Zinio, a new Beta offering focusing on publishing magazines online, describes its self as being:
"The leading global online publishing, distribution services company, with divisions focusing on digital magazine and book publishing, publisher growth services, retail services, cutting edge research and development and interactive media.”
The reality is, that Zinio really is the only company tackling the conundrum and literal ruin that the advent of the Internet has caused the publishing industry - affecting newspapers, magazines, textbooks and books.
Paper publishing is never going to completely go away; as there is always going to be someone who just has to have their Wall Street Journal curled up under their arm on the way to work.
Plus, if someone did away with Cosmopolitan, what the hell would we “read” on long airline flights? Not to mention that there is so little allure to curling up in bed with a cup of tea and your computer to read a good book on a rainy day.
However, with the advancement of the Internet as a global communication tool and pressure from environmental groups around the globe to minimize the amount of natural resources which are used in any industry, there is a new market for enterprise in publishing full scale publications online in a way which publishers can still expose reading audiences to their advertising partners. Currently Zinio is the leader in this category.
What to like about Zinio:
This is a cool service in many ways - first of all the subscription prices are yearly and seem to be a bit lower than their paper counterparts. Zinio also offers e-Textbooks, which is a great alternative for the student on a budget, with varied prices being healthy percentages lower than were the student to buy in bookstore or via Amazon or another comparable service.
The Zinio browser is easy to use, just click on your issue and it will open in another browser screen altogether. You can flip through from cover to cover, just like you were reading the paper copy. You can also zoom in and out of text, in order to either make it more readable; or, to be able to view the overall format of the page. Plus you can sort publications by language so that you don’t have to manually track down the English copy of Harper’s Bazaar or whatever it is your looking for.
Zinio also has an iPhone application, The Zinio Portable Newsstand, allowing you to download full publications and books onto your portable device. Zinio Labs also offers the Zinio Digital Classics, with over 100 classic book titles available to read online for free.
The thing to like the most about Zinio is that it is paperless; therefore making it an environmentally sound way to get your daily news and publications.
What not to like about Zinio:
The major problem with Zinio, at the moment, is the lack of titles available upon the service. While Zinio has many major partnerships in place with well noted publishers, it seems to me that the content they publish for purchase are along the mainstream lines. You have a lot of Elle and BusinessWeek and Men’s Health mixed in with niche magazines which appeal to such a small demographic that it’s surprising they didn’t fold way before now. Who actually reads SmartPhone and RC Heli?
They don’t even have Bust or WIRED - come on! The mainstream mags and books are alright; but, if it really wants to survive past Beta, Zinio needs to branch out and grab some of the publications which will engage the early adopters into their service - without the early adopters, you’re sunk as a startup.
With the diversification of publications on Zinio, it will thrive and serve as an example in this new category of paperless publishing.