Humble Bundle - Mad Bundle DRM Protected

[Red Falcon]

As my title says the Mad Bundle that Humble Bundle is currently offering is DRM protected because you are forced to use Magzster to view them. I did a cursory look over the site and saw that most magazines are priced at near physical copy price for what is basically an unlimited rental. When this site goes down all content you have purchased will be gone. I really wanted to grab this bundle but as it stands I am glad I only payed a buck for the first tier as I do not see myself ever bothering to use Magzster as there online viewer stinks and I do not install single store apps on my devices unless I know I will use them often. They used to have a Windows app but that is no longer offered.

[Nate the great]

well that's disappointing.

[HarryT]

The fact that the magazines required the use of a specific app was very clearly stated in the offer. It really shouldn't have come as a surprise.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The fact that the magazines required the use of a specific app was very clearly stated in the offer. It really shouldn't have come as a surprise.

If such an app was exactly as they said it was: "Read them anywhere. These magazines are available via Magzter, meaning you can read them any time on iOS, Android, web, Kindle, and more." you might have a point.

Then you have to go to the Magzter website to find out it's not everywhere. No Windows at all. Just ios and android.

[doubleshuffle]

That Magzter website itself doesn't even work in Firefox on Windows. The kind of crap website which, after I have allowed script after script after script in NoScript, still looks utter shite and isn't really usable. They certainly don't want me as a customer.

[Red Falcon]

My biggest problem is that until recently the Humble Bundle was DRM free. Now with this and the Playstation bundle they are tying you into one marketplace. I can understand the Playstation tie in but there is no way can I accept DRM for this one. You should be getting PDF versions of these as they have done with all the Comic and Book bundles. I have and will never buy digital content that I cannot use anywhere I want to except Steam. The only reason I deal with Steam is they are super cheap with there sales and I can have multiple computers running the game and a lot of them sync the game data for you. They have proving over a 6 year period to me that they are a trustworthy company and they offer features that makes the DRM a non issue for me. Magazines, Books and Music should never be DRM'ed. Watermark, add a non removable metadata tag or whatever else you need to track down the original owner in the case of piracy but do not lock me into your platform. That is an automatic deal breaker for me.

HarryT this was the reason I only paid for the first tier. I wanted to test out Magzter to see if I could deal with the DRM imposed on me. If I can not at the very least use the content on my chosen platform, Windows 10 computer and tablet then no matter how cheap the bundle is it not worth it. This looked to me to be one of the best Humble Bundles as I love Mad Magazine and to get a boat load of back issues and a one year digital subscription for $15 would be amazing if not for the DRM restrictions.

[HarryT]

Unfortunately virtually all magazines are tied to apps. I guess you have to decide whether the offer price makes up for the penalty of having to use an app. The only point I was making was that the fact that access was via an app was specified in the offer, so it's not as if it should have come as a surprise to anyone. I completely appreciate that you would prefer a PDF file (so would I!) but that's not what's on offer.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

If such an app was exactly as they said it was: "Read them anywhere. These magazines are available via Magzter, meaning you can read them any time on iOS, Android, web, Kindle, and more." you might have a point.

Then you have to go to the Magzter website to find out it's not everywhere. No Windows at all. Just ios and android.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Unfortunately virtually all magazines are tied to apps. I guess you have to decide whether the offer price makes up for the penalty of having to use an app. The only point I was making was that the fact that access was via an app was specified in the offer, so it's not as if it should have come as a surprise to anyone. I completely appreciate that you would prefer a PDF file (so would I!) but that's not what's on offer.

I don't do the Humble Bundle, so I'm just going by what Sweetpea wrote above, but if they actually *did* say that this available via the "web, Kindle, and more" then it's definitely deliberately misleading if it's not available as a PDF. It's definitely not available for the Kindle ebook readers, and according to the Amazon App store, it's not available for the Fires, either.

Whether or not they specified that it was an "app", saying that the magazines could be read any time on "web, Kindle, and more" is untrue.

Also, Harry, the statement that "virtually all magazines are tied to apps" may be true, but they are mostly also available to read in a browser. Go to zinio.com All of those magazines are tied to apps for IOS or Android, but they are also available to read in a web browser, which means I can read them on my laptop or desktop, or they could be read on a Linux computer, or they could be read on my Fire, even though they aren't available from the official Amazon App store. That is truly able to be read anywhere.

If I had paid for this, I would ask for my money back due to false advertising.

Shari

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by shalym

Also, Harry, the statement that "virtually all magazines are tied to apps" may be true, but they are mostly also available to read in a browser. Go to zinio.com All of those magazines are tied to apps for IOS or Android, but they are also available to read in a web browser, which means I can read them on my laptop or desktop

I'm pretty sure that this one can be read in a web browser, too. It certainly says that it can. The app is available for the Kindle Fire from: http://www.magzter.com/kindlefire.

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm pretty sure that this one can be read in a web browser, too. It certainly says that it can.

I am certainly not going to bet on that when even their website doesn't work for me.

[HarryT]

Perhaps Red can tell us.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Unfortunately virtually all magazines are tied to apps. I guess you have to decide whether the offer price makes up for the penalty of having to use an app. The only point I was making was that the fact that access was via an app was specified in the offer, so it's not as if it should have come as a surprise to anyone. I completely appreciate that you would prefer a PDF file (so would I!) but that's not what's on offer.

Except Mad Magazine is more of a comic book in format, not a magazine.

But either way, both comics and magazines can be released as a PDF.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Except Mad Magazine is more of a comic book in format, not a magazine.

But either way, both comics and magazines can be released as a PDF.

Technically, yes of course they can. I subscribe to an Egyptology magazine which is available in PDF format. In this case though, given that the publisher has chosen not to make it available in PDF, it's a moot point. You either go with the app, or do without.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Red Falcon

My biggest problem is that until recently the Humble Bundle was DRM free. Now with this and the Playstation bundle they are tying you into one marketplace. I can understand the Playstation tie in but there is no way can I accept DRM for this one. You should be getting PDF versions of these as they have done with all the Comic and Book bundles. I have and will never buy digital content that I cannot use anywhere I want to except Steam. The only reason I deal with Steam is they are super cheap with there sales and I can have multiple computers running the game and a lot of them sync the game data for you. They have proving over a 6 year period to me that they are a trustworthy company and they offer features that makes the DRM a non issue for me. Magazines, Books and Music should never be DRM'ed. Watermark, add a non removable metadata tag or whatever else you need to track down the original owner in the case of piracy but do not lock me into your platform. That is an automatic deal breaker for me.

But some of the previous game bundles were available through Steam, weren't they?

[murg]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Unfortunately virtually all magazines are tied to apps. I guess you have to decide whether the offer price makes up for the penalty of having to use an app. The only point I was making was that the fact that access was via an app was specified in the offer, so it's not as if it should have come as a surprise to anyone. I completely appreciate that you would prefer a PDF file (so would I!) but that's not what's on offer.

The surprise is that Humble Bundle is now peddling DRMed non-games.