Daddy, make a picture

I got an email ‘inviting’ me to ‘apply’ for a free subscription to eWeek.

Cool, I think… I got tons of these invites when I was working public relations for tech companies. Now that I’m a mere civilian I figured it couldn’t hurt me to keep up with trends in case my fantasy of ever developing a Web development business ever takes shape.

So they sign me up to receive the magazine in digital format. I’m prompted to download a reader application from some company called Zinio and then the magazines will come delivered fresh each week.

Which is a fine idea if the reader were usable. It’s not. Once you download the magazine you can’t find it and the downloader keeps prompting you to download it again. The interface is almost nonexistant. And once you find the file, open it and try to read it, zooming in to the point where the text is even readable (like 12 point print anyone?) makes the magazine itself so pixelated that it gave me a headache.

And lets talk about just how much fun it is to sit in front of a computer reading magazine when you could be sprawled out on the couch reading same.

It took me no time at all to delete the Zinio reader, and ask eWeek to switch me to a hard copy subscription.