Rob3E

November 4, 2011 9:21 am Likely yes, it is a coincidence, for a number of reasons: Apart from increased screen resolution, there is very little a new iPad could offer that isn't offered by the current model, which is more than adequate for digital comics. The Kindle Fire, which will be a much more affordable option, is available later this month. If Marvel wanted to time their move to coincide with a new, related product, that would make a lot more sense than timing it with a refresh of an existing product. The iPad isn't so much "rumored" to have a refresh in March as it's "expected" to have a refresh in March because that's when the last two announcements were made. As we saw with this year's iPhone announced, which was expected in June but came in October, Apple isn't bound by the expectations of outside parties, and it seems unlikely that they have firm date for a new launch this far out, and less likely that they would be sharing those details with third parties. The one thing I could envision that would affect the timing of the rollout involving Apple is a change in the service model/pricing structure, but that wouldn't require new hardware, and wouldn't be consistent with a gradual roll out. If some, single event were going to make it advantageous to go digital, likely they would "flip the switch" like DC did, rather than slowly dole out titles up until that point.

November 3, 2011 5:18 pm It's nice to see some real, forward progress on this front. I hope they keep moving forward. I agree that loss of ownership + same price as print is an issue. Kind of like Anson17 is saying. You blow through an issue and think, "how much did I pay for that?" I'm hoping for a more trade-comparable price at some point. I waited a month to pick up JLA and Animal Man and I still felt like it wasn't a good value even though, at least with Animal Man, I felt like I was enjoying the story. But it's too much $ for too little story. I became a trade-waiter partly to save money, but now it seems like it's just how I enjoy the stories. Hopefully the trade paperback crowd will figure in to their price structure at some point.

October 26, 2011 9:23 am No. Files exist, I don't think you have access to them as files, at least not from the app. Both Graphicly and Comixology have ways to read comics on your desktop, but Comixology uses a web browser system, I think, so no file is ever saved to your hard drive for off-line viewing. At least that's my understanding. I have never used the web client. Graphically has a desktop client, but it will redownload your comics from the Graphically server. I could be wrong, but I don't believe there is any mechanism for sharing files between the desktop and mobile device other than by downloading to each from Graphically.

October 25, 2011 6:18 pm "Zoom can be a nice feature, especially for my old eyes. And sure there will be new devices in the future with better resolution. But are those really concerns as far as pirated content goes? Wouldn’t “good enough to read” be good enough for most readers of downloads? If you go in with somewhat lowered expectations, free and readable will win out every time with some folks. Please note, I’m not advocating doing this, I am just curious. What if, in the attempt to eliminate piracy, they facilitated it?" For some pirates, they look at digitizing comics as a preservation technique. For them, a screen capture of a scaled down, digital version will never be an acceptable alternative. For some people, a free, low-res copy might be sufficient, in which case you could argue that the current, screen capture loophole could facilitate piracy, but the reality is that if there are still high quality scans being made, who will be choose the low quality version when both are available? The thing that would really facilitate piracy is releasing DRM-free, high quality files. This would make the files more easily shared, so it would make the scanners's jobs easier, but it could hardly increase piracy given that, as I understand it, almost every new comic is uploaded as a scan within a day of release. Reading the pirate interviews on this sight, it definitely seems like the average pirate uploader is very concerned with quality. Perhaps the average downloader is less concerned with quality, but as long as the uploaders are quality-driven, print is likely to continue to be a preferred source until a better quality digital source is found. But, again, even if the industry makes more "piratable" files available, they can't really increase piracy if 100% of titles are already available as pirated files. All they can do to curb piracy is to make legitimate, digital copies available so that people who want to buy their digital comics are able to. Current trends towards day-and-date digital seems like a step in the right direction. Guided panel view is a nice feature that wouldn't expect to be available in the scans, so if you like that feature, that might be an incentive to buy. Personally, I still feel that if someone is worried about long term access to the comics they have purchased, the pirated scans may still be more attractive then current digital offerings, but if your lack of ownership, and the uncertain longevity of your files is not an issue for you, the current digital offerings may be attractive. I do enjoy guided panel view. Right now the biggest annoyances with digital to me are the lack of ownership and portability of the files, the inability to access all those comics from one location, and the (mostly) lack of a price point that seems reasonable to a "trade waiter" like me. These are problems that temper my enjoyment and full scale adoption of digital, and yet these are not problems if you are willing to pirate comics. So the problem in my mind is that every decision that seems to be made to create a road block for pirates also creates a road block for legitimate, paying customers. And because piracy seems to go on regardless, it not only fails to prevent piracy, but it creates a situation where pirates arguably have a superior product.

October 25, 2011 4:54 pm I feel like I walk that line between collector and "just reader." I acknowledge that digital files have no collection or resale value, but I seldom buy any comic with the idea that I'll read it once and dispose of it. When I buy something, it's with the idea that I will hopefully enjoy reading it multiple times. This is especially true of monthlies where I used to frequently read them as they came out, then read them again when a storyline was complete, then, if I really liked the storyline, read it again periodically in the future. What's more, sometimes I buy things when the mood strikes me, or when they're on sale, and enjoy them at some later date. It works fine with music, and it works with ebooks if they're in an open format, but I'm very hesitant to do that with comics. With the longevity of the files completely out of my control, I am very reluctant to spend money on a "rainy day bookshelf" like I have with some print titles. Not only am I uncertain of the longevity of these files, I also have added frustration of needing to remember where I bought them when that rainy day comes. "Do I have anything unread in Comixology? No, How about Graphically? Dark Horse? Archie? Templesmith? Viz?" Instead of just pulling from my rainy day shelf and reading, I can spend my time looking through 20, independent, digital collections in search of the stuff I already bought and hope that the stuff I bought and the company I bought it from is still there.

October 25, 2011 4:33 pm My first attempt to read digital comics was with the Marvel on-line stuff. It just didn't grab me at all. Perhaps with a really comfortable desktop set up, or maybe a computer powering an HD TV/Monitor in my living room, it might work. Then I started looking at digital again when the iPad came out. I found the even a smaller device was useful if you went one panel at a time, but the iPad really made digital seem like a viable solution. But I'm not at all tempted to bring up a comic at my desktop. I just wait until I'm sitting comfortably with my iPad or maybe stuck on a bus with only my iPod Touch for entertainment.

October 25, 2011 4:25 pm The same is true with Comixology. The trick is to make sure you've actually downloaded them. With both services, I believe, your collection is stored "in the cloud" to be downloaded and read whenever you want, so you need to make certain you've downloaded the issues you want before you go offline. Not a big deal usually, because they download when you buy them as long as you remain connected with the app running. Where it gets tricky is if you purchase them from another device, your home computer, or from the website. I do not think it is possible to move those files to your iPad without connecting to the service through the app when the iPad is online. So you don't need an active connection to read the comics as long as they are already there, but you will need a connection at some point to get the books on to your device. Unlike music, photos, and some other documents, I do not believe Comixology or Graphicly files can be moved to the iPad from your computer. But I could be wrong on that.

October 25, 2011 4:10 pm "According to the internet, both the iPad and iPad 2 have 132 PPI at 1024×768 resolution. So, no matter if you scanned a physical comic at 600 DPI or 150 DPI, it’s going to look the same on a 132 PPI display, right? I mean, it can’t look better than the display can support, no matter what DPI you use." There are two issues with this. One is that, like some of the other posters have alluded to, you can zoom into a current Comixology file quite a bit. This is especially useful when trying to read text on a double page spread. If you create a cbz from a screen capture, the image file will be optimized for the full page view, and will likely be a much less detailed image file then the original. The second, related issue is that some day there will be an iPad 3, 4, etc. as well as other devices. If you display screen grabs from from a lower resolution device, they will likely be inferior to a good scan of the original print. Perhaps several screen grabs per page, at maximum zoom, and knitted together would give you a best possible file, but it might end up being more work then just scanning the print.

October 25, 2011 2:24 pm Sure. But 1) it's somewhat in my control. If I spill a coke on my comic, I only have myself to blame. 2) I can take steps. If something catastrophic happens to my house, I have a list of comics for the insurance company. They can be replaced. 3) It's not that likely. If your "worst case scenario" is a zombie apocalypse, then it may not make sense spend a lot of time worrying about it. But if the concern is a publisher might go out of business and take your books with them, then publishers go out of business often enough that I think it's worth considering.

October 25, 2011 1:27 pm "I wasn’t aware you could do screen shots from digital comics. What’s to keep someone from doing screen shots of the whole thing and pirating it?" I don't think there's anything to prevent that. The real issue is that most of this stuff is already being pirated from the print. If you could get a better quality file from digital screen captures, and the comic in question was available day and date, then I wouldn't be surprised if we started seeing digital-based pirated copies (maybe they're already out there?). I wonder, though, if there aren't quality issues. Seems like screen capture is only as good as the screen you're using, whereas scans are as close to the original material as possible. If I do screen captures on my iPad, and then an iPad 3 comes out with a much better screen, my captured images might not look as good, but scanned files should look as good or better, assuming they were scanned well.