Fine Woodworking USB

[John Isgren]

Has anyone purchased the Fine Woosworking USB? I am curious if it is worth the $100
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[Bob Leistner]

Only you can answer that question. I wouldn't buy it.

[Charles Guest]

That's a great deal. The early years, especially, of FW were and are a gold mine. If I didn't already have the magazines, I'd easily pay a lousy $100 for just the first ten years of the magazine, not to mention the entire forty-three years' worth.

It's a steal.

[Derek Cohen]

I have the DVD, up to 2013. I loaded it on my laptop, and copied many of the pdf files to my iPad. It makes great reading on long trips.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Simon MacGowen]

Has anyone purchased the Fine Woosworking USB? I am curious if it is worth the $100
404669

Yes, if you need it. I got mine (older version) from CL or eBay from a previous owner (disk version) for less than half the original price.

Simon

[John Isgren]

I wonder if someone could convince Popular Woodworking to do something similar!

[John Stankus]

I wonder if someone could convince Popular Woodworking to do something similar!

You mean like this?

Popular Woodworking Magazine 1995-2015 DVD

$129.99
SKU: R0095

[Gary Ragatz]

I just ordered it. I have an archive for Woodsmith magazine, and I find it very useful - I suspect FWW will be more useful.

If you decide to pull the trigger on it, there is a promo code available - SAVE20 - that will get you 20% off. Standard shipping is free, so $80, delivered.

[Art Mann]

I have the DVD and it has been very disappointing. The user interface is clumsy and the search feature is quite crude. It seems that no matter what I am looking for, it isn't in the archive.

[Simon MacGowen]

I have the DVD and it has been very disappointing. The user interface is clumsy and the search feature is quite crude. It seems that no matter what I am looking for, it isn't in the archive.

The archive (disk or usb wouldn't make much a difference) does have its limitations, and some also complained about the resolution for the black & white issues. However, I have not had much problem finding what I needed with the search keys I used. It also allows us to search based on Department, etc. If your search with the archive does not get you what you want (even though it may be in the magazine), try Google. Often, I can pinpoint the issue #/date via Google and then access the content or details in the archive.

Original (second hand) archives on the auction site I just visited are asking for $25 to $40 depending on the years.

Simon

[John Isgren]

You mean like this?

Popular Woodworking Magazine 1995-2015 DVD

$129.99
SKU: R0095
I guess it shows how my brain works. When I saw the “Shop” tab on PW main tab I assumed that was workshop projects and not a store front. They have this one also:

404691

[Mike Henderson]

I had a complete collection of all the FWW issues some years ago. But they took up too much room. I donated them to the local school which had a woodworking class. I wouldn't be surprised if the students took the valuable issues and sold them but...

Then I purchased the electronic version of the issues. I copied the DVD to my computer disk so I could access them faster - it's pretty slow on the DVD.

I haven't purchased the updates since maybe 2011.

I did learn a lot from reading the early issues.

Mike

[Kris Cook]

I bought the the disc in 2015.

Like Derek, I downloaded quite a few of the PDF's to my tablet for reading on the plane when I was traveling a lot.

It has occurred to me more than once - I never could have imagined back in those days having the magazines to read on a computer. Pretty awesome to have all that information at your fingertips.

I credit FWW with really instilling a passion for woodworking in me back in the early 80's. I couldn't afford a subscription back then but bought a few issues at the newsstand most of which I still have. I thought the search feature worked fairly well.

[Mike Manning]

If you buy a previously owned version of the FWW archive off the big auction site be warned that there are some sellers who will sell you a copy of their archive. A couple of years ago I bought what was advertised as the FWW archive on DVD 1975-2013 IIRC. Upon receipt it was a copied version. I let the seller know he was violating the law. I tossed the pirated archive and I can't recall if it was eBay or the credit card company who credited my money back. Oh yeah, I also contacted the folks with Taunton Publishing to let them know the guy was selling pirated copies of their archive. They said they appreciated the info. Who knows if they actually did anything. I'd suggest you explicitly ask the buyer if you'll be getting the original archive from FWW (Tauton Pub).

[Simon MacGowen]

If you buy a previously owned version of the FWW archive off the big auction site be warned that there are some sellers who will sell you a copy of their archive.

Like shopping for anything else on that auction site, look at the seller's feedback rating first. A guy with a 98.7% positive score out of 19,230 transactions, for example, is probably a better vendor than many B&M stores out there. Having said that, I find the site's refund/complaint process so much improved that even if you dealt with a crook, you would get your money back with ease (as easy as if you would get money back for a fraudulent credit card transaction that hit you).

With close to 400 purchases (some sales) made under my belt, I had only one loss (10 years ago), but I decided not to file a complaint as the amount was so small. Half a dozen refunds received due to lost shipments, but everything else sailed smoothly. The bay offers more free shipping deals than amazon too.

Simon

[Frederick Skelly]

I have it. It was worth it to me.
Fred

[Doug Weiner]

I got one when they were running a 20% sale. Great bath room reading on the iPad not so much on the phone. Truly inspirational.

[J. Greg Jones]

Curious what the article format is for the FWW USB? Are there PDFs for each issue, or PDFs for each article? It's not a propriety-format reader similar to Zinio, correct?

[John Patric]

I will assume that the USB format is the same as the DVD format. The DVD has a viewer that lists (shows) each issue on a bookshelf type background and this interface allows you to search the contents of each and every magazine that is included in the current version of the DVD release. You can go to the directory which contains all the issues, each issue is a PDF document and can be opened separately in a PDF viewer. I have dual 24" monitors and I find it very easy to browse through the magazines on my PC, anything smaller and I guess you would not be able to peruse the magazine with a full spread view.

[Frederick Skelly]

I will assume that the USB format is the same as the DVD format. The DVD has a viewer that lists (shows) each issue on a bookshelf type background and this interface allows you to search the contents of each and every magazine that is included in the current version of the DVD release. You can go to the directory which contains all the issues, each issue is a PDF document and can be opened separately in a PDF viewer. I have dual 24" monitors and I find it very easy to browse through the magazines on my PC, anything smaller and I guess you would not be able to peruse the magazine with a full spread view.

I downloaded the CD onto my 7" tablet. It works fine, but as John predicted, you wont read a full sheet view.

[Derek Cohen]

Fred, if you download or copy over the individual PDF files, each one will open as a separate magazine. Each page will fill the screen. On my iPad, I open each in iBooks, where it is saved as an individual magazine. You then are able to select and open each one as you prefer.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Frederick Skelly]

Fred, if you download or copy over the individual PDF files, each one will open as a separate magazine. Each page will fill the screen. On my iPad, I open each in iBooks, where it is saved as an individual magazine. You then are able to select and open each one as you prefer.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thank you Derek!

[Doug Dawson]

I will assume that the USB format is the same as the DVD format. The DVD has a viewer that lists (shows) each issue on a bookshelf type background and this interface allows you to search the contents of each and every magazine that is included in the current version of the DVD release. You can go to the directory which contains all the issues, each issue is a PDF document and can be opened separately in a PDF viewer. I have dual 24" monitors and I find it very easy to browse through the magazines on my PC, anything smaller and I guess you would not be able to peruse the magazine with a full spread view.

I have the DVD loaded onto my 15" MacBook Pro, which doesn't have a DVD player (because Steve Jobs believed that thinner is always better. But that's neither here nor there.) Navigation is some kind of Windows-like paradigm, and like all Windows apps ported to the Mac without any thinking at all, screen navigation etc is a clunky nightmare. No full screen view, and everything is backwards or upside down, jumping out of pages, random access! It's utterly infuriating. Particularly when you stop to consider that Mac OS natively does this sort of thing exceptionally well.

[Derek Cohen]

Doug, I assume that you have downloaded the FWW DVD into your Applications folder. Go to Fine Woodworking Archive>DataFWW>Issues. In that folder are all the PDFs of all the magazines. Copy them, all or a few, to iBook. You can do this a number of ways: via iBook on the MacBook Pro via the Cloud to your iPad, via iTunes, and I did this by uploading the PDFs to a hard drive attached to my modem, which I could access with my iPad. iBook will not have an Index for the magazines, but you can still find each by the cover.

I have done this also for the DVD of Woodworking magazine.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Simon MacGowen]

Zinio

Horrible...I have never come across anyone who likes Zinio. Why do retailers and publishers think that is a better platform than pdf (for reading)? It is counter-intuitive to use, unless you're an expert in it.

Simon

[Doug Dawson]

Doug, I assume that you have downloaded the FWW DVD into your Applications folder. Go to Fine Woodworking Archive>DataFWW>Issues. In that folder are all the PDFs of all the magazines. Copy them, all or a few, to iBook. You can do this a number of ways: via iBook on the MacBook Pro via the Cloud to your iPad, via iTunes, and I did this by uploading the PDFs to a hard drive attached to my modem, which I could access with my iPad. iBook will not have an Index for the magazines, but you can still find each by the cover.

Unfortunately you then lose the search function, such as it is.

I used to have all the hardcopy magazines, going back thru the mists of time, except for some gaps where I let my subscription lapse because they ticked me off for one reason or another. They used to have an end-of-year master index, as I recall. Too bad even that is not incorporated into the app (unless you consider going to that actual issue and suffer being booted out of it merely by trying to scroll.) I have semi-fond memories of wasting hours of time going thru it trying to find something, occasionally with success.

It shouldn't be so hard for them to build the PDF's into an indexed custom PDF reader (I used to write software for Mac OS to do custom applications of that sort for internal use.) After all, they're charging money for it. All it would take is the will and the recognition that many of us have long since lost patience with Windows. Then I could recommend it. As it is, I guess it's better than nothing. And it passes the time on the plane.

Thanks for your note!

[Chris Parks]

I copied the whole archive preserving the function onto our NAS and when I open the archive from my PC it is horribly slow. This was the disc up to 2012 or so and I wonder if they have speeded things up in the last few years with better technology. Maybe that is the reason they went to a USB stick?

[Derek Cohen]

There is, or was, an Indexer. It may no longer be available. Mine is 1975 - 2008 (I think the 2008 reflects when I received a gift copy as "payment" for moderator on Knots at the time). Unfortunately, this cannot be used on a tablet. Still, it can aid in pinpointing the issues you can later read on the iPad.

Regards from Perth

Derek