For the second month in a row, within a week of receiving my subscription half the mag content has appeared for free on the front page. I can understand in the run up to a new issue, publishing a few past articles as a teaser, but it’s only been a week.

I’ve been a subscriber since the first few issues and as far as I’m concerned, what I actually pay for is the magazine. The lack of ads online is a bonus, but I don’t need the mag archive and the “subscriber section’ of the mag is just articles not good enough for the main issue.

The forum has always been free to use and lots users were happy without the magazine. The mag was always the one part of the Singletrack experience that you had to pay for, so currently wondering whats the point of paying for content that’s now being given away for free to everybody?

Do all the articles appear free, and in full, when you aren’t signed in?

Yeh I thought they were only available on the website if you are a subscriber.

You can’t access them without a subscription. I assume it’s a marketing strategy as I now keep getting articles coming up in my Google feed that tell me to subscribe when I open them.

I subscribed purely to support STW Towers up until the botched upgrade, which pissed me off, so I cancelled my subscription and joined the freeloaders…

I rarely read the magazine.

I find It has generally well written (and copy edited) articles that are entertaining, or though provoking, I particularly enjoy the travel articles, so for me, he’s it’s worth it. It’s the only biking mag my GF will read as a non biker.

So, yeah, for me it’s worth it, if it’s not for you, stop buying it?

You’re a P member so you get the best of both.

Whereas I like still being able to read things on paper.  You read at a different pace and it feels differently.  I was left a bit meh by the long LosAngeles article but Tykepacking had me giggling.

Paper is still good

Dunno, I just came here to say I really enjoyed Barney’s” Tyke Packing” article. The Hans Rey piece didn’t really appeal though. I guess I like stuff I can relate to and “me and my rockstar mates went on a supported ride around LA finishing up motor boating on my Lady Friends private motor cruiser” doesn’t really reflect my lifestyle! It all felt a bit forced “aren’t GT e-bikes wicked!”

Haha lefeboy – great minds…

The last 4-5 magazines are sat unread , the constant pissing about with the site – I won’t be re subscribing .

I subscribed as someone who regularly lurks on the forum and would hate to see it go. Used to buy a lot of magazines in the past but digital content has, to a large part for me, stopped me buying them. Singletrack however is a relatively quality feeling production and I enjoy having a browse when it arrives, though haven’t yet loooked at this months. I also keep hold of the issues on a shelf in the bike shed as part of my manly marking of the territory, thus discouraging my wife from going in there.

I can appreciate that this is a strategy to draw website viewers into taking out a subscription (you need to have at least a digital sub to see the full articles), but it does make me wonder what I’m gaining by having a print subscription.

As someone who has every issue from 001 in print form, I’m starting to doubt whether it’s worth paying for the hard copy magazine if all of the content is available here.  Don’t get me started on the click-bait headline style…

I’m happy for some of the content to be on the front page, but to have many of the main articles online only a few days after receiving the magazine in the post cheapens the experience.  Somehow it feels different to people downloading a digital version of the magazine, even if the end result is no different.

I did like the tyke packing article though, having a small daughter there was a lot that seemed familiar.

Epic fail…..

Has the Mag got MTBs in it ?

If so I’m oout 😜💋💄

Yes.

I enjoy having a pile of mags to read in an evening, not on a screen.

Additionally, they are read and then inspire the kids – priceless seeing my 16 year old read this months Canada road trip and then start looking up airfares and places mentioned….

I’m happy for some of the content to be on the front page, but to have many of the main articles online only a few days after receiving the magazine in the post cheapens the experience.  Somehow it feels different to people downloading a digital version of the magazine, even if the end result is no different.

But only you (as in subscribers) can read them.

The rest of us plebs just get a message telling us to cough up.

I like having easy access to the magazine, the paper copy is beautiful but having access to the digital means I can read it pretty when and where I want.

For the £2 p.m. for a digital sub to have a clean non-add site, then yes. But if that’s the main reason many of us are subscribing, the business is facing some major challenges. To put so many obtrusive ads plastered all over the site, just so that it annoys us enough to put our hands in our pockets is not a sustainable business model. I download the mag and probably spend 30 minutes tops flicking through it nowadays. It’s become a little too one-dimensional for my taste, with travel feature after travel feature.

I can see how more straight-forward it is to plan and commission lots of one-author articles with nice pics to fill the mag out months in advance, as opposed to dealing with brands and their supply of kit to test. Personally I don’t travel much with bikes, so the features are just meh, but I know how much of the readership loves them, so I guess they’re valued by many.

I’d like to see more bikes and kit tested – whatever happened to Through The Grinder? UK brands’ factory visits, etc. If I want to read a bike mag, I’ll usually pick up a newsstand copy of MBR or MBUK if one or two features seem interesting enough.

(you need to have at least a digital sub to see the full articles), but it does make me wonder what I’m gaining by having a print subscription.

Without wanting to be too facile: what you are gaining with a print subscription is the print.

Some folk like having paper magazines. That is what you pay for.

Personally I got sick of the massive unsanitary pile of mags next to my bog so in a decluttering effort I went digital only. Now I just have a virtual pile of PDFs instead.

(you need to have at least a digital sub to see the full articles), but it does make me wonder what I’m gaining by having a print subscription.

I don’t like reading on ipad so gone changed to print, thats what I’m getting out of it.

Not sure why people are moaning, you’re here because you like mountain biking. For £1.50 a month you can fill your boots with as much or little mountain biking articles you want. Hardly going to break the bank and gives you a forum to frequent too..

Apologies, I got it wrong as to being able to read the articles without a subscription. I did log out and they were still there so my perception was that I could have.

“whatever happened to Through The Grinder? UK brands’ factory visits, etc. If I want to read a bike mag, I’ll usually pick up a newsstand copy of MBR or MBUK if one or two features seem interesting enough.”

We moved technical reviews to the website. People no longer tend to refer to a print magazine review for buying advice (or to confirm a purchase they’ve already made). If you’re in the market for a car, washing machine or 2.4in tyre, you tend to look online these days, so that’s where our reviews have been going. Still the same writers and the same (or in many cases, greater) number of words.

In terms of relevant content for non-jetset readers, we tend to limit any foreign features to two per issue, meaning that there’s usually at least two UK features, plus route guide and interviews that don’t feature far-off places.

As for a lack of company visits and so on, there are plenty of those already lined up to keep you going through the winter months, so stay tuned on that one.

Hope that helps.

Cheers!

There’s a learning point here for us.

While it’s really bloody obvious that the features on the front page currently are only accessible to subscribers IF you are not a subscriber as soon as you click it, it’s NOT obvious to subscribers that only they can read it since we’ve made it really slick for subscribers.

It just looks like a really nice article laid out with no RH column to subscribers.

So, I’ve added a heading/note at the point where the paywall has kicked in for subscribers to remind them that only they get to read it from that point on.

As for publishing the articles online from the mag for subscribers, we’ve always intended that our magazine content should be accessible to all subscribers on whatever device or format or wherever they are, whenever they want. Our default subscription starting point is that all mag content, going back 17 years, be available to all subscribers. The only option you get is if you ALSO want to get it in print too.

The issues have always been available as PDF downloads and via our app. What we are doing now is also now making the features available as web stories too. This gives us two new features we can offer.

1) We can also publish all the images and video that we couldn’t fit or publish in the print mag (Videos are available in the app). Like the extra features on a DVD

2) By publishing all our mag features like this we finally build a searchable archive of all magazine content (The plan is we also publish web versions of our archive too).

I’m currently working on all the features in issue 120. When I’ve done that i will spend the time between 120 and 121 working backwards through the archive. When I’m done our entire published works will be available on here as searchable web stories. being able to search our archive has been one of the most asked for features by our subscribers for years.

Anyone who thinks that because of all these options they don’t now see a need for the printed issue then that’s totally fine and you can drop the print part at your next renewal if you like. The whole point is that you get the mag content in the format that works best for you. Don’t stick with print for our sake if you think a digital only subscription would suit you better. Whether you are digital or print and digital you are worth the same to us.

But print is still lovely.

I take my printed magazine down my local for a quiet pint every so often and always manage to drink x4 the monthly subscription cost. I do not moan to the bar staff about their prices and toast STW for their excellent value.

I’d like to put that on a t-shirt 🙂

Thank you Wally

There’s a learning point here for us.

Defo, especially the folk that subscribe and then moan because they get the content in digital format too, as part of the SUBSCRIPTION!!! Haha!

“I can appreciate that this is a strategy to draw website viewers into taking out a subscription (you need to have at least a digital sub to see the full articles), but it does make me wonder what I’m gaining by having a print subscription.”

You’re gaining the print. That’s it- if you want digital then why not get the digital sub? The print sub is for dinosaurs like me that like magazines (because there’s no such thing as a digital magazine)

We moved technical reviews to the website. People no longer tend to refer to a print magazine review for buying advice (or to confirm a purchase they’ve already made).

But some folks, i.e. me, read that stuff just out of interest and to know what is currently out there rather than for a specific purchase.  In fact the through the grinder articles were one of the things that made me subscribe first time round as they didn’t read like the heavily promoted stuff that I was seeing elsewhere and I felt I could trust it.

You know, that’s an interesting psychological question.  Do people inherently trust print reviews more – even maybe subconsciously – because they’re in the magazine rather than online?

Thanks for the reply Mark. Although it might seem silly to some people, the addition of a header clarifying the content is subscriber only, makes it a lot clearer.

Like I said in my original post, I like the content. I wouldn’t have paid for 120 issues otherwise.

While it’s really bloody obvious that the features on the front page currently are only accessible to subscribers IF you are not a subscriber as soon as you click it, it’s NOT obvious to subscribers that only they can read it since we’ve made it really slick for subscribers.

It just looks like a really nice article laid out with no RH column to subscribers.

You could just surround the article in a picture of a gold-coloured rope, 1990s stylee, with “VIPs only – you da man*” at the top. Just a suggestion.

*or woman.

I’ve just taken out a sub for the first time on the strength of not being able to access the front page articles.  I usually buy the print mag anyway so now I’ll get more stuff for less money – seemed like a good deal to me…😃

footflaps

I subscribed purely to support STW Towers up until the botched upgrade, which pissed me off, so I cancelled my subscription and joined the freeloaders…

I rarely read the magazine.

+1

☺️

In fact the through the grinder articles were one of the things that made me subscribe first time round as they didn’t read like the heavily promoted stuff that I was seeing elsewhere and I felt I could trust it.

That was the only part of the mag I read!

I subscribe to keep Aussie Wil well stocked in brylcreem and tim-tams

As for a lack of company visits and so on, there are plenty of those already lined up to keep you going through the winter months, so stay tuned on that one.

Great, thanks Chipps, looking forward to reading them. BTW, my post wasn’t critical or a rant, just observations from a happy paying digital member. The price point isn’t worth weighing up even, it’s so low. And if I count the sale of an old frame I made through the forum on the w/e I’m quids in this year anyway 🙂 (there’s no way I’d have sold my uber-niche frame to the outside world).

I get that you’re facing market disruption, like many industries are (including B2B publishing which I’m in), but you’re incredibly lucky (patronising perhaps – given you built the forum, luck probably doesn’t have much to do with it) to have such a passionate customer base and active forum to gather feedback from. It’s nice to see that Mark’s been able to pick up a trick off this thread alone, instead of getting annoyed at the ranters (we only do it because of the love). Take solace from the fact that you will always have us lot willing to waste enough time on here every day 🙂

I’ve had a subscription to the magazine since edition 1 and can’t see me dropping it. I much prefer reading paper to online, I get far more immersed in the articles. And the writing (and photography) is still generally of a pretty high quality.

In a similar vein I was chatting to friends recently about how a decade or so ago everyone thought Kindles and the like would be the death of paper books. Whereas (and this is just from what I see) paper books are now as popular as ever.

Okay, I’ve thought about this some more.  My initial view was that having the same content so easily available online in some way devalued my print subscription, but having read all of the above I’m happy that it’s horses for courses.  I like the print version as hate reading a tablet whilst eating my breakfast!

Thanks Team STW for the explanations, I can see having a searchable database of everything is of value, and will keep the pennies rolling in.

Thing is I want my paper archive of STW searchable….<runs>

Thanks Team STW for the explanations, I can see having a searchable database of everything is of value, and will keep the pennies rolling in.

What? You actually read the replies and change your position? Do you not understand how this works 😉

(One of the reasons I like this place is that i have changed my opinions on stuff. As long as you ignore the trolls)