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Comixology Unlimited - Subscription Service

luckymustardluckymustard Posts: 927
in Comics Talk Community - The On Topic Forum
Here's their FAQ page for it. $5.99 a month. Thoughts?
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  • bralinatorbralinator Posts: 5,967
    ComiXology new flat-rate service library boasts "thousands of digital comics, graphic novels & manga," with comic books from Image Comics, IDW Publishing, Dark Horse and others, but neither DC or Marvel have titles as part of the service.

    DC needs to get with the program, likely their own.

    Very tempting.
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  • Mr_CosmicMr_Cosmic Posts: 3,200
    Can you read new issues or is it like Marvel Unlimited with a delay?
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  • TorchsongTorchsong Posts: 2,794
    I'm in. Loved MU when I had it, but I think the diversity here will be more my speed. Plus they have Kodansha...that ends any further argument.
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  • bralinatorbralinator Posts: 5,967
    edited May 2016
    At first glance at their offerings, it appears they mostly just have "teaser" content. It looks like the "delay" you find with Marvel Unlimited is even more pronounced here on Comixology Unlimted. Most series, even older ones, only have the first 1 to 3 volumes available. And major books like Hellboy, Archie, Buffy, and Saga, only have the first volume available. Maybe they couldn't develop a strong enough reason for the publishers to get fully on-board. Hopefully the situation will improve.

    So this may be a bargain, but what happens when you run out of the comics offered? The gamechanger would be if you knew, like with Marvel Unlimited, that eventually subsequent series content will be added to the service. Knowing that Marvel's content is on a six-month lag makes it very tempting.

    I'm betting Comixology Unlimited is going to be A LOT like Netflix with all of its labyrinthine licensing issues where things pop in and out of the service too frequently. For that reason, I still like that Marvel has their own dedicated service.

    Now, when's DC getting their all-you-can-read service out there?
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  • luke52luke52 Posts: 1,392
    US only. Livid!
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  • bralinatorbralinator Posts: 5,967
    luke52 said:

    US only. Livid!

    Seriously!? This is worse than Netflix!
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  • luke52luke52 Posts: 1,392
    bralinator said:

    luke52 said:

    US only. Livid!

    Seriously!? This is worse than Netflix!
    Yup. Going international soon, so the FAQs page says.

    That may actually be a good thing. Gives Comixology a chance to iron out the kinks before I decide whether or not to sign up.
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  • bralinatorbralinator Posts: 5,967
    luke52 said:

    bralinator said:

    luke52 said:

    US only. Livid!

    Seriously!? This is worse than Netflix!
    Yup. Going international soon, so the FAQs page says.

    That may actually be a good thing. Gives Comixology a chance to iron out the kinks before I decide whether or not to sign up.
    Good point.

    And as for DC, maybe all these kinks and challenges will be overcome so when they release their service, it outshines them all...

    yeah, right.
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  • nweathingtonnweathington Posts: 6,748
    bralinator said:

    Maybe they couldn't develop a strong enough reason for the publishers to get fully on-board.

    Yeah, money. At that price, publishers and creators alike wouldn't get nearly enough money from the service to make it viable for putting their entire catalogs into the program.

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  • bralinatorbralinator Posts: 5,967
    Yeah, I am wondering what the tipping point is. Obviously, with more subscribers, Comixology could offer better pay to creators, but slim offerings aren't going to compel nearly as many subscribers as they might need to offer better rates. Interesting situation.
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  • bralinatorbralinator Posts: 5,967
    Wow, just 12 issues of Spawn?
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  • Mr_CosmicMr_Cosmic Posts: 3,200
    I guess it's a good first step..but it isn't what I'm looking for. Someday, maybe, we'll get a subscription service that offers new comics. Heck, I'd be willing to pay $50+ a month for that..
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  • TorchsongTorchsong Posts: 2,794
    I'm anticipating it'll be more "Who's using what?" and that'll determine what they continue on the site. If nobody's reading title xxx then there's no need to invest time and space in putting more title xxx up there when they could be putting up a title people are actively reading.
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  • TorchsongTorchsong Posts: 2,794
    Because the flip side is if they don't put up new content on a regular basis...it's not that difficult to cancel the account.
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  • playdohsrepublicplaydohsrepublic Posts: 1,377
    It's a bad service. The selection is bad for consumers, the terms are bad for creators. For now this is a pass for me.
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  • bralinatorbralinator Posts: 5,967
    Like Marvel Unlimited, which has been around for 8+ years, this service may take quite a while to become widely considered an excellent bargain. At this point, Comixology Unlimited isn't for me either, but I do hope it improves and grows.
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  • nweathingtonnweathington Posts: 6,748
    playdohsrepublic said:

    It's a bad service. The selection is bad for consumers, the terms are bad for creators. For now this is a pass for me.

    I think it's a good service for certain consumers. If you are interested in wide and varied types of comics, but have a limited budget, this gives you a chance to read enough of most of the titles offered to give you a pretty good idea if they are ones you want to read further, and all for the price of less than two comics each month.

    Likewise, it's a good deal for certain creators. If you do a lot of creator-owned work, and have a fairly large catalog—the Mike Mignolas and Brian K. Vaughans of the world—this could be a good way to get new readers. Give them the first volume of your series for practically free and hope they seek out and buy the next volume, and the next, and so on.

    @Mr_Cosmic said he'd be willing to pay $50/month for a truly unlimited subscription service with new issues. For something like that to be viable for publishers and creator-owned producers, Comixology would probably have to charge at least that much unless they were able to figure out some way of making advertising work.
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  • TorchsongTorchsong Posts: 2,794
    One evening in and I'm happy with it. I'm reading the first trades of Lumberjanes and Fatale...two books that have been getting a lot of acclaim but I just never really felt like devoting shelf-space toward. To that end, this is a great deal for consumers provided they can continue to offer updated (not necessarily new) content. And right now, that's still a "provided" issue...time will have to tell.

    I can't speak to the creator side of things, but there are whole sections devoted to creator-owned works as well as a Fantagraphics section. How much money those artists will see is speculation on my part at best, but as nweathington said, it might open me up to books I've never considered and will "have to have" in a more physical format.

    Plus the fun of reading some of it last night on my Kindle then picking up where I left off on my phone on the bus this morning. All that for the price of a couple floppies. Or one really big one. And no ads.

    Perfect? Of course not. They're one day in. Given time, though, and if they continue to update their content, this could be pretty darn close.
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