Railway Herald to become paid-for?

[Pumbaa]

The Railway Herald (RH) long-standing free railway publication has formed a join venture with Ian Allan Publishing.

An advert at the rear of this months MR and gen from elsewhere online indicates new features such as video content, but it will not be free (well "free for a limited period only").

Website has gone down to be updated overnight, full announcement due tomorrow.

If it is now £££, I won't be reading it. Generally a daily browse of any forum gives you better information than their weekly round-up.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

It's a good little website and their magazine is quite good, I used to download it, but it has slipped to the back of my mind recently. I wouldn't like it to become chargeable, but if it does I simply won't bother looking. As much of a shame as it would be, it wouldn't be a hole in the world.

 

[asylumxl]

Very rarely does anything in RH ever jump out at me and grab my interest. I don't think there's anything there that couldn't be obtained online for free.

 

[crewmeal]

I think many have found the site useful over the years and if they start charging then they will shoot themselves in the foot. Not many will want to fork out for a revamped website that can't/doesn't improve on present content. Look at BBC.co.uk, same information different format. At least that's free - for now!

 

[table38]

Trouble is, in order to stop people downloading the pdf's and sticking them on here er - somewhere else, they will have to have some awful 3rd party reader.

Frankly I've enough cruft on my PC already.

 

[OxtedL]

Ah. I wondered where they might be heading with this.

They nearly lost me when they introduced the having to log in. Their website really isn't up to much, it refuses to unsubscribe me from their barrage of weekly notifications, which is incredibly annoying.

If they start charging, I imagine a good chunk of their readership will surely vanish overnight. As others have said, it's a good little thing but not worth paying for.

They've stated they are expanding their editorial team, which I imagine isn't easily reversible and must be costly, so it sounds like this may be the beginning of the end as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Geezertronic]

As a regular Railway Herald reader, if that was true I would be very disappointed if they started charging - I wouldn't pay. Suppose you never get owt for nowt anymore

 

[the sniper]

I haven't downloaded the magazine since you've had to register to do so. I'm just too lazy to register, and that's without having to pay...

Still look through the photo gallery though, as they have some pretty good contributors/interesting shots.

 

[merlodlliw]

It is a current trend, but going paid for in a recession, means its on its last legs finance wise, but any advertising will suffer due to loss of readership.

I will never subscribe to any website, or pay TV, my choice


Bob

 

[table38]

Let's start our own RailUK forums magazine!

 

[phil beard]

My contribution will be taken off if it goes into subscription. I give my efforts free just for people to enjoy not for the financial benefit of others. However, let's wait and see and avoid pointless speculation for now.

 

[EltonRoad]

It's gone down overnight because the magazine is relaunching in a brand new format, first issue out tomorrow. The web site has been in need of an overhaul for a while, let's hope it gets one from tomorrow. I have been reading RH for quite a while, at no time have they said it will become chargeable.

 

[gswindale]

Their website really isn't up to much, it refuses to unsubscribe me from their barrage of weekly notifications, which is incredibly annoying.

That seems odd. I get one email a week from them advising that the magazine is available.

I do miss getting it delivered by email as opposed to downloading it from the website.

All will become clear in due course.

Sent by Androids

 

[RPM]

I wrote RH off when they suddenly made it a requirement to register. No idea what my password is and you can't set up a new account with the same email address. To hell with it. Certainly wouldn't pay for it anyway.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The Railway Herald (RH) long-standing free railway publication has formed a join venture with Ian Allan Publishing.

I would have thought Ian Allen Publishing had enough variation in their current trenche of railway magazines without the need for any new affiliations. That said, I only take Modern Railways, but I know many others who subscribe to their other publications.

 

[cj_1985]

its fair to say that untill the relaunched site and magazine/pdf is available all we can do is speculate...

but honestly, from the comments already mentioned .. i'm just hoping that RH doesnt head down the same road it was going a few years ago when Colin J Marsden got involved with the magazine...
at that time all that was happening was the news got posted to the website daily, and you were getting the "magazine/PDF at the weekend which seemed like nothing more than a load of press releases "stapled" together.
and at that time there was talk of the magazine going to a "pay" format.

like others, i have to wonder what "Ian Allan" want involved with the magazine for... im not saying that RH isn't a handy facility... but in the current(previous) format surely any income is going to be limited (even though publishing costs are probably considerably lower than physical magazines).

 

[theblackwatch]

its fair to say that untill the relaunched site and magazine/pdf is available all we can do is speculate...

Looks like we've got to wait a bit longer than planned - 12.00 became 13.00 and is now 16.00!

 

[phil beard]

... and 16.10 has come and gone as well!

 

[WatcherZero]

Seems to be up for me, '4 weeks free' issues earlier than 300 free while the site is setup to charge for issues 300 and beyond.

13 months subscribtion £18.00 (13 for the price of 12 until 28th feb)
6 months £11
3 months £6.50
1 month £3.00

3 month and longer subscription includes free website access while 1 month subscription doesnt.

 

[CC 72100]

Well, we guessed right Now £18 a year. Had a feeling this was gonna happen as soon as we now had to create an account with them. Like many others have said though, the amjority of news in there can easily be attained by a 10 minute browse through the forums.

 

[warriorofrovac]

A subscription for £18 a year, or 36p a week apparently.

Regardless of how much it costs, I won't be subscribing. It being a free, weekly magazine was the only reason I started to read it and even then, I only skimmed it and looked at the pictures.

Free for four weeks..okay, cool. Goodbye after that.

 

[WatcherZero]

Why has Railway Herald taken the route of ‘Subscriptions’ for the magazine?

The magazine started as a ‘one-off’ publication in 2005 and quickly grew into a hobby. Within 12 months it had become a part-time job for one, with help from other people. Now six years later, it is a full-time job for several people. Only a certain amount of expansion within the magazine can be accommodated with the existing team, and this is one reason why we have brought new editorial members on board. All of this requires funding, and although we are grateful to our advertisers, we were faced with a stark reality of charging readers a small amount, less than 40p per issue, or ceasing the publication totally.

.....

 

[Old Hill Bank]

Not paying for that

 

[cj_1985]

i've just managed to get the "new" site to load, and quite frankly while its all very impressive/flashy...
the fact that the magazine is no longer a downloadable PDF is the thing that makes me unwilling to pay for it...


the per issue price is reasonable... provided the content is of a high enough quality.

But like many people that live outside the main towns and cities, i have a p*ss poor internet linespeed... and if i have to pay in the first place, and then have to sit and wait while every page or 2 loads/buffers before i can view it (rather than start it downloading, go away and then come back later to find the full thing ready)... then frankly, its no longer convenient...

i can understand and respect the publisher wanting to "secure" the magazine to prevent one person paying/subscribing, downloading and then emailing it to other people...
but IMHO this newer method of online publishing is just not as convenient.

untill such time as the likes of BT improve linespeeds... im afraid that RH is going to be losing my "custom". Even then, i don't know that RH is going to offer something that i cant get from the monthly magazines... and i don't just mean the convenience of being able to read them while using the toilet...

 

[phil beard]

I may be incorrect, but the magazine will cost £18 but the images section is still free access. Is this correct? If not, it's goodbye from me and even if it is still free I certainly won't be submitting any images for the magazine to publish.

 

[ukrob]

i've just managed to get the "new" site to load, and quite frankly while its all very impressive/flashy...
the fact that the magazine is no longer a downloadable PDF is the thing that makes me unwilling to pay for it...

This.

Some of the blurb justifying the cost is total rubbish too. Apparently it is now compatible with loads of mobile devices - I bet every single device it runs on now could load a PDF file just fine!

Also not keen on the portrait orientation. Too much zooming and scrolling on my 22" widescreen display. Landscape was perfect.

Nothing in it that you can't get on this or other websites.

I think anyone taking a 12 month subscription would be very foolish - it won't last that long!

 

[Proud Salopian]

A shame this.

Oh well. Will have to spend that bit longer in the public library that is WH Smiths!

 

[theblackwatch]

The format of the magazine is quite common in the digital publishing world. I'm sure if it were in PDF format then one person would subscribe and sent it round to all their mates (not different to the print world when people pass round their copy of Rail Express, Railway Magazine etc) but worse still could upload it onto a website or server - clearly something no publisher would want!

 

[Geezertronic]

Shame, anybody know of any other free ones out there that I can migrate to?

 

[andyfrommk]

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