Back progs as downloadable PDFs

[roystead]

OK, I'm posting this as a "Suggestion" now, in the hope that someone at Rebellion sees it and takes notice:

One possible revenue stream, perhaps in tandem with hard copy reprints of old progs, would be to sell uniquely identified (to avoid piracy) PDFs of older progs as they are scanned in.

One *major* advantage of this would be to enable Rebellion to recoup the costs of scanning in progs as they're scanned, rather than having to wait until a preset number of progs have been scanned in and then selling printed bound copies. Also, ongoing costs (once the system has been set up and the scans done) for Rebellion would be far lower than specially printing bound editions.

From the reader's point of view, buying and downloading PDFs should be cheaper and more immediate than having to purchase and wait for specially printed collections. And those wanting a physical paper copy could print it out themselves.

The PDFs could be auto-generated from scans held in a database and incorporate a signature (visible or invisible) containing the buyer's name & address & ID, to prevent piracy.

Details:

I'd like to see PDFs of each issue (and/or zipfiles of GIF/JPG scans), downloadable from this site for a fee. Put a link next to the issue on its web page, and maybe a bunch of "bulk buy" links (20 or 50 consecutive progs, say) in the Shop.

Charge per issue? 10p or 20p per prog seems reasonable to me, with a minimum buy of - say - 20 or 50 progs of your choice and nothing more recent than a year ago. After all, you're supplying your own media to store them on. Not to mention the time to download them (I appreciate that not everybody has broadband).

Piracy considerations can be averted by generating the PDF specifically for each download, and incorporating the username/name/address/some ID number uniquely in each PDF (this is a lot easier than it sounds - my business is documentation & we've done just this for some of our more security-minded clients). A unique invisible digital watermark for GIFs/JPGs is possible, but slower and more complex to implement. Hence, I'd personally prefer the PDF route.

Oh, and Rebellion - if you decide to go this route then I'd appreciate either getting the contract to auto-generate the unique PDFs or being given a free set of the lot of 'em.

Cheers,
Roy

Link: Thread 989

[TJ]

Haven't read 2000AD since I was 14, that was 1984!!!!, so go for it, but with more back issues.
Lets stop being adults and start enjoying our childhoods again!

[paulvonscott]

Since it started aeons ago, I suspect this thread will resurface (and rightly so, for tis a good idea) pretty often.

However it seems to me that it won't happen for the moment bevause Rebellion have entered into a venture for physical reprinting of progs in hard copy.  It seems like it would be financial madness for them and the company that is printing them to do a CD set, or even say they will do a CD set in the future, until they have had a suitable reward for their current efforts.

Of course it is a good idea for fans to discuss it anyway, so that if it does ever happen, it may incorporate some of the good ideas they had.

I don't think it's a good idea to expect a free copy in return for these idea's. Idea's are generally free and it would only make the fans and the project seem a bit less appealing, like a sticky bog :)

It could be handy to do a list of all the possible features suggested by fans from among threads 706, 714, 989, this one and I think there were a few others too.  So that if they ever did consider it, it would be easier to see what people have come up with.  You could even vote on conflicting ideas and formats by adding no. of votes an idea has at the end.

Oh well i've slipped into beaurocratic list making mode so I'd better be off.

Cheers

PVS

[Wake]

I've just send an email to the powers that be asking for them to consider offering prog 1208 in pdf form as a test case.

Prog 1208 is missing from many collections because of distribution problems with this issue.

Rebellion already has progs 1200+ in digital format, so in theory pdfs could work for these in conjunction with the digital archive books for the early progs.

But in the first instance I'd just like to use prog 1208 as a test case.

Wake

[roystead]

Sounds an excellent idea, Wake - 1208 is the only "later" prog I'm missing myself (though on current trends, it'll be another 3-4 months, work permitting, before I reach that far in my reading).

If I can be of any assistance, do let me know.

Roy