<VV> Communique (this is Re to several posts)

Wed Feb 18 18:46:35 EST 2009

How do you "disseminate that information for a few cents" to the large 
number of members who don't use computers?  You've got to have a way or your 
idea is useless.
RonH

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tim Verthein" <minoxphotographer at yahoo.com>
To: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 2:52 PM
Subject: Re: <VV> Communique (this is Re to several posts)

>
> Nope. You can't duplicate the magazine at home. Nope. No way. Can't be 
> done. You're right. 100% Totally. Yup.
>
> And high speed internet is rapidly becoming available everywhere on the 
> planet. I'm in a teensy town of 400 people in northern Minnesota. There's 
> high speed at my house, at the coffee shop half a block away, at the 
> library a block away and at my work in the next town. Not only that, there 
> are three completely different ways to GET high speed internet in this 
> small town, DSL, Satellite, and cable.
>
> Yes, the magazine is beautiful. And yes, I like it too.  When the postage 
> rates go up again in a couple months, and again next year, and the year 
> after that, and membership continues to drop thru attrition if nothing 
> else, and the cost continues to go up to $50 a year, $60 a year.. at what 
> point does a club of a few thousand stop trying to put out a magazine that 
> rivals what major publications of tens of thousands, or hundreds of 
> thoussands do, when they can disseminate that information for a few cents 
> instead?
>
> I really like a small circulation photo magazine.  I can't afford to 
> subscribe 'cause it's nearly $50 a year (that's just a magazine,, no other 
> benefits) so I buy a copy every now and then.  Wanna pay $8.95 an issue 
> for the Communique?  The day is coming, folks and no matter how much we 
> whine about it, it's the truth.
>
> I'd be curious to know the file size of the photos you were sent.  We you 
> getting filels meant to be printed 8x10 high resolution?  or snapshots or 
> web prints?  Photos sent in emails should be UNDER 50k in size. My folks 
> have dialup and I send them photos all the time.  It makes a HUGE 
> difference.
>
> You'll no doubt become one of the few we lose to save the club tens of 
> thousands of dollars to keep things going. I have an attic FULL of 
> magazines I've saved over the last 40 years. I never read them.  And my 
> kids will recycle them quick as a flash when I kick off.  But I love each 
> and every one of those magazines dearly.  But even I have to think 
> realistically.
>
> The world is changing, and electronic delivery of darn near everything is 
> normal now, especially to younger people and people like me who have had 
> to adapt quickly to technology like this in my work. I love film.  I don't 
> shoot it anymore 'cause it's just not practical. I love recording on tape, 
> but it's just not practical.  I'll do it for my own enjoyment and 
> satisfaction, but the places that need my audio, and the magazines that 
> publish my photos don't want anything to do with film. At some point the 
> time comes to make the transition, like it or not.
>
> Downloading these things is hardly clunky.  I can go from typing this 
> e-mail, to having a full download of our clubs newsletter saved to my hard 
> drive, and on the screen reading it in less than 60 seconds.  And I can 
> make the print big.  I can store hundreds of pages on a CD or my hard 
> drive.  I can print what I want.  I can blow up the print so I can SEE it 
> with the click of a mouse. Clunky or not, these sorts of transitions 
> happen all the time and we all hate them.
>
> I've been a radio announcer for 33 years. I had to give up tape reels, 
> then cassettes, then two different computer formats.  We stopped sending 
> our reels of tape and email commercials all over the country now.  I had 
> to transition to playing music off a hard drive rather than a 45.  I 
> didn't like it, I did it, and now I love it.  But I still have 20,000 
> records in my house that I enjoy personally.
>
> There are TWO magazines I do subscribe too that actually let you subscribe 
> to their ONLINE versions to save a couple bucks and get them faster.  I'm 
> sure no one is printing out 150 page issues of Popular Photography!
>
> It saves a TON of money, a TON of paper and resources.  It saves the 
> environment, it makes the world a better place.  Except for a few who will 
> fight the transition.
>
> Maybe Corsa could do a yearly book, ONE mailing, sell yearly "Yearbook" 
> ads. And take orders during the year for who wants them. Print a few 
> spares. Publish so people can pick them up at the convention if they like, 
> mail out the rest after the yearly get together.
>
> It only makes sense.
>
> When most people want to buy a Corvair, or a part, think they say to 
> themselves "Hmm..where's the last issue of the Communique, I need a fuel 
> pump or maybe I'll buy another Corvair".  Nope, they stroll to their 
> computers spend 24 seconds doing a search and finding what they want.  How 
> many Corvairs can you find for sale on line right now? !00, 200, 3000? 
> Hhow many in the last Communique? Couple dozen. Maybe. Some of those ads 
> were sent in 6 weeks before you got the magazine.
>
> The on-line idea can't be dead. The club, or people who refuse to move 
> along with the times are who die.  For a club the size of ours, online 
> only makes sense. The national Edsel club I used to be in put out a 
> quarterly shiny pretty magazine 4 times a year (which basically sucked, 
> nothing to read, few ads, few display ads that never changed, and lots of 
> club legalese that no one read) and they sent out a monthly xeroxed, 
> stapled newsletter the other months. I don't know what they do now, but 
> they were on the right track.
>
> "The times they are a changin'"  And Bob knew of what he spoke.
>
> I know some would consider online edition a step backward, most of the 
> world would consider it a huge step into the modern age. As an online 
> magazine, the pictures can ALL be color, you can imbed video, yo can 
> include audio of vintage Corvair commercials, all sorts of fun things.
>
> Darn, don't I know how to stir things up, eh?
>
> Tim in Bovey
>
>
>
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