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Rik, you gotta help me understand this. Look, if everyone doesn't get a sleeve, cool. If everyone GETS a sleeve, cooler. If subscribers get squat while non-subscribers get TWO FREAKIN' Labels than that's just mental. No wonder MA is bleeding cash. Why don't you just get rid of the large cardboard sheet thingy and SAVE THOSE PENNIES instead of taking away loyal subscribers sleeves, eh?
 
Btw, I bought the thing...as evidence.
 
W. Raider (highly confused at this point)

Not fully reading my post earns you even fewer points.

"I bought the thing...as evidence."

Bought, as in purchased, as in paid for...that's not too difficult is it now?

Also, yes the newstand issue's Cardboard Thingy? is most certainly not an isolated case with MacAddict. However, as I did pay $7.99 + Tax for the MA issue to have as reference and evidence I think I'd certainly pay even $1.00 more per issue if that covered a freakin' sleeve's overhead.

Someone still has yet to point out the logic of the SECOND cut-along-the-dotted-lines jewel-case label that non-subscribers get. By including that MacAddict is encouraging users to use it instead and do what with the sleeve? Toss it in the garbage thereby throwing out those precious 6cents that they claim they need to cut back on for subscribers.

It makes no sense!

W. Raider

Here are some observations I noted comparing the susbscriber's issue with the Newsstand issue.

01) Newsstand issues get a CD Sleeve. Nothing new there.
02) Newstand issues get a larger than the magazine overview sheet printed on heavy cardstock.
03) Newsstand issues covers are printed on MUCH heaver cardstock than the subscriber's issues thin paper covers.
04) Newsstand issues have the CD Sleeve attached to the large cardboard overview sheet with what I've always lovingly called "snot-tape".
05) Newstand issues large cardstock overview sheet has a cut-along-the-dotted-lines SECOND CD label that the users is to cut out and place in a cd jewel-case. It includes both front and back labels.

I wonder how much of the newstands cover price would vanish if a few of those things were equal with the seemingly paultry atributes of the subscribers issues.

Having never seen, let alone held, a newsstand issue since Issue #01 I had no idea how good newsstand purchasers have it. It's hardly worth the $7.99 price tag but certainly there can be a trade-off somewhere. At the very least print both issues covers on the same thin paper to save hassle and costs.

Oh, and the plastic the bag is made out of is thicker too!

W. Raider

I have no problem with different packaging for the newsstand copies. There are good reasons for packaging it differently. It's a different product for a different market. The newsstand version has to stand out visually from the others around it on the rack. I think this may also have been part of the idea behind the garish neon color graphics of the early "classic" issues. The cardboard also helps the magazine feel more substantial and give the buyer a sense of getting their money's worth, especially since they can't browse the articles before they buy. Think of it as a "deluxe edition", for which one pays a premium price, kind of like buying a book in a hardback edition, instead of the mass-market paperback version.

The subscription version has to meet a whole different set of challenges, namely postal regulations, which are based on weight and dimensions. Deviating from those regulations earns a less favorable postage rate from the USPS. I'm sure the newsstand version looks great on the rack, it would doubtless be prohibitively expensive to mail. But there is also the consideration of packaging the magazine and disc to WITHSTAND THE RIGORS OF SHIPPING!  And that's where the logic of doing away with the CD sleeve breaks down. Besides looking nice, the sleeve protects the disc, helping ensure that it reaches the end user in a USABLE CONDITION!

As I stated in an earlier post, one replacement disc costs the publisher roughly the same as 20 sleeves, so if the number of replacement requests increases a mere five percentage points above its previous level, the cost savings of doing away with the sleeve is nil. Anything above that, and they're better off sleeving the discs.

To that end, I intend to request a replacement disc for each sleeveless one I receive until the sleeves return or my subscription runs out, whichever comes first.

I know I said I wouldn't comment on the ongoing anymore -- and I won't -- but I thought some of you who are interested in protecting your Discs might also be interested in the following:

http://www.sleevetown.com/tyvek-cd-sleeves.shtml

Eleven bucks for over four years of Disc protection.  Not bad, IMHO.

If MA forgoes the sleeve and lets us DL and print a sleeve then that at least would be someting. But yes including a cutout AND a sleeve is lunacy I think. If a user is to use the cutout label instead then what's to become of the sleeve? If tossed in the trash or just simply unused that's evironmentaly AND finacially iresponsible. And in times where magazine revenues are "way down" that hardly seems prudent.

The goals of the publisher should be along the lines of:

01) Providing great content
02) Reducing costs
03) Increaseing revenue.

Great content is the job of the staff for the most part. We all know that's lacking as of late. Reducing costs seems simple when the excesses of the newstand varient is considered. There are several things from the insert to the higher qualty paper and plastic that could be reduced to subscriber levels to save money.

Straightening out the weirdness between renewal and first-time fees would be a good thing as well.

One idea I'd like to get feedback on is this: What if the newstand editions were reduced in price by $1 while subscribers editions (with a sleeve of course) were raised by $1. Or at least something along those lines. I've reiterated this several times but there has never been a price hike in MacAddict's lifetime. I'm sure that a small increase in price and including a sleeve for subscribers would not prohibit the Earth from rotating. It would hardly be noticed, in fact.

If we're this upset by the sleeve, renewal price weirdness and quality of variants it shows that the MacAddict faithful are willing to stick it out with the magazine as long as we get a fair shake. If times are harder than previous ones, and revenue is down we're willing to help out. I know I am.

I and others have said that we'd be willing to pay a little bit more for a sleeve. How difficult is that? Those are subscibers talking folks, you know the guys and gals who pay MORE to renew than others do for a FIRST-TIME subscription. Why does it cose more to renew compared to a first time subscriber...where do those $6 or so dollars go since we know they aren't enough to pay for a 6cent cd sleeve?

What are those extra dollars used for I wonder? Why the difference? And why doesn't that cover the cost of a lousy 6 cent CD sleeve? This whole deal is starting to smell worse and worse.

I'd love to know the difference in prices it costs to make and ship a newstand issue compared to making and shipping a subscription issue.

W. Raider