It’s finally time to wind down and enjoy the Christmas summer like only us South Africans know how. Braais, lazy pool and beach days, naps, lots of eating and very little else. Hoorah!
It is in the holiday spirit that I bring you an incredibly useful app, brought to my attention by Lynette Anthony at a recent MacTechSA event:
Zinio.
Damage
It’s Free
What you need to know
Available for iOS, Android, Windows 8 from your relevant app store and also has a desktop reader version at www.zinio.com
What we think you should know
It’s a free app with literally ALL of the magazines in digital format. All of them. Think of a kind of magazine that you think you’d like and search for it – I bet my horse’s hay there is a magazine on Zinio that meets your strange desire. You can also buy your mom the You/Huisgenoot to go with the new iPad under the Christmas tree this year.
How it works is that you find the magazines you’d like to read and download (and pay for) either the one edition, or a subscription to the magazine. Kind of like a Netflix for magazines.
It’s then there in your reader for your holiday perusal at your leisure.
There is also a thumbnail view of the content within the magazine and a table of contents for easier navigation.
So rad:
- The variety is what impressed me with this one, I must say. It’s what sets it apart from a regular old Newsstand on your tablet
- There are loads of free articles and magazines, so you can browse happily for a while before choosing the specific mags you want to download.
- (I found and thoroughly explored an entire magazine all about Islands. Just Islands. Drool.)
- I enjoyed the usability of the design on the iPad app
- Content syncs between devices
- Back issues are available, so you can go back and download magazines you may have missed in the past. But would like to still read.
- Once downloaded, the magazines are available offline, as they are stored in your “Read” section.
Makes us sad:
- The magazines are standard pdf-style downloads, with no further interaction. So it’s basically just the magazine on your device/desktop instead of in paper format. I kind of expected a bit of interactivity with its digital format. Some have interactivity but the majority are standard read only PDF types (for now, anyway).
- Sorry boys, you won’t be able to download Playboy on iOS due to Apple’s strict content restrictions
Happy summer reading!
