Fine Woodworking Archive

[John F. Gates]

Have any of you been a print subscriber and then added "online membership"? I've been with them since 1980 and can't store all of the magazines. I end up just going to FWW and searching for the article that I want and I'm done. SO, I need to understand what the "Ultimate" is all about because for $100 annually, no way! Can't afford that.

There is the $100 archive...and then keep the subscription going. Guess that is an option. Then the matter of getting rid of all the back issues~!

SO if any of you have figured out what to do, I'd be grateful.

[Al Weber]

I subscribe to the print addition as well as online access. I think it totals maybe $50+ per year. I didn't bite on the $100 package as I don't see anything there that is more useful than my current use patterns. I had to lose my 20+ year printed collection a few years ago during a move but with the online access to back issues and the print edition (I still like to read from something other than a screen) I have what I need.

Taunton is just looking for more profits which I understand but I'm not buying into the high priced spread.

[Marshall Harrison]

I have some kind of online subscription with them but every time I try to use it issues that I'm interested in aren't include and they want money to view then. I can't afford it. And I much prefer to "read" the printed versions.

I also have Kindle Unlimited subscription and I find tht I enjoy reading fiction in the digital format. But for technical stuff like programing books or woodworking etc. I don't seem to learn anything from the digital versions.

[John K Jordan]

I subscribe to the print addition as well as online access. I think it totals maybe $50+ per year. I didn't bite on the $100 package as I don't see anything there that is more useful than my current use patterns. I had to lose my 20+ year printed collection a few years ago during a move but with the online access to back issues and the print edition (I still like to read from something other than a screen) I have what I need.

Taunton is just looking for more profits which I understand but I'm not buying into the high priced spread.

How do you sign up for "online access"? I've looked for it before but all I see is the basic subscription and the Unlimited.

I fine a link to buy the digital archive but the link is dead.
I can locate back issues but can't read or even purchase the one I want. (I'm trying to read #33–Mar/April 1982.)

When looking for back issues I can find the issue but the Buy Now button doesn't even work. Any suggestions?

JKJ

[Prashun Patel]

I have only the online subscription. It is about $35/ann. There has never been an article I cannot unlock. I am not sure why one would even need the $100 subscription.

From the home page, click on "Members" at the top. Then You have to scroll down about 60% of the page until you see "Become a Member". Click that.

[Al Weber]

What Prashun said.

[Frank Pratt]

I have only the online subscription. It is about $35/ann. There has never been an article I cannot unlock. I am not sure why one would even need the $100 subscription.

From the home page, click on "Members" at the top. Then You have to scroll down about 60% of the page until you see "Become a Member". Click that.

Prashun, I used to have the same sub as you but let it lapse. Then several months ago I went to renew & that option was no longer available. The only choice was the $100/year for print + online access. I have no use for the paper magazine so I passed. I'd love to have the online only back. Maybe they have that option hidden away somewhere on the site?

[J. Greg Jones]

My understanding is that if you currently have one of the earlier online subscription plans, Taunton will let you keep/renew that plan in the future. If you don't have an active online subscription, the $100 subscription is your only option.

[Frank Pratt]

My understanding is that if you currently have one of the earlier online subscription plans, Taunton will let you keep/renew that plan in the future. If you don't have an active online subscription, the $100 subscription is your only option.

Ah, that makes sense. But actually I have another option, and that is no subscription at all, which is what I've done.

[Prashun Patel]

Oh I see... I have had that subscription for several years and I guess i'm grandfathered...

[Jon Nuckles]

I love Fine Woodworking and have been a subscriber forever, but Taunton loves to slice and dice and reuse their content in so many ways to maximize revenues that it becomes annoying. I enjoy the print version and have never subscribed to the online access. It has been tempting at times, because the online index for the print version has been bad (haven't tried it lately) and it is a bit of a pain to dig out the old magazine to confirm it is the article I wanted, but there's no way I'd pay $100 for that convenience. I'd rather read an article than watch a video, though, so I recognize that the online access might be more valuable to others than it is to me. My Fine Woodworking collection is at my shop and storage isn't a problem, but I do have to brush off the dust before reading!

[Jim Becker]

I can see how it might be frustrating for folks when a resource like FW monetizes their content in multiple ways...but then again, this is an organization that is trying to actually stay alive in ways that other magazines really haven't managed to pull off. It's a tough business with declining subscriptions leading to declining advertising. At least they offer their content, including the massive archive, in electronic form. So many other activity focused publications have completely disappeared, so I hope that FW manages to stick around a lot longer and if what they are offering helps that happen, so be it.

Disclaimer...I haven't had any magazine subscription for many years now, but have a lot of respect for Fine Woodworking from the years I was a subscriber.

[Frank Pratt]

I agree with you Jim, they gotta do what they gotta do to stay afloat. But for me, $100/year is probably at least 3X what it's worth to me, so I'm out. I hope they can find enough subscribers to keep going. It's gotta be a tough to find the balance between charging enough to make a buck & charging so much that subscribers are driven away.

[Doug Dawson]

I agree with you Jim, they gotta do what they gotta do to stay afloat. But for me, $100/year is probably at least 3X what it's worth to me, so I'm out. I hope they can find enough subscribers to keep going. It's gotta be a tough to find the balance between charging enough to make a buck & charging so much that subscribers are driven away.

I'm an online subscriber, so I hope I'm grandfathered in. At a hundred bucks a year, I'd just read it in the bookstore (remember those, you still go to bookstores right?)

For that kind of money, I would expect and demand a search function that didn't work like it was built in a cave!! They should be able to hire somebody that would make that work right. It's an _abomination_ right now. Same for the DVD archive. Absolutely no excuses. What were they thinking...

[Simon MacGowen]

I can see how it might be frustrating for folks when a resource like FW monetizes their content in multiple ways...but then again, this is an organization that is trying to actually stay alive in ways that other magazines really haven't managed to pull off.

No viable business decisions will please everyone, and as you said, FW has to do what it has got to do, even if it means losing some current subscribers (including me with only one year or less left).

I think the best deal is to get one of their digital USBs (new or second hand). You are not gonna miss much, at least not in the next five and probably ten years even though you have no access to the new issues.

Based on the aggressive discounts offered by the woodworking magazines (someone said PW could be had for just $5 ($15?) for one year!), life is tough for publishers (unless you are cash rich like WOOD, WWJ and WC).

Simon

[Jim Becker]

I agree with you Jim, they gotta do what they gotta do to stay afloat. But for me, $100/year is probably at least 3X what it's worth to me, so I'm out. I hope they can find enough subscribers to keep going. It's gotta be a tough to find the balance between charging enough to make a buck & charging so much that subscribers are driven away.

Of course, one can buy the 1975-2018 archive for just a hundred bucks as an alternative...as I just found out while poking around on their site. That's almost a better deal than the premium subscription since it covers the same ground other than "new content" that's still to come.

[John K Jordan]

Of course, one can buy the 1975-2018 archive for just a hundred bucks as an alternative...as I just found out while poking around on their site. That's almost a better deal than the premium subscription since it covers the same ground other than "new content" that's still to come.

Where? I am still unable to find the archive on the FWW site. The link I found on the site to it was dead.

However, I see that Highland Woodworking has it on a flash drive for $80.
https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/fine-woodworking-magazine-archive-1975-2018-flash-drive.aspx

Edit: $10 shipping, hmm.., for a flash drive?

But bad news for residents of California: "This product may expose you to chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm." Oh those poor souls in California.

JKJ

[Jim Becker]

That's a good deal for the flash drive, John...it's $99 on the FW site and they probably add shipping to it, too. As to shipping...there's the actual postage cost plus packing material plus the cost of someone to pack it. Small orders generate more cost to the supplier than larger ones in many cases and many places have minumums. Nature of the beast...

[John K Jordan]

That's a good deal for the flash drive, John...it's $99 on the FW site and they probably add shipping to it, too. As to shipping...there's the actual postage cost plus packing material plus the cost of someone to pack it. Small orders generate more cost to the supplier than larger ones in many cases and many places have minumums. Nature of the beast...

I ordered it and lowered the relative shipping cost by adding more items to my order. :)

JKJ

[Chris Parks]

I looked at joining some years ago and at that time the download for the magazine was confined to Apple products and not a PC, has this changed or do you still need a Mac to download the magazine itself.

[Chris Fournier]

I was a devote to FWW for many years but even then I saw the "recycled" content. After many years I couldn't pick up a monthly that wasn't a rehash of one that came out 18 months previously and I lost the interest/need to subscribe. Buy the archive 1975 to 2018 and be done with it. And satisfied! It was a great publication that was integral to my growth in this activity but there comes a time when the student outgrows the master. Our craft is not sorcery and there comes a time when you can and need to march to the beat of your own drum.

[mark mcfarlane]

I bought the dvd archive 5 or 10 years ago and was disappointed at the quality of the scans. The images were so highly compressed they were useless. Anyone else have this problem with a newer release?

[Doug Dawson]

I bought the dvd archive 5 or 10 years ago and was disappointed at the quality of the scans. The images were so highly compressed they were useless. Anyone else have this problem with a newer release?

Mine is two years old. The scans are decent, but the search function is beyond awful.

[Gary Ragatz]

I was a devote to FWW for many years but even then I saw the "recycled" content. After many years I couldn't pick up a monthly that wasn't a rehash of one that came out 18 months previously and I lost the interest/need to subscribe. Buy the archive 1975 to 2018 and be done with it. And satisfied! It was a great publication that was integral to my growth in this activity but there comes a time when the student outgrows the master. Our craft is not sorcery and there comes a time when you can and need to march to the beat of your own drum.

Over my lifetime, I've subscribed to a variety of "activity" magazines - hunting, fishing, golf, cycling, and more recently woodworking. My experience with all of these has been that after 2 or 3 years, they seem stale. I'm relatively new to woodworking, and the magazines still seem fresh, but I imagine that will change at some point. But, I do think that woodworking, though it's not sorcery, is a bit broader/more complex than some of these other activities, and I expect that the magazines will hold my interest longer. I suppose I could just buy the archives, but I suspect I'd never sit down and read through an entire issue as I do with the hard copy magazines that show up in the mail, and would probably miss out on some good stuff as a result.

[lowell holmes]

I like to sit on the couch and watch tv with SWMBO and if the subject matter leaves me cold, I will pick up an old issue of a magazine and read it. You can't do that online. :)

[Tom M King]

I ordered it and lowered the relative shipping cost by adding more items to my order. :)

JKJ

When my Wife comes back from shopping, I always ask her how much money she "saved".

[John K Jordan]

When my Wife comes back from shopping, I always ask her how much money she "saved".

Wow, I wish my wife would learn to spend money so I won't feel so bad. I can't even talk her into getting a new car. She's currently saving up in case I want to expend my shop. What a burden I have... !

JKJ

[Ray Newman]

I have the 1975 - 2017 FWW Archive edition. So far not happy with it. Slowly looking/reading through it when I have the time. So far, to about 1979/80. I find the "search" is useless and the scans leave a great to be desired.

[Simon MacGowen]

I have the 1975 - 2017 FWW Archive edition. So far not happy with it. Slowly looking/reading through it when I have the time. So far, to about 1979/80. I find the "search" is useless and the scans leave a great to be desired.

My version is a little older, but I have had no problem with its search or the results the search brings up. What problems do you and others have? You can choose how the search is done (eg limited to methods od work).

The scans also look good on my screen, as good as PW and others, and much better than WOODWORK.
Are you viewing yours on a tablet?

Simon

[Ray Newman]

First: I am not that computer savvy.

I loaded the Archive in on a HP PC -- Windows 7 professional -- with "viewable" screen size 12X 20".

Maybe I am not using the correct "key words" but it seems to take an inordinate amount of time to get results on a search and I find that the font/pictures are not as clear as I would like, so seems as if I am constantly adjusting the -/+ image/page size.

[John K Jordan]

First: I am not that computer savvy.

I loaded the Archive in on a HP PC -- Windows 7 professional -- with "viewable" screen size 12X 20".

Maybe I am not using the correct "key words" but it seems to take an inordinate amount of time to get results on a search and I find that the font/pictures are not as clear as I would like, so seems as if I am constantly adjusting the -/+ image/page size.

The archive I ordered should be here today. I'm interested is seeing just how bad it is! I mostly want to find some articles in issues I'm missing.

JKJ

[mark mcfarlane]

My version is a little older, but I have had no problem with its search or the results the search brings up. What problems do you and others have? You can choose how the search is done (eg limited to methods od work).

The scans also look good on my screen, as good as PW and others, and much better than WOODWORK.
Are you viewing yours on a tablet?

Simon

Simon my problems with the scans are on a high res Mac. FWIW, We all have different tolerances of image compression. Look at some of the early issues, look at the monochrome images and ads. Some of them look like vaseline was smeared over the image.

When they did these early scans they were targeting 5MB file sizes for an entire issue. Issues from 2010 are 30MB and look better.

They're readable, but annoying. Here's an example from issue 51:

403585

[Frank Pratt]

I sent an inquiry to FWW early this week and received an auto response that someone would get back to me within 48 hours. Nothing so far. Which is about what I expect from this company. Things have been really sliding for the last few years over there.

[Steve Bistritz]

i know this thread is old but i just saw this....https://www.ptreeusa.com/edirect_121019_fww_archive.htm

[Bill Carey]

I ordered it and lowered the relative shipping cost by adding more items to my order. :)

JKJ


smart move John - I doubt there is anyone on this board who would disagree with maximizing the benefit of shipping costs by ordering more tools. Just makes basic sense. :D

[Thomas Crawford]

If I see plans I want that are behind the subscription I just go on Amazon and order the back issue, there's always something there for $5 or so.

[Mike Rambour]

thread may be old, but I just bought it from the link above. THANKS

[Mark Rainey]

I hope you get your product. I tried to order the Archives for sale price of $65 from Fine Woodworking, but was told the product was not available. Some reviews of Peachtree complain of ordering items, then being informed it is on back order. Feedback please, caution is in order.

[Ben Rivel]

I hope you get your product. I tried to order the Archives for sale price of $65 from Fine Woodworking, but was told the product was not available. Some reviews of Peachtree complain of ordering items, then being informed it is on back order. Feedback please, caution is in order.
Peachtree is definitely a reputable seller. The "backorder" status or issues with shipping the product were probably due to Fine Woodworking. Peachtree probably just plays middle man slanging the thumb drives and Fine Woodworking drop ships the item to the customer.

[Thomas McCurnin]

I've enjoyed the magazine for over 20 years, maybe 30 years. I subscribe to magazine and before there was the archive, I scanned pertinent articles from it and Fine Woodworking, American Woodworker, and other publications. I think at one time, I received 4 publications a month, and read every magazine cover to cover. I also subscribe to archive, which is $100 a year for the print magazine and access to the past articles. I do this because I enjoy reading the magazine, like access to past articles, and want to support woodworking. I've tossed the paper magazines I treasured years ago, and now have a sizeable pdf folder of tips and plans from the various magazines I've had over the years.