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inkdrop - 19 August 2008 - 4:53pm

Hi All,

Yes its me again,

Just took a gander in my local WH Smith on the way home and the real reason behind the hurricane of change has hit home to me in a big way

I Know that on time of writing, my latest copy isn't out yet. But your magazine is not the only PC-Oriented mag i purchase. I purchase my mag of choice but as i lift it out of the shelf my eyes spot PC Plus (the headline mag at Future) and PC Answers Side by Side.

Remember, Nick, Christian , Scott and All (and even Mr Anderton) have lauded the changes (and also the price rise) over the last two issues, and broadly in the majority i've tried my best to support you....however i suspect after Thursday my words are going to be ringing in your ears

When did you start subsidising PC PLUS readers?

PC PLUS - Price 4.99 (Yes, 4.99!) Editorial Page count More than PC Answers, Full DVD Content, Inc Video and Full Software.

PC ANSWERS - Price 5.99 Less Editorial, Half full VideoCD and lacking the software and libraries of old

Spot the difference?

If your big chunky sister mags can be sold with goodies galore at 4.99 then surely your magazine can....or do i suspect Future are treating this magazine (and its readers) with such contempt it may only lead to one end ........incorporation?!

I Sincerely hope NOT

Hello Inkdrop, I'm not sure

Scott Ewart - 20 August 2008 - 3:41pm

Hello Inkdrop,

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but PCAnswers has been at 5.99 for many many issues, it's definately for longer than a year. When I get back into the office tomorrow I'll let you know when the change took place.

We're not trying to insult the PC Answers readership by as you "selling you short", what we've done is shifted back in line with the original aim of PCAnswers - solutions. We became sort of a technology/computing/news type magazine and solutions went into the background. The new design tries to keep the PCA witt, but concentrate on fixing/helping/solving your PC problems/woes/experience.

Once again about the CD, it's not have full (it's half em- no only joking) however excess space is left so to not polute the content if you will with items that don't relate to the issue. I spoken about this at length with Christian and somewhat with Cliff, their opinion is that we could include a small essentials pack to bring us up to the full 600 and odd mb. However we won't be dabbling with full software by the looks of things as full software promotion requires editorial (disc pages), this is not in our agenda, so unless a company will mount with us for a pat on the back, (which they wont) then we'll have to make do without full products.

Half way there

inkdrop - 20 August 2008 - 9:24pm

Hi Scott

Thanks for your response,

I will agree with you that solutions wise you are going down the right road, but given previous statements to the contrary that you aren't shortchanging your readers , its becoming a little hard to stomach.

Lets look at your tagline at the head of your cover -

ALL NEW - So thats 33p gone so the magazine can have a new typeface.

IMPROVED - Depends how you look at it - reminds me of the christmas present you didn't want - you'll be disappointed but smile because its better than nowt' .and wheres the improvement when you've cut page count?

BETTER THAN EVER? - Its 16 Pages short and a pound more expensive than your sister magazines.....(Yes, the fact PC Plus is less than PC Answers did Annoy me somewhat) add to that less wordage. And forgive me for mentioning this when did the disc pages detract from the mag?

Quote Unquote - "We've shifted back in line to the original concept of PC Answers"

If you need that mission statement, one humbly suggests you nip back in to your archive department and read from issue one. (Its going to be said, Whoever thought chopping this mag to where it resembles a mear shadow of its former self should take a leaf out of your group senior editors handbook - he had it fluctuating , but mostly at 130 pages)

(And Just to remind you, although im not a subscriber, I have regularly purchased this mag since 1993/4)

I was quite happy with the introduction of the video CD - in parts the videos are quite useful - but again, its half full - the remark you make about less is more made me think again to actual pagecount. 5.99 for 116 pages (PC Answers) as opposed to 4.99 for in excess of 130 pages (PC Plus) - i've heard the comment on production costs and i'll grant you some leeway for the videos - but how on earth do plus and other future mags manage extra pages / dvd's and all when they are on the same costs as yourselves and have to produce more pages???

I suppose i'll give it till next year for the situation to settle down, but the fact your flagship mag has more content and charges less has really disheartened me,

one only hopes when i pick up your mag in the morning its worth the cost.

Hi Inkdrop, You are right

Scott Ewart - 26 August 2008 - 10:06am

Hi Inkdrop,

You are right that PC Plus is £1 cheaper with 130 pages, however they have a higher readership than us, so their budget is naturally larger than ours.

You might remember way back pre-PCAnswers 160 that the disc pages were more like editorial adverts than magazine pages, post PCAnswers 160 I started to write these and make them into tutorials on little projects you could complete with the full software, that sort of worked, but in the case of Anti-Spyware, Backup apps, Password Managers and DTP suites, I ended up running low on new things you could do with them and seeing how each year we had 52 applications and the afore mentioned application types made up a good 50% of those applications.

Ultimately, disc pages would take up more space in the magazine and seeing how the page count is not going down well with most readers, would this not infuriate them further?

A Trip down memory lane.....

inkdrop - 26 August 2008 - 11:34pm

Having read your reply scott, i've just pulled said copy out of the file and it gets worse for your arguments about page count...I didn't need to hand you a shovel, the editorial team have dug this hole themselves.

Quick comparison

2006 - Issue 159 - Flash of 'Incorporating Computer Upgrade' (Now what happened to THOSE articles eh?) - Hardware Projects - Software Projects and all in total 154 Pages

2008 - Issue 188 - Windows & WiFi - Five pages of Bumph before you hit the content section increase of adverts and 114 pages....an actual page cut.

in total 40 pages have disappeared whilst the price of the mag increases annually.

You've missed the point completely, paying more cash for less pagecount is enough to make any of your readers leave. What i suggested was a restoration of the disc pages and Not another cut (stick them on the disc if you have to, if cliff doesn't like adding to the pagecount)

FREE Guides? - Drop the page Numbers or Make them separate

Fill the Videocd with relevant software (And restore the libraries!!!)

Give some sort of tutorial sheets so you can follow the waffle on the video CD

Or restore some pages to the mag to allow for the disc pages.

Sorry but its not looking good.....

Before writing this post i decided to do a little testing of my own, using a novice user (who you would consider your 'core' audience)......if you must know it was my father! He got most of your videos but when approaching some of them the waffle that was mentioned in previous posts was alive and well, if not a little amateur.

its not all bad news though, Your eleven pages of projects were, in the whole, rather good! and the article on powerline networking was interesting.

Keep this side of the mag going and it will brighten up my faith in this magazine.

Oh and BTW....I was referring in Adding Pages 'as well as' the current content instead of the 'instead of' approach. Adding to the disc/pages shall not lose you readers you may find some readers return should you put a bit more meat on the bone!

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