A good use for an old laptop.
It was inevitable that the digital age caught up with this hobby. No I’m not talking about blogs, forums, email and websites, but those beloved printed magazines we love an often have with us at our workbench as we build.
As the demand (not necessarily from old fart scale modelers) from society as a whole turns towards mobile and portable devices to get and view their newspapers and periodicals, the printed magazine is nearing inclusion on the endangered items list.
This week alone I have been advised in my duties as a marketing consultant for my clients in the this hobby that more and more of the scale modeling magazines we read cover to cover as it hits the newsstand or our mailboxes are going to a DIGITAL format. That means you’ll be reading them online, on your smartphone or iPad type device.
I can only imagine the comments and conversations when this sinks in to those in the hobby who at the time of their subscription renewal have to decide which (for the time being) prefer to receive…print or electronic media.
Eventually there won’t be a choice! It will be up to you what pages and images you want printed and you’ll be the one responsible for keeping your color printer filled with paper and full ink or toner cartridges. Could this be the arrival of the “paperless society” we’ve been hearing about since the mid seventies?
So start clearing off some space on your workbench for your computer to sit, you’ll need it to reference as well as read the articles in your favorite scale modeling magazines. Or take that step and get yourself something smaller and portable…an electronic tablet…iPad or other similar device. Either way, if you’re technically challenged, you need to think seriously about finding a teenager to teach you what you need to know to become computer savvy enough to learn how to save and store the information you want for future reference.
Face it they are taking writing out of the schools and kids are being issued laptops or tablets in school, not textbooks. The clock is ticking…
No it’s not the arrival of the paperless society. It is magazine publishers downloading the cost of paper to their subscribers. You can bet the price for subscriptions won’t go down either. A magazine on the web is not a magazine as far as I’m concerned – it’s just a gimmicky web site.
Paperless society? In the past 10 years with the widespread introduction of computers in the facility where I work we’ve probably quadrupled paper usage.
Amen Gerald!
I spend as much time on my computer researching a model as I do actually building it, sometimes more. There is so much information that I get overloaded sometimes and have a difficult time deciding which version of a model I want to do. Just part of the fun I guess! I have a laptop next to my workbench with all my pictures gathered from the web or ones I have snapped over the years on my digital camera. This hobby (to me) is about learning the history of a subject and then modeling it in detail.
Happy Modeling!
David
I see it coming. Seems the media thinks everyone is “on line” all the time. Many of my friends and neighbors don’t even own computers, let alone being on line. Our local newspaper has gone to 3 day a week print and full time digital. I have found it very difficult to adjust and will cancel any subscriptions that are digital. I like sitting on my porch or at the bench with my paper editions. Too much for this old geezer. I understand how my father felt about technology. Besides, maybe now I’ll actually get some modeling done.
I have been modeling about sixty five years, without my libary of books and magazines I would be lost, If I have to get it from the media,I guess I will retire;
BRA
I agree with Billy there. Although I am not resistant to the fast paced advancement of technology, I would still like to read from a newspaper or magazine.