Miniature Wargames Free Digital Trial Issue

I have read most of the wargames magazines that have come and gone over the years (as well as a good selection of the Role Playing magazines as well). One of the consistently high quality magazines has always been Miniature Wargames. The magazine has been around for many years and has just recently moved to a new publisher, Atlantic Publishers. It is always a little worrying when established institutions change hands, as you can never be too sure that the promise to "not change things, only improve them" are too often forgotten very quickly, which can lead to a sharp decline in the quality of said institution.

However, as Miniature Wargames has, so far, retained it's existing editor, we can only hope that the quality will be maintained.

One new thing that has come out of the move is the launch of a digital edition of Miniature Wargames, which can be found at ExactEditions.com. As part of the promotion of these digital editions they have made a couple of issues available as free samples, these can be found here:-

June 2011 Issue
July 2011 Issue

I must admit that I quite like the idea of a digital edition. I have an ebook reader, and also an Android phone both of which could easily display a PDF or epub version of the magazine (both of which offer secure versions). Unfortunately, the service offered by ExactEditions.com appears to only have web-based or ipod/ipad access. I have never been a fan of the overpriced and restrictive practices used by Apple and it more and more annoys me when these apps appear purely for the ipods etc. It will be interesting to see if things change now that Android is dominating the mobile market!
Also as a final annoyance, apparently when your subscription runs out with ExactEditions.com you loose access to the issues you have received while your subscription has run it's course. This seems very restrictive and a very much an out of date practice, especially when you compare it to services like that from Audible.co.uk (or Audible.com if your in the colonies), which allows access to any of it's products you have purchased, forever more!

So, as far as I am concerned, I wont be taking out a subscription for MW with ExactEditions.com any-time soon. I will have to stick to the paper copies for now. Still it may well appeal to some people, so drop by their website and have a look for yourself.