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Originally Posted by amerikangod
Also, where are you reading your digital comics?
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Not directed at me, I know, but I'm answering anyway because I just happen to be burning up my iPad with digital comics these days.
DC doesn't have a subscription comic service (yet), and because at least ¾ of the titles I read on a regular basis are DC, this basically means that I pretty much have to just use iBooks via the iTunes Store when I'm reading on my iPad.
Marvel
does offer a subscription service called Digital Comcs Unlimited (or "DCU," which was totally unintentional, I'm sure and was in no way intended as an affront to, y'know, DCU.) I don't subscribe because I don't read enough Marvel to make it worth it, and what I do read is usually older stuff.
So again, I use my iPad, or my iPhone to download comics from iBooks. But no matter what you're using to get recent titles from major publishers, you pretty much have to pay cover price. I don't mind this really, because I like giving my business to Apple, but if you're working with a slim budget, or saving up for something, this option simply isn't practical. Even though the titles are only about $2.99 per issue, if you read a lot, that's certainly going to add up.
The same is true of Amazon/Kindle. I would not recommend using a Kindle product for comics. I have a Paperwhite that serves me well for non-graphic reading, but the "Fire" models boast a horrendous UX and slow to a goddamn crawl if you try to load something the size of even a basic 20-30 page single monthly issue. So, if I DO use Kindle, I use the Kindle application on my iPad, and it works about as well as iBooks.
It's an imperfect system at this point. Why are we paying cover prices when publication and printing fees don't apply, and therefore have no business being factored into the digital price? iTunes (usually) doesn't charge full price for albums or books, so why the hell are they doing so for comics?
Generally, I don't really like streaming unlimited services for media, but is we're going to have them for films and music and video games, we should certainly have them for comics. A Spotify or Netflix kind of situation for Marvel, DC, IDW, etc. is something I would gladly pay $10-15/month for.