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Mountain Bike Action goes digital

Mountain Bike Action is digital. The print mag that’s been around for ages has made a step towards embracing digital delivery. Starting with the November 2005 issue, Web heads can read and search the latest issues of MBA online. Annual subscription rates are priced at $14.99 (usd) and you don’t need to wait for the thing to show up in the mail. You can check out the first 30 or so pages of the November issue online to see what MBA’s digital format will look like.

I make no bones about being a fan of digitized content, but I must admit that I’m not a fan of the Zinio reader being employed by Mountain Bike Action. While it’s obvious to me that MBA went with a format that minimizes ‘pirating’ of copyrighted content (and that’s fine), I do feel the system will put off web users who are used to the type of quick-loading, plain text documents used on most websites. Publications like the Wall Street Journal and The Economist offer paid access to their archives but they’ve taken a path that, in my opinion, is more user friendly than that of MBA.

Will the delivery format chosen by Mountain Bike Action be successful? I think it depends on a number of things, including price point, ease of use, and accessibility. Also, how will readers of digital content react to the pages and pages of ads that grace the insides of print magazines?

It’s an interesting move by MBA, and I encourage you to check out the digital version for yourself.

Source: Mountain Bike Action / Zinio

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 9th, 2005 at 8:24 am and is filed under Industry news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.