speed of the switch but, being an international subscriber, the cost reduction made it worth giving the new format a fair try.

I first tried to read the PDF download which was hell even on 21" monitor. It was impossible to navigate properly and illegible on a small screen. Since my main use of LJ was on my daily two-hour train-and-subway commute this didn't work for me at all.

I then downloaded the LJ android app onto my phone. Now, things began to stack up - especially when I discovered the text versions of the articles (as opposed to the PDF-like print layout). I am lucky enough to have a large-ish screen (Samsung Galaxy S2).

I have adjusted my reading totally - no longer do I have to remember to roll up the mag to throw in my bag. Latest versions are downloaded automatically and past copies kept on the device if unfinished. Links between the articles and the LJ website (or other web content) are seamless and always relevent to the topic at hand.

I have only one suggestion - I spend over an hour of each day underground and the app requires a network connection to read articles unless they have been "saved" beforehand. This means that, as with todays edition, I have to manually navigate through and "save" each article to the phone. Please, please, can we have a top-level "save all articles" menu item?

Apart from this, the digital version required some change in my behaviour but I am convinced that the benefits significantly outweigh the deficiencies - to say nothing of the cost reduction.

The browser-based reader / navigation tool is pretty good for use on a desktop machine but the mobile application is the real killer here and I wish you well with the future. I am certainly going to remain a subscriber and I trust that you are seeing the benefits at the editorial level.

Regards

Lee

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