Thinking of buying an IPod Touch (to read comics) [Archive]

Beto_Machado

11-04-2009, 12:47 PM

I'm thinking of buying an IPod Touch to read comics. I've played around with it at work and it seemed fine, but i want the opinion of someone that is a comics fan and has downloaded from different companies and titles.

Would you say it's a good idea? Paying 99 cents for series that i'm not very invested in sounds great, but what are your opinions on readability and resolution?

Do you download the comics on the computer then transfer them, or do you just download them straight from the device? What's the average file size? Can you keep them off the device to save space?

Thanks!

Brandon Hanvey

11-04-2009, 12:58 PM

Since this is more of a general comics question rather than Indie focused, I moved it to the Community Board.

Gary_B

11-04-2009, 03:24 PM

I recently got the Hellboy: Seeds of Destruction on my iPod Touch. It's okay for killing time on the bus but it reduces the beautiful original comic page layouts down to individual frames. I wouldn't recommend it as a good way of reading comics.

Iangould

11-04-2009, 04:56 PM

Spike-X

11-04-2009, 05:14 PM

Call me old-fashioned, but when I want to buy something to read comics, I just buy comics.

Mermaid

11-04-2009, 05:16 PM

Call me old-fashioned, but when I want to buy something to read comics, I just buy comics.

makes sense to me.

DonC

11-04-2009, 05:17 PM

What's the story with the supposedly upcoming Apple Tablet computer everyone's been talking about for the last year or so?

If it's not just a rumor and it has a release date not that far into the future you might want to wait for that.

So far, it's just a rumor. But it's one of those things everyone knows Apple is doing. Apple just hasn't admited it.

No release date has been set. And Apple plays things very close to the vest so no one really knows how close they are to market.

dupont2005

11-04-2009, 05:29 PM

i would wait. apple is about to release a tablet. i don't know what the price will be, but i'm interested.

Beto_Machado

11-04-2009, 06:25 PM

The Apple tablet is rumored to popping early next year and cost 900 bucks. With Ipods at 280 a pop and the Iphone at 640 bucks, i can definetly see the tablet really costing 900 bucks. That's too rich for me.

Call me old-fashioned, but when I want to buy something to read comics, I just buy comics.

I love how people that have nothing to add jump in anyway.

If you don't think digital will take over soon, you're delusional. At 3.50 - 3.99 a comic, i haven't tried a new series in a long time. At a 99 cents download i can check 3 new comics for less than one. Sorry you're too narrow-minded to see that.

dupont2005

11-04-2009, 06:37 PM

The Apple tablet is rumored to popping early next year and cost 900 bucks. With Ipods at 280 a pop and the Iphone at 640 bucks, i can definetly see the tablet really costing 900 bucks. That's too rich for me.

me too:frown:
i got my laptop for $600 and i bet it does a whole lot more than the tablet will. 18" screen too. i was hoping for the tablet to be under 600

critical mass

11-04-2009, 06:46 PM

If you're going to try and read the text, you had better get used to reading the comic panel-by-panel. I feel that it would condense the scope and the visual impact of the comic toomuch.

Toreador

11-04-2009, 09:33 PM

Buying an Ipod or a tablet computer just to read comics seems like a waste of money to me right now. Even if the rumored Apple tablet will cost $900 that's equivalent to about 200. I'd rather buy the 200 comics directly.

Right now a Mac Air will run you at least $1500, a pc tablet runs around $1400-$1700 so a Mac tablet will probably be at least that much.

If all you really want to do is read comics on it you'd be better off buying a web tablet. They're about half the price of the tablets and have screens as big as 7".

StoneGold

11-04-2009, 11:18 PM

Buying an Ipod or a tablet computer just to read comics seems like a waste of money to me right now.

Right now I think being the key word. Handheld devices are too small, and larger devices either don't do color or get way too larger or expensive. It's coming, and when it gets here it'll be The Coming Thing, but it ain't here quite yet. But soon.

thehod

11-04-2009, 11:45 PM

If you don't think digital will take over soon, you're delusional. At 3.50 - 3.99 a comic, i haven't tried a new series in a long time. At a 99 cents download i can check 3 new comics for less than one. Sorry you're too narrow-minded to see that.

I'm gonna agree with this.

Digital comics are going to be the future.

We can stick our heads in the sand and say how reading comics on a screen will never catch on, and people will always prefer to read comics in print, blissfully ignoring the fact that thousands of people already read comics on a computer screen illegally anyway, and the moment that a valid portable manner becomes available they'll read them that way too.

Just because comics of the past and today are designed to be read in print, rather than digitally doesn't mean that they will always stay this way. The potential of writing comics specifically for a digital medium opens up a whole new field of comics writing and art.

I see this as a really exciting time when the medium can evolve and adapt to a new canvas, rather than final nail in the coffin.

The "Jeez, just go to the comic shop dude" is missing the entire point that there is a large body of people out there that want digitial comics in a portable manner. Why walk away from that potential audience?

StoneGold

11-04-2009, 11:48 PM

I'm gonna agree with this.

Digital comics are going to be the future.

We can stick our heads in the sand and say how reading comics on a screen will never catch on, and people will always prefer to read comics in print, blissfully ignoring the fact that thousands of people already read comics on a computer screen illegally anyway, and the moment that a valid portable manner becomes available they'll read them that way too.

Just because comics of the past and today are designed to be read in print, rather than digitally doesn't mean that they will always stay this way. The potential of writing comics specifically for a digital medium opens up a whole new field of comics writing and art.

I see this as a really exciting time when the medium can evolve and adapt to a new canvas, rather than final nail in the coffin.

The "Jeez, just go to the comic shop dude" is missing the entire point that there is a large body of people out there that want digitial comics in a portable manner. Why walk away from that potential audience?

Ditto!

http://www.morethings.com/fan/blazing_saddles/slim_pickens-harvey_korman.jpg

howyadoin

11-04-2009, 11:49 PM

The "Jeez, just go to the comic shop dude" is missing the entire point that there is a large body of people out there that want digitial comics in a portable manner. Why walk away from that potential audience?Well, it's hardly the first time that Marvel or DC turned its back on a potential audience.

thehod

11-04-2009, 11:57 PM

Well, it's hardly the first time that Marvel or DC turned its back on a potential audience.

Blazing trails has never really been their strong suit, has it?

StoneGold

11-04-2009, 11:58 PM

Blazing trails has never really been their strong suit, has it?

I don't know so much about that, more like cutting off noses to spite face kind of things.

howyadoin

11-04-2009, 11:59 PM

Blazing trails has never really been their strong suit, has it?"Keep the industry small; then it's easier for us to control it."

Hell of a corporate slogan.

Gary_B

11-05-2009, 12:00 AM

I'm gonna agree with this.

Digital comics are going to be the future.

We can stick our heads in the sand and say how reading comics on a screen will never catch on, and people will always prefer to read comics in print, blissfully ignoring the fact that thousands of people already read comics on a computer screen illegally anyway, and the moment that a valid portable manner becomes available they'll read them that way too.

Just because comics of the past and today are designed to be read in print, rather than digitally doesn't mean that they will always stay this way. The potential of writing comics specifically for a digital medium opens up a whole new field of comics writing and art.

I see this as a really exciting time when the medium can evolve and adapt to a new canvas, rather than final nail in the coffin.

The "Jeez, just go to the comic shop dude" is missing the entire point that there is a large body of people out there that want digitial comics in a portable manner. Why walk away from that potential audience?

You might be right, but the iPod Touch isn't it. Reading a comic one frame at a time doesn't capture the same experience as reading comic pages. Much of the beauty of the art work of comics is lost when you fragment it like that. I have no problem believing that comics can work as a digital medium but that time hasn't arrived yet.

thehod

11-05-2009, 12:08 AM

You might be right, but the iPod Touch isn't it. Reading a comic one frame at a time doesn't capture the same experience as reading comic pages. Much of the beauty of the art work of comics is lost when you fragment it like that. I have no problem believing that comics can work as a digital medium but that time hasn't arrived yet.

True enough, but which needs to come first, the canvas or the need for the canvas.

At the moment the iPod touch is the best device, because its the most popular and it does the job. The fact that it, at the moment, can't stand up to the printed page is immaterial. As the demand for a better device becomes greater, the more that development from both the technical side and the artistic side will come.

In the meantime, the best thing that Marvel and DC could do would be to make their back catalogue available digitally. I'll expect that to happen at the same time that Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway and Megan Fox knock on my door looking to become my sex slaves.

dupont2005

11-05-2009, 12:10 AM

i don't think digital comics are going to "take over" any more than snagging pics off google has taken over the art book market, or e-books has destroyed the paperback market. well, actually maybe a little more. the monthly floppies may be dying off for the most part in mainstream comics, but trades and small press quarterly floppies seem like they would be just as marketable as ever. maybe the higher end market of hardcover omnibuses will increase with the death of floppies as well. but the digital comic market will open up several new forms of comics and several new ways to market them. free comics supported by advertising, cheap downloads, and so on. video comics, more traditional style sequential illustrated comics, i think it can return the 3 panel strip to the type of popularity it once had.

i know younger people will not care as much as some older comic readers what type of format it's in, and i know more casual readers would much prefer lower priced or free digital comics, but just like art books, some things have to be seen on the printed page and some people are willing to pay a premium for it. that demographic is just shrinking because of a lot of different factors, rising cost of floppies being only one of them.

StoneGold

11-05-2009, 12:11 AM

True enough, but which needs to come first, the canvas or the need for the canvas.

At the moment the iPod touch is the best device, because its the most popular and it does the job. The fact that it, at the moment, can't stand up to the printed page is immaterial. As the demand for a better device becomes greater, the more that development from both the technical side and the artistic side will come.

In the meantime, the best thing that Marvel and DC could do would be to make their back catalogue available digitally. I'll expect that to happen at the same time that Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway and Megan Fox knock on my door looking to become my sex slaves.

It'd also be better if the comics on the Touch were actually made for the Touch. Format issues are key. If a story was actually designed on a per-panel basis, it might make a better handheld comic.

thehod

11-05-2009, 12:15 AM

It'd also be better if the comics on the Touch were actually made for the Touch. Format issues are key. If a story was actually designed on a per-panel basis, it might make a better handheld comic.

And the more demand there is for portable digital comics, the more stories will be written and drawn in this manner.

I see it less of a closing of one door, and more of an opening of another.

Dupont is right, there will still be a certain amount of demand for printed versions of comics, and there will always be the colletable market, but digital comics will be a large part of the industrys future.

Lucien21

11-05-2009, 12:49 AM

Gary_B

11-05-2009, 12:57 AM

The written word is the last industry to make the jump, but it will make it.

People scoffed when Vinyl moved to CD or when MP3 players and Itunes appeared.

They scoffed when VHS moved to DVD then Bluray and now Netflix streaming etc

It's natural progression that books, magazines, Newspapers, comics etc are all pushed towards an electronic future.

After all it's the product that is important not the medium.

Also it will put an end to the obsessive collecting aspect of comics, the vacumn sealing them for all eternity never to be read again because they might be worth something sh*t.

Most of the transitions you described are easy sells, though. CDs had better sound quality than Vinyl and were smaller. MP3s delivered huge storage capability and portability without skipping. So far nothing electronic has offered any clear improvement over books and comics.

But I do think it will happen.

howyadoin

11-05-2009, 12:59 AM

Most of the transitions you described are easy sells, though. CDs had better sound quality than Vinyl and were smaller. MP3s delivered huge storage capability and portability without skipping. So far nothing electronic has offered any clear improvement over books and comics.I'd say you're getting that same jump in storage capacity, but otherwise you're right.

For now, of course.

StoneGold

11-05-2009, 12:59 AM

So far nothing electronic has offered any clear improvement over books and comics.

But I do think it will happen.

Portability. Went on a vacation with an e-reader, read something like 5 books on a device smaller than a paperback.

Lucien21

11-05-2009, 01:51 AM

I think there is more to it than portability (I have a Sony Reader and it's great).

It's access from anywhere (if the device has wifi or 3G) for buying new material, the ability to search your files and organise them easily, extra features that you can't get with paper alone like motion or audio or script to completion layers, ease of use for buying new comics (kind of like how DVR allows you to record whole series with one button touch you could subscribe to a monthly and have each issue automatically downloaded) and hopefully the cost would come down (Who wouldn't buy more comics every week if the price was $0.99 or certainly less than $4.99 that some comics are).

Sure it does have it's downsides like battery life etc, but those will always improve.

I think it is just waiting for the right device to come along. Like the Ipod was for music and the market will take off.

whiteshark

11-05-2009, 02:28 AM

I dont think the digital comics will take over the print comics at all.

There are digital books since at least 1993,and these have not replaced the books until now.And the book market in terms of publishing is going still strong as far as i know.

Digital comics will be a alternate way to read comics,but it won`t replace the printed comics.After all there is nothing like reading a comic book in paper in your own hands to who collects them.

thehod

11-05-2009, 02:51 AM

Also it will put an end to the obsessive collecting aspect of comics, the vacumn sealing them for all eternity never to be read again because they might be worth something sh*t.

I actually think the collecting aspect of the industry will grow with the advent of digital comics, but it will be much more of a collecting and completist mentality, rather than a speculator one.

Beto_Machado

11-05-2009, 08:03 AM

The Apple tablet would be the perfect device (assuming it's all real), but i think with the iPod and iPhone being so sucessfull we'll have both formats together. Most devices shows the full page then slide over the panels, so there would be no need to reformat everything. I don't think the Tablet will "take over" until it drops to the 250-300 range, which is what the Kindle costs.

Monthlies will probably become an even smaller market, while trades will continue to sell better, IMO.

Thanks for the replies, by the way.

jediracer

11-05-2009, 09:07 AM

Call me old-fashioned, but when I want to buy something to read comics, I just buy comics.

old-fashioned

pariah-1972

11-05-2009, 11:06 AM

I like buying comics but i don't like the stress of having to take care of them and keep them in good condition (yes i'm lazy)

thehod

11-05-2009, 01:23 PM

I like buying comics but i don't like the stress of having to take care of them and keep them in good condition (yes i'm lazy)

So don't.

Its not bothered me for years, and I've got comics from 25 years ago that are in excellent condition and comics from last week where the covers have been creased to buggery and vice versa.

whiteshark

11-05-2009, 01:46 PM

The new comics,have a very high quality in paper.
The other day i was having a lunch in Mac Donalds and at the same time i was reading a Marvel comic and a bit of Ketchup droped to the middle of a page,after taking the Ketchup out it didnt even left a stain in the page,looks as new.True story.

The quality of the new comics are soo good that the comics almost take care of themselfs.:biggrin:

howyadoin

11-05-2009, 01:47 PM

old-fashionedHe did kinda ask for that.

pariah-1972

11-05-2009, 01:50 PM

So don't.

Its not bothered me for years, and I've got comics from 25 years ago that are in excellent condition and comics from last week where the covers have been creased to buggery and vice versa.I don't like paying money for a comic and it get destroyed, which is why i think digital downloading is such a great idea.

No bagging or boarding and you can keep the stuff you like and the ones you don't you can delete.