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Making the Digital Jump With Viz Manga


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Sakurazuka_Reika



Joined: 19 May 2009
Posts: 527
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 1:34 pm Reply with quote
If my bookshelves are sagging beneath the weight of books and manga...I get more shelves.

Nothing beats lying in bed while leafing through manga, one volume after another. I'll never get over the rough feel of pages at the tips of my fingers or the smooth covers.

Nope, a double order of physical manga for me thanks.
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ConanSan



Joined: 13 Jun 2007
Posts: 1818
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 1:40 pm Reply with quote
Oh boy, I'd sure love to buy this and not, say, be totally locked out of all non GN releases of manga for the rest of the ever because I'm Scottish.

Oh well, back to the dark reaches of Shadyscanlation.pirate for my not american ass.
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Ryu Shoji



Joined: 15 Jul 2009
Posts: 671
Location: Cambridge, United Kingdom
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 1:54 pm Reply with quote
Well being English, I wouldn't be able to read Shonen Jump Alpha even if I was rich enough for an iPad. I'm even in the middle of moving into a bigger room just to fit another book shelf - physical books for me.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 2:16 pm Reply with quote
I prefer actual books, with paper. You drop a book, you pick it back up. You drop an e-reader, $200+ down the drain.
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Sewingrose



Joined: 11 Jan 2011
Posts: 579
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 2:31 pm Reply with quote
As someone who recently installed more shelves in her room due entirely to lack of shelf space, I probably should be looking into getting an e-reader. At some point. Eventually.
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Anime World Order



Joined: 05 May 2006
Posts: 389
Location: Florida
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 2:31 pm Reply with quote
There's certainly no question that the iPad and its successor the iPad 2 are the superior device for reading comics and manga compared to the Nook Color. But they also cost something like three to five times the cost of the Nook Color. The iPad 2 will run you $500-$700 new, and a Nook Color is $200 new. Considering the sheer differential in price point, the iPad had better be the hands-down superior bet!

The question I had to ask myself was not the apples-to-apples "which tablet/app is better" one. Rather, it was "is the iPad that much better in this application to justify the price difference?" In the end, I concluded that the answer was "no," on the grounds that the Nook Color can rather effortlessly be "soft modded" to function either as an Android tablet or as an ordinary Nook Color as needed. You can then effectively run whatever you want such that the limitations of the Nook app's interface are ultimately irrelevant. A significant portion of the Nook Color's userbase are people who have done precisely this, and there is no way that Viz would not be aware of this fact.

I ended up getting a factory refurbished NC for $120-$175, and the only use I have for it is to read comics (that's why I bought it). This makes the fact that Viz has no dedicated Nook Color app or Android app (yet) highly problematic. There isn't really the manga equivalent of Comixology (yes, I understand Hetalia is on there). People aren't going to want to deal with those inconveniences, especially not when there are already robust free 3rd party Android apps such as PerfectViewer which can easily be configured for either left-to-right or right-to-left comics reading. I think we can all see the downside of this: a common usage of such apps is to read pirated scans.

But here's the thing: those apps EXIST and they WORK. If Viz--heck, throw Marvel and all the rest in while we're at it--wants people to adopt their digital platform over those, then they have to make their solution more convenient. If I can't read Marvel's digital comics through their web app because of its intentionally-obtuse Flash implementation (which, last I checked, does not work on Apple OR Android tablets!), then I'm not going to want to sign up for their Digital Comics Unlimited service. As someone who buys a decent amount of manga--mostly Dark Horse and Vertical at this point--it's a major disincentive to pay money and then have to deal with things the pirates don't such as rotate/zoom functions that don't quite work, inability to set the library display to list titles by either name or cover image, and not having the splash images align properly.

(That last one can't POSSIBLY be the result of the Nook Color's browsing app, as they sell plenty of full-color magazines through that which read perfectly fine. Right-to-left isn't even a factor for this.)

Anyway. When it comes to legal digital distribution of comics, the iPad is definitely the way to go...if you have the money for it. But the race shouldn't be this distant. Viz needs to have official, dedicated manga reader apps for the Nook Color AND the Android (Dark Horse is on the right track). And the sooner everyone has something available for Kindle Fire, the better.
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Hypeathon



Joined: 12 Aug 2010
Posts: 1176
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 2:34 pm Reply with quote
Maybe I misheard this small detail from the One Piece Podcast hosts when they have been promoting Shonen Jump Alpha for the past several weeks, but can't people also just read the manga titles from their computers too? Again, I might've misheard, but I don't think Shonen Jump Alpha or the digital manga volumes are at all limited to tablets.
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potatochobit



Joined: 26 Aug 2009
Posts: 1373
Location: TEXAS
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 2:36 pm Reply with quote
this is not really a physical book vs. e-reader debate

this is more of a piracy vs. paying debate

those volume edition manga books people buy in america are really old. Im talking months or years. People who use the e-reader are interested in what's new, what came out this week. Up until now, piracy wa the only option. Weekly shounen jump is exactly as the name says - Weekly.

i have an ipad2 but I prefer to read on my PC. Most likely because I also game or work at the same time and read in my spare time.
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Hypeathon



Joined: 12 Aug 2010
Posts: 1176
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 2:42 pm Reply with quote
potatochobit wrote:
this is not really a physical book vs. e-reader debate

this is more of a piracy vs. paying debate.

Okay fine, but what I don't understand is why right off the bat were some people bringing up the former debate instead the latter debate?
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MrXarnus



Joined: 28 Mar 2011
Posts: 79
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 2:54 pm Reply with quote
Since I placed some new shelves 2 days ago, space isn't a problem for me. I like collecting manga, and collecting digital books is just... kinda stupid. Good thing they keep the normal GN's is print, otherwise I would probably sit crying in a corner right now. I also can't stand reading on a electronic device. So long as they keep GN's in print, I won't complain. (and I don't think that the print GN's will dissapear anytime soon, there will always be people who prefer print books, like me for example.)
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TsukasaElkKite



Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 3945
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:17 pm Reply with quote
I'm still gonna buy the physical books. I can't be arsed to get a tablet.
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Boco_T



Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Posts: 3
Location: Chesapeake, VA
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:31 pm Reply with quote
All these posts about never buying digital manga are great posts, everyone, they are really contributing to the discussion on an article about different digital manga viewers. Can we get about 20 more posts about it? How many bookshelves do you own?
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potatochobit



Joined: 26 Aug 2009
Posts: 1373
Location: TEXAS
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:45 pm Reply with quote
pfft, what you talking about boco T G dawg money

I dont put manga on my bookshelves
shelves are for anime figures only
all my manga are in cardboard uhaul moving boxes stacked in the closet
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baadaku12345



Joined: 21 Feb 2010
Posts: 179
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:57 pm Reply with quote
I definitely prefer the paper editions. I cannot imagine reading a image-heavy book in front of a backlight screen, frying your eyes. Though I have enjoyed novels on e-readers in the past.

VIZ's manga app also requires you to be connected to the internet to read their manga, Now I don't know anything about Ipads, but doesn't that mean you couldn't read it unless you're near a router?

VIZ, please do a print edition catch up as well. It's possible (at one point Naruto 45 was released only 5 months after Japan's release).
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ARC-1300



Joined: 06 Feb 2012
Posts: 360
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 4:01 pm Reply with quote
tried it with my Toshiba thrive tablet: in a word....awesome. loved it, i also viewed on my laptop as well, it seems very well done. agreed on the part about scrolling through the series, but im sure they will fix that later.

its a legal way to read the current chapters as they come from japan,and a good way to build anticipation until the next volume comes up for purchase. if your in the states, definitely look into getting this. Smile
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