Tracks..The Future.

[DUDE]

So what is the future for print media and in particular "Tracks"?

With the new taxes and price hike in power bills due in the next few months,what will be the impact on readers?
A price rise for the mag is the first thing that comes to mind.........
Less pages perhaps and more adds.......

Based on what I have read on here and elsewhere the way of the future is "digital",the internet and things like twitter and facebook are what the mainstream public want and I guess in the long run that is what the
"media Giants"who run the companies want .
Easier,faster access to events and opinions is what people want.

Is it better than the mag?

The Fiji Pro was a good example I think.
We saw the action and drama unfold in real time,we could make our own opinions known as to weather the right decision was made(regardless of the
fact most of us were not there).

Now almost 2 weeks on it is over all the chat and hype........

Now if the mag does an article on it, those words and photos come to life in your hands and in your mind as you read it and will again when you flick through in years to come.....

It is just not the same on the internet.

[Hally]

Why not go the way of iTunes? For a yet to be defined cost you can click on BUY and download a both viewable and printable version of the magazine?
Obviously there will be some who will put up Torrents or email files to friends and so on, similar to the Music Industry, but I have found that once downloaded people tend to buy the actual CD/DVD anyway.

The old "Taste and try before you buy" seems to work ...

As for "Easier, faster ..." you can have a weekly PreTracks download which comes with an individual credit code number you can use against the cost on and only for the full InterTracks issue when released.

Just a thought?

Based on what I have read on here and elsewhere the way of the future is "digital",the internet and things like twitter and facebook are what the mainstream public want and I guess in the long run that is what the
"media Giants"who run the companies want .
Easier,faster access to events and opinions is what people want.

Is it better than the mag?

[Ben Whitmore]

They're already there. iTunes, Zinio, Ipad, Google etc. Tracks is already online, but you're right, nothing will be the same as print, Print will just have to be of higher quality. The problem is that the Web has caused readers to have a shorter attention span and a modern reader, on average, will digest a small percentage of what they did 20 years ago. I think the future of publishing will revolve around having a package that includes both mediums, where print and online compliment each other. Free to air television hasn't killed the film industry, but the film industry has changed. Maybe it will trend backwards, who knows. If this forum is anything to go by, people will find something else to occupy their time and perhaps slow internet (especially in Australia), towering electric bills and too many appliances may push people back to paper.

You can take your laptop in the toilet but ask yourself... "Would you?"

[Hally]

My guess, you tell me, but mags with a DVD attached seem to sell more? The visual media is an attraction, a picture is worth a 1000 words so a movie may be worth a 1000 pictures.
A possible advantage of a down-loadable magazine PDF could be embedding vids with articles?
At the moment I link to Tracks via FB if I see a post then to the forum sometimes, so, that (and Twitter) I would say is at least helping.

I doubt it, the higher costs will tend to reduce spending but I can't see people dropping there online costs. Damn many of my Bills (and statements) now HAVE to be paid online (or the Post Office) and would be difficult to be without. I don't get a printed/posted phone bill anymore so wouldn't know what to pay for example. Basically forced online these days.

No, I wouldn't take a laptop or Tracks ... besides, the paper is too slippery

I think the future of publishing will revolve around having a package that includes both mediums, where print and online compliment each other.

If this forum is anything to go by, people will find something else to occupy their time and perhaps slow internet (especially in Australia), towering electric bills and too many appliances may push people back to paper.

You can take your laptop in the toilet but ask yourself... "Would you?"

[DUDE]

My opinion is biased towards the printed mag........

Maybe the times are passing me by or I just do not wish to be part of the "my whole world on the internet" crowd.The mags will all go online eventually,much like banking etc.....

As Hally said "Basically forced online these days.".

The internet as stated is an instant fix in regards to reading,here now gone a second or two later.It is not to often I find myself thinking "what web page had that story" more than a week or so after it was posted.However to dig through an old Tracks mag,holding it in your hands as you turn the pages to see how the tale had turned out or if the guy in the pit makes it.....

As I flick through, names of surfers past and deeds done come flooding back,not only the theirs, but what life was throwing directly at me and what waves I was surfing.
You do not get that on the web.............

What will be the catalyst for the mags to go online completely......

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Either it will become to expensive to print and recoup costs from sales,coupled with the increased need for more "Ads" in the printed mag.
Thing is I never check out ads on the web,however take time to look at them in the mag.

Facebook and the like,will and are having their time in the sun,until
the next best thing to comes a long.Bright shining,flashing,something deemed to be cooler or the band wagon to be riding in. And we will all follow along.BaBaBAAAAA

Have wondered,what with all the new taxes and price rises (power etc),
if the mag goes online and does not print ,would it in fact cost more over all.If you factor in all the power usage from the unwashed in internet land doing searches,reading,downloading,uploading etc etc.......


When will it happen,hopefully after I am long gone from this world.


Am I a hypocrite because I posted this on the forum and did not post it in letter form to have printed.?????????

[Ben Whitmore]

One thing you will certainly not be able to do online is flash back through your past. I've kept issues from when I was a kid that I will occasionally flick through and it's like sitting in a time machine. The stories, the surfers, the surfboards. You're right, what website keeps a story live for more than a week?
We're still watching morning of the earth right?

[Hally]

Yep, still got the newspaper ones too! Great reads on the odd occasion
I've had links that have now disappeared like on SURFER where they posted my comments on MP with 3 others (moderated for publication). GONE now and all 4 were great anecdotes! Shame, so I must agree ... keep the print going!

One thing you will certainly not be able to do online is flash back through your past. I've kept issues from when I was a kid that I will occasionally flick through and it's like sitting in a time machine. The stories, the surfers, the surfboards. You're right, what website keeps a story live for more than a week?
We're still watching morning of the earth right?

[DUDE]

One thing you will certainly not be able to do online is flash back through your past. I've kept issues from when I was a kid that I will occasionally flick through and it's like sitting in a time machine. The stories, the surfers, the surfboards. You're right, what website keeps a story live for more than a week?
We're still watching morning of the earth right?

Yep still watching Morning of the Earth....only the super 8 version,not the digital version.
Still playing the sound track also......only the record version with all the cracks and pops.

Just got through reading all 1972 and am into 1973 now........
This twin fin thing might be a goer.................




As for the mag,seems Facebook is the main thing most people and companies are using.....but for how long?

[Hally]

Luckily I saved two of the quotes but you're right DUDE, the links/posts online will all go eventually.

https://sites.google.com/site/hallys...chael-peterson

[Ben Whitmore]

As for the mag,seems Facebook is the main thing most people and companies are using.....but for how long?

Until Instagram takes over, or Tom from Myspace hacks it and takes it down..