Glossy, lightweight and definitely good for keeps

Apr 16, 2011

by Sharrie
posted in Hi-tech Travel Companions

Exclusive to the Lunch Network

Rating:

The advantage of having an iPad (read about it in the iPad Buzz community) and/or other tablet (notably Androids) is its lightweight and glossy contents, specifically one that involves more pictures and easy reading. I admit, I did get the tablet more for entertainment than for serious work. Best if they are portable and ultralight.

In other words, this is a gadget for travel. And what do I do most when I travel? I read magazines (and sometimes books) in the airport and while waiting for plane to take off. However, I've often dreaded the weight associated with these materials and many a time I ended up leaving them in hotels during my many trips including "The Memoirs of Geisha" which I specifically remembered leaving it behind in the Sofitel Bora Bora Resort! So, when the iPad and tablets were introduced, I know I'd have a field day going back to reading. In fact, there are so many selections that I've yet had time to read everything I had bought!

Zinio is the apps for digital magazines while Kobo is the one for books which came preloaded with my Samsung Galaxy Tab (from hereon to be refered as Tab). It was easy to set up and before I knew it, I already had some magazines which I've never ever even seen before while browsing at the bookstores downloaded for free into my Tab. Now, that's what I could get used to, I thought!

Having said that, I prefer browsing for magazines on the Zinio website than on the PC. The clicking and typing are more habitually & easily done on the laptop than on my Tab since I don't have an iPhone to practice those texting skills (and for some reasons, 10 fingers are definitely more productive than 2!). In any case, it's just personal preference and I do browse for magazines on my Tab especially during my trips or journeys to and from another city.

For those interested, you can get the Zinio iPad apps from Zinio website or by clicking here if it is not already preloaded into your machine. It is free of charge.

To my pleasure, Zinio has a large selection of magazines covering some 11 broad categories:

art
automative
entertainment
home
lifestyle
men
news
science & tech
sports
travel
women

In each category, there are at least 4 sub-categories. Sports has some 12 sub-categories! So, it takes you quite awhile to go through everyone of them if you simply want to browse and find some free magazines to download. For me, travel it is!

Magazines are mostly in English but other local languages can also be found. It is good to make sure you get the right one before you key in your payment information! Zinio makes it real easy to buy though as those payment info needed to be keyed in only once! I haven't actually try changing my credit card to another one so am not so sure what that entails! I do love to use just one specific credit card for my online payments (that makes it a little safer; best to use one with the lowest credit limit too!). Before you buy the magazine, you can actually browse through it online (not on the tablets but you can try your luck on iPad) and read a max of 3 pages for most magazines. Some, you can even read the entire magazine so it might not make sense for you to buy unless you want to keep a copy of it downloaded and read it offline. Downloading is fast on the PC but slow on my Tab. I do suspect this is because its the different carrier I used.

Now, for the quality of the magazine? Great, even better than the real magazines. Colors are outstanding and stunning. My only complaint is for some magazines, reading it on the Tab is a little straining for the eyes. Not most of them, just a few. That might be due to how the magazine was digitized, I'm not sure. I must say that despite the lightweight nature of the Tab, magazines might be best read on the iPad (with a larger screen) while books are better on the tablets or e-readers. Holding the Tab for hours (even though possibly about 1/2 the weight of the iPad) can be tiring, so let alone the iPad! The 7" screen does mean that you do need to scroll a bit when it comes to magazine though great for the books!

In any case, you don't have to worry about this as Zinio allows you to download one purchase about 6x, if I got it right. I had downloaded the same magazine twice to 2 different PCs and once to my Tab. Good news, isn't it? That possibly mean you can share the cost with friends if you trust your friends with the payment info and him/her that he/she won't splurge on other magazines when you're not around ;-) I think this works especially well for couples and also company accounts. Think news magazines like The Economist, Forbes, etc... Your cost goes down by 6x and the best about Zinio digital magazines? The Cost!

Cost is a mere fraction of the real magazines. Some, the entire year subscription is the mere cost of a paper magazine!!! That translates to more magazines you can download with the same budget!!! For example, National Geographic Traveler is a mere US$10 for 8 digital issues and Outdoor Photographer is also US$10 for 11 issues! Hurry, go grab them!!! I'm getting all my magazines from different corners of the planet hot off the press!!!

Life is magnifique!

What did you think of this review?

Helpful

Thought-Provoking

Fun to Read

Well-Organized

Post a Comment

woopak_the_thrill April 24, 2011

nice write up, Sharrie.

Sharrie April 25, 2011

Thanks! Hey, I saw some digital magazines on movies. Do u have any of them?

show text editor

reply to this comment

Follow this review

More Zinio Digital Magazines reviews

Quick Tip by Sharrie. April 13, 2011

posted in iPad Buzz

A Quick Tip by Sharrie

As with Kobo Apps, this one came with my Samsung Galaxy Tabs. The apps can be used on iPad too. Buying magazines from Zinio apps or its website is easy as a breeze. Prices for a few of the magazines I bought are a steep discount to its paper counterparts. No problem with downloads and it allows you to download to your PC, iPad, Android tablets, etc... If I'm not mistaken, all in all, 6 downloads are allowed in each magazine one buys. So far, I'm very satisfied with it. … more

Comments (2) Compliments (3)

see all Zinio Digital Magazines reviews (2)

About the reviewer

Sharrie (Sharrie)
Ranked #1

I'm a traveler at heart & have been nicknamed Travel Queen by friends & colleagues alike. Traveling has been my life passion for the last decade or so. As we enter a new decade, I'm excited … more