Paper or digital?

[IndigoPrime]

Comixology allows that now (I've been able to save some of my comics off as CBZs) - or is it just for certain publishers?

It's opt-in. Plus they messed up the UX on iPad after getting into a hissy fit with Apple to the point I just don't want to use the service anyway.

I also have hundreds of comics at home that rarely get read as the sheer weight of numbers and lack of space makes it so off-putting: I hope to construct a steel workshop-like shelving system for them later this year though, which will hopefully help matters of getting easy access to these suckers.

I have an old steel shelving system from IKEA that they no longer do. Quite a lot of my comics are in boxes stored on that. It's not pretty, but they are at least reasonably accessible.

[Chris Tresson]

Forever print.
Death to digital!! 

[Eamonn Clarke]

I get both

[skybluerob]

Really interesting reading everyones thoughts on this issue.

I agree DRM is an issue, I would never buy for comics that are DRM.  If the service/company goes down you have lost access to everything.  You are, in effect, only renting access. 

Fair play to 2000ad for offering DRM free downloads.

I'm a little on the fence still about digital/print. 

Here are my thoughts:

DIGITAL:

PROS - Doesn't take up any space
- Don't need to worry about getting a decent light source
- Cheaper
- Can carry your entire collection around in your pocket.
- Can read anywhere on mulitpile devices.
- Easily accessed without having to trawl through back issues, although it can be argued that trawling through back issues is part of the fun.

CONS:
- Screen isn't as nice as print, the reading experience isn't as good
- No real collection as such
- No resale value
- No nostalgia value
- Seems less valid if not in print (ie anyone can put a comic on the internet, it takes special comics to get printing and adds validity)


If I'm honest, digital is the sensible option but print is my preferred option for the reading and overall experience. 



That's why the combi-subscription is best, I don't understand why it is so difficult to implement, just offer digital at a reduced rate if you have a print subscription.

Think they would be surprised at the rate of take up.

And someone commented that I might be mental suggesting to read print then recycle.  You have a point, I may possibly be mental :-).

Perhaps donating them would be better, might create a few new fans.

[Rog69]

I converted to digital earlier this year, around the time the Android version of the 2000AD app was released and I much prefer it to paper now.

I don't have the room for the paper progs and I have lost interest in collecting these days so it's all about the content for me. I also travel a fair bit so it's good to have access to my prog when I am away from home.

The only downside for me has been the Android app itself, I have come very close to cancelling my sub in frustration on more than one occasion due to my prog failing to appear or the app losing my login details. At one point it was happening every other week. The support guys have always sorted it out promptly and the latest version of the app seems to have improved things.

[IndigoPrime]

- Can carry your entire collection around in your pocket.

I... doubt that. Well, unless you have a laptop with a monster HDD. But you can easily enough have a ton of stuff on you at any point, and with cunning use of networks and cloud, can have reasonable access to your stuff. (I use Chunky on iPad, which with the one-off IAP adds a bunch of local network access loveliness, so I can download comics from my Mac. It'll also, interestingly, download folders of images and auto-compile them into comics—handy for scans that haven't been turned into CBRs yet.)

[Dandontdare]

Can I reassure everyone that there are absolutely no plans whatsoever to move to a digital-only 2000 AD. We're a print comic and, as has already been proven elsewhere, digital sales don't cannibalise our print ones - they often boost them. Go with whatever option you prefer, seriously.

I didn't meant to suggest that this was a current possibility - I was just imagining a dystopian future sometime before the nuclear apocalypse but after the government barcode tattoos.

[skybluerob]

I converted to digital earlier this year, around the time the Android version of the 2000AD app was released and I much prefer it to paper now.

What do you read it on?

[Albion]

Digital Prog and Meg for me. Purchased from the shop and files backed up on three hard drives so I won't lose them.
I read them using Comic Zeal on an iPad. I went digital due to space issues and I also enjoy reading comics on an iPad. I enjoy the portability of it too. I can get through quite a few comics on a train journey and I often read them at work too while the machines I operate are running.
I do buy the Case Files in book form and any other collections I fancy, both from Tharg and elsewhere.

[Rog69]

I converted to digital earlier this year, around the time the Android version of the 2000AD app was released and I much prefer it to paper now.

What do you read it on?

A Nexus 7. It's not ideal but manageable, you wouldn't really want to go much smaller than a 7 inch screen.

If you want to see how it reads on your own device there is some free content on the app you can grab.

[IndigoPrime]

Comic Zeal on an iPad

Have you tried Chunky? If not, at least check the free version. I was totally into Comic Zeal at one point, but am a total Chunky convert now.

[Albion]

Comic Zeal on an iPad

Have you tried Chunky? If not, at least check the free version. I was totally into Comic Zeal at one point, but am a total Chunky convert now.

No, but after seeing you mention it here I may well check it out soon. 

[sheridan]

Digital Prog and Meg for me. Purchased from the shop and files backed up on three hard drives so I won't lose them.

In at least two different locations, I hope?

[sheridan]

DIGITAL:
PROS - Doesn't take up any space

A little pedantic, but they do take at least some space (admittedly less than forty years of paper comics).

- Don't need to worry about getting a decent light source

Um, less pedantic - but lack of electricity will definitely hamper any attempts at reading on a digital device...

Perhaps donating them would be better, might create a few new fans.

Definitely - at the least there are hospitals and doctor's waiting rooms with any amount of tatty old tat on their tables that could stand a dose of thrill-power :-)

[sheridan]

p.s. my own thoughts - I've suffered hard disk crashes and flooding at home, and the comics which were hit by flood water are a lot more readable than the contents of the hard drive which crashed...

(re: the comics - many casualties, but no deaths - and all are still readable, if crinkled at the edges)