The Digital Vibes

There’s a new and interesting user-generated magazine archive site called Mygazines, where you can “browse, share, archive and customize unlimited magazine articles uploaded by you, the Mygazines community”.  

I’m not sure how many copyright infringements this Napster-like portal has committed, nor how many loafer-clad toes of old-world publishing executives this site has stepped on, but the fact that one can browse and read magazines for free, surely appeals to many.

The magazines open in an e-book format, which means you can’t skip the ads, and it is better suited for pages with lots of pictures (ditto fashion magazines) as it is rather tedious to read wordy articles this way. But then again it’s free, so I’m not complaining too much.

I don’t really see much social networking happening on the site yet, but I think it’s a matter of time and traffic.

The biggest question for Mygazines I suspect, is how to handle the backlash from the publishing industry? I wonder if publishers have learnt from their counterparts in the music industry, that going to court to fight file swopping will simply win the battle but lose the war, since the sands of the industry landscape have already shifted.

Again, only time and traffic will tell.