2024 Fine Woodworking Magazine Archive questions
MarkH_ATX
| Posted in General Discussion on
I am thinking of getting the archive, however, I have a question. It looks like it comes on only a USB drive. My question is, will I be able to download the USB drive data directly to my laptop and still have the same functionality as using the archive from the USB drive? I don’t really want to have to carry the USB drive for when I want access to the archive. Ideally I would like to access it from my iCloud Drive on both my Mac laptop and my iPad.
Thanks,
Mark H.
Replies
Yes, the usb drive installs onto your computer so you don’t have to carry it around when you want to use it.
Taunton used to offer a significant discount if you had purchased a previous archive. Effectively an update. Will Woodsmith be offering a similar discount for those of us who only need an update of a year or two?
Me too. I'm looking to buy it and this sounds like a good plan.
thanks for making this valuable archive available.
One further question: how does the archive on the usb drive differ from logging into the website issue archive?
Also, if I have the USB drive and no longer have a FWW account can you still access the USB drive data?
I doubt FWW would hack your computer.
USB archive is not tied in any way to the website login.
I have a lot of sympathy for people who got rid of their physical magazines thinking a DVD or a flash drive was the solution. They got sold a bill of goods, paid for content twice, and now don't have access to any of it. They got rid of the paper. The only fix is to buy an old PC and keep it around for the rest of your life, hoping it never craps out.
The individual issues are saved as PDF files. In the future, Acrobat could require payment for upgrades. Is Acrobat the only means to view PDF files?
Fortunately you could keep converting the files to other file extensions. As greedy as American companies are I can see users (victims) having to do this sooner rather than later.
You can view and modify PDF files in Photoshop. I pay about 10 bucks a month for PS and Lightroom Classic (which I use for processing images shot in RAW format).
I store my PDFs on a cloud service and I use the shelf space for anything and everything else. It's not a bill of goods... it's a different way.
Charlie, this isn't really FWW selling "a bill of goods", it is how computers, operating systems, and the internet have evolved. Just like I wasn't really sold a bill of goods when I invested in a bunch of 8-track tapes or cassette tapes to listen to music, so also computer programs I bought in years past don't work on today's operating systems, and eventually the evolving operating systems mean I need to upgrade my computer, even though it probably has another 5-10 years of life in it. For my purposes, the older computers and operating systems do everything I need and I don't benefit from most of the new capabilities, but so what. Que sera.
Tell it to the people who got rid of their magazines. Taunton re-monetized the content and should have known its customer base might not be the most computer-savvy group on the planet. Now DVDs won't play, flash drives or whatever.
My mags, bound in neat binders and on a bookshelf -- priceless to me.
I’ve been contemplating getting rid of my multi decade FWW hard copies. I do understand what you mean about electronic vs. hard copies though and it’s part of the reason I’ve been reluctant to pull the trigger and get rid of them.
If you want to get rid of them, I'd be interested.
I recall back in grad school 90-96 that electronic searching for chemistry journals was an option but expensive and you needed to use the librarian to do it. My advisor had no issue with us using it sensibly. He also did point out that journals did make an attempt to sort article thematically when possible so there was something to be said for flipping through an issue or doing a manual search through through the books designed to do so. I believed him and would occasionally find useful articles that way. I point this out because having physical copies does provide an opportunity to look for things in a way that isn’t 100 percent replicated by searching via words. Sure, flipping through a PDF sort of gets you there. Really, it comes down to how much space you have. Long ago, I got rid of my chemistry journals as they took up way too much space.
I can't play my VHS movies anymore, but I'm not blaming the Studios.
Does the USB drive contain more articles than what’s available in the unlimited plan library?
Paper will never be replaceable for what it offers.
Digital will never be replaceable for what it offers.
And when the stuff is spliced into our conciousness that wont be replaceable by the others.
Charlie paper mags can't be brought on a plane for a 12-hour flight.
The USB stick that can mobilize 200 lbs of mags into a 1-ounce stick to be taken anywhere in the world won't last very long.
Personally, I think having both is the way to go.
They are different products containing the same content, and there's nothing wrong with selling them as such.
I’m in the process of going through each issue and noting all the pages I want to print. Once I get through it I’ll eliminate redundancy articles. It looks like I’ll end up with roughly 1000 pages. I’ll write out my own Table of Contents based on 3-4 main sections and use a binder to catalog them.
Printing front and back will allow me to print roughly 500 pages. There are too many shortcomings to both types of media, plus I have some extra time at work 😁
Brilliant, better than all my post-its. The old ways are sometimes are the best in the end, but the old ways seem like so much work……one does wonder if in the end your approach saves more time, money and aggravation. You can do the same with the online articles and create folders but something about always being online….also no one has answered whether the usb archive has more articles than unlimited library…..perhaps Ben knows.
No. If you're talking about the Digital Library (https://www.finewoodworking.com/onlinearchive), they're identical.
“[Deleted]”
For anyone that is thinking about, or bought the Archive, it is now shipping. I got a "Your Order Is on the Way" email this afternoon (1/7/2025). I'm excited about this, because there is so much knowledge in these archives but I don't find the website easy to reference or search. I will post a mini review of the archive once it arrives.