Comixology 4.0 - not sounding good.

Colin YNWA · 16 February, 2022, 06:10:16 PM

Okayyyy this makes me a little nervous. I have quite a few comics on Comixology and its being eaten by Amazon who now own the company and the App's latest update 4.0 is the future of the platform. And folks who have moved to it seem to be having a pretty terrible time, including our very own PJ. There plenty of coverage, for example

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/the-morning-after-the-comixology-app-update-its-not-looking-good/

Anyway I've not updated to the new version and the overwhelming view seems to be if you can avoid it do. But how long will that last?

I've just checked by Kindle app - which the new Comixology verison is meant to be based on - and that's meant to be syned with my Comixology collection and there's about 20% in there at most. I've not done too much digging, but I'm not sure how I'd resolve that, so that's a concern and to be honest shouldn't involve having to dig. Though to be fair i tried to download and read something and that was okay so fingers crossed there.

Anyway the point of this is to see if anyone has upgraded yet (again the advise is don't!) and to share advice when we do.

broodblik · 16 February, 2022, 06:23:40 PM

I wrote to them and basically the only answer back is read the FAQ and that is it. What do these people do understand is that people reading comics do not want to mix them with other purchases. If you are unhappy about the end of ComiXology while it gets absorbed into the mainstream called Amazon try: https://www.izneo.com/en/

IndigoPrime · 16 February, 2022, 07:58:32 PM

It's an accessibility shitshow too, to the degree it would be dangerous for me (and therefore millions of others) to even use the app in this state. What a colossal fuck-up.

Richard · 16 February, 2022, 08:17:54 PM

I like the plug for Revellion at the end of that BC article!

IndigoPrime · 16 February, 2022, 08:23:47 PM

Yep. I'm genuinely fucking angry* about the Comixology thing. Also 99% certain support just lied to me on Twitter—or at best didn't understand what I meant. I've not since had another response, mind, after clarifying.

* and still fucking woozy after using it

EDIT: Comixology support has now replied, thanking me for clarifying, and saying the issue will be brought up with the team. I won't hold my breath. Amazon still hasn't fixed this in Kindle. (And nor did Marvel Unlimited ever update its app to remove transitions.)

broodblik · 17 February, 2022, 02:44:55 AM

Reading the article it is clear that getting more money is more important than keeping your customers happy. Well let's see how well you with zero customers. The history is filled with big corporates which cared more for the "button-line" than the people who enabled them to become big corporates .

Colin YNWA · 17 February, 2022, 07:42:47 PM

Well that didn't take long. I've been forced to update already (on Android) and a new Bleeding Cool article suggests the same is true for iOS... I've run the update and have a holding screen at the moment, one hopes while me comics are being transfered... I'll report back.

Good luck people.

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/will-amazon-give-comixology-users-a-full-refund-if-they-wish/

Colin YNWA · 17 February, 2022, 08:06:02 PM

Well I seem to have got away with it. I think all my books are there. The interface isn't as tidy as the old App but I wouldn't say unnavigable - for me at least. Books are quick to download and I'm not seeing any real lose in image quality, but that might be my untrained eye I'll let others judge that more.

The online store is just horrible, but that's okay I'll just spend less there until they sort that - which feedback suggests they will have to.

I hope Indigo Prime manages to sort his accessiblility issues, things like that are really worrying. I've also read US and UK (for some reason?) readers are getting the best of it. I hear its much worse for folks in other countries - which sound rough to say the least.

Hopefully the backlash forces a response of these key issues.

IndigoPrime · 17 February, 2022, 09:58:37 PM

I'm 100% certain my issues will not be solved. It uses the Kindle engine. No-one at Amazon has ever shown the slightest interest in dealing with vestibular accessibility. (By contrast, it took Rebellion very little time; and the old Comixology rolled in a fix when I asked.)

In terms of countries, US gets subs. Nowhere else does. DRM-free is gone for anything new. Quality is down across the board, yet file sizes have jumped. My guess is none of this will be fixed either. If you own the market and all you care about is money, why bother fixing things?

Tjm86 · 17 February, 2022, 10:16:07 PM

Gosh. As a Luddite who still subscribes to paper copies / luxuriates in physical editions it is a little difficult to be upset at this news.

TBH I stopped with comixology / kindle a while back for a very simple reason: I own the copies I purchase and can decide what to do with them.

Anything even remotely connected with Amazon on the other hand is 'there' property despite what I paid.

Factor in the reality that there is little / no difference between electronic and physical prices and you have to marvel at the own goal here.

So you have to admire the Americans. They have taken a golden opportunity and turned it into golden rain (sorry).

broodblik · 18 February, 2022, 02:30:03 AM

Now the comiXology site is being redirected to Amazon's site. I have already noticed that some items have increased pricing as well, not sure how this will help withe the better "experience".

IndigoPrime · 18 February, 2022, 11:11:20 AM

The enforced upgrade thing was really shitty. Want to stick with v3? Tough! Upgrade! Now! Oh, the app doesn't work as well and the quality is worse and there are animations everywhere and... Enjoy the new experience, folks! There's nowhere else to go now anyway!

Urgh. The only winners here are illegal download sites.

sheridan · 18 February, 2022, 12:25:56 PM

Quote from: broodblik on 17 February, 2022, 02:44:55 AM
Reading the article it is clear that getting more money is more important than keeping your customers happy. Well let's see how well you with zero customers. The history is filled with big corporates which cared more for the "button-line" than the people who enabled them to become big corporates .

I've not heard the term 'button-line' before - is it something like asset stripping a company?

sheridan · 18 February, 2022, 12:30:10 PM

p.s. early in my internet life mp3.com got bought out in the early 2000s the new owners relaunched the website - resulting in deleting all of the music already there. It was around that time that I figured out that any online service could disappear without warning or compensation and so I keep to physical (or at least local) copies.

IndigoPrime · 18 February, 2022, 12:54:31 PM

Hence DRM-free. If comics companies aren't willing to sell in that form, anything you buy should be treated more like a rental. And, really, such companies don't deserve your business. They might argue it's all about dealing with piracy, but that's bollocks. It's about lock-in. If you want a comic, right now, it's online, for free. Companies should be making it easier for people to spend money and have a good user experience, not making things worse. (2000 AD does well here, broadly, because you get the choice. You can use the app or download DRM-free copies from the website. Assuming you use the same ID, whatever you buy in one place shows up in the other.)