The start of the end? [Elektor]

[BurtyB]

In the Announcements section of Septembers Elektor it says "The Publishers announce their decision to withdraw Elektor magazine from bookstores, electronics stores, kiosks and newsstands in the UK, the US, Europe and the rest of the world, effectively from the October 2014 edition.".

It does make me wonder as an ex-subscriber who cancelled due to it being cheaper to buy over the counter than subscribing (even to the green edition) and having little content of interest especially considering what's out there for "free" these days it does make me wonder if this is the start of the end for Elektor.

[mikeselectricstuff]

I'm surprised it's still going TBH

[CrashBang]

I enjoy their projects that bring up ideas I'd never thought of - Are there any other recommendations then?  I like to hold a mag in my hand rather than google myself to death...  #oldfashioned

[kripton2035]

if the selling of the paper does not pay for the writers, then closing it is the only way ...

[ElektroQuark]

The selling of the paper NEVER pays. The adds do.
If Elektor can avoid the paper and printer costs but maintain the adds in the "electronic" version of the magazine, it will be around for some years.

[CrashBang]

They aren't going all electronic - so not saving on printing costs.  Guess that the distribution costs to the newsstands were outweighing the revenue generated.

[Wilksey]

I guess they are still shipping for subscribers, just not off-the-shelf customers?

[BurtyB]

I guess they are still shipping for subscribers, just not off-the-shelf customers?

Yeah they're still doing printed versions for subscribers and they can be ordered via their site.

[firewalker]

I stopped buying Elektor years when they refused to send me the firmware of an mcu project or the correct part. The mcu they had send me had the wrong firmware programmed in. I had to reorder.

Alexander.

[Kjelt]

I stopped my subscription when they switched to doing mostly uC based projects without publishing/releasing the source code.
What good is that? You can not modify anything and still don't know how it exactly works.
They have some nice articles in the current magazines but limited, most good stuff is from 3rd party amateur hobbieists/writers.
If the people of this forum would get their own topic and publish their projects/schematics you could have the same source of interesting info.

[PPA94]

In the Announcements section of Septembers Elektor...

Hi, can you give some link, I cannot find this announcement?

[BurtyB]

Hi, can you give some link, I cannot find this announcement?

I found it on page 6 of the magazine - they have some info in their FAQ too (http://www.elektor.com/faq).

[PPA94]

Hi, can you give some link, I cannot find this announcement?

I found it on page 6 of the magazine - they have some info in their FAQ too (http://www.elektor.com/faq).

Thanks.
Well, I do not have access to the English version; I have the French version and there's nothing about this in my version.
The English FAQ in only about the difficulties to distribute the paper magazine, not really an announcement. I do not have such topic in the French FAQ.

[VK3DRB]

You have to change with the times if they are for the better. Whilst I think Elektor was the best electronics mag around for many years, there is a lot more available on the Internet. Free-to-air TV will go the same way within 10 years as VOD will replace it.

[SpiderElectronics]

I would not be surprised if it was in fact the distributors that forced the move, by insisting on a higher cover price, or higher cut. That is what happened to CVE magazine (Computer Video Editing), when the UK distributor insisted on a £6 per copy cover price.

[nctnico]

In the Announcements section of Septembers Elektor it says "The Publishers announce their decision to withdraw Elektor magazine from bookstores, electronics stores, kiosks and newsstands in the UK, the US, Europe and the rest of the world, effectively from the October 2014 edition.".

It does make me wonder as an ex-subscriber who cancelled due to it being cheaper to buy over the counter than subscribing (even to the green edition) and having little content of interest especially considering what's out there for "free" these days it does make me wonder if this is the start of the end for Elektor.

I cancelled my subscription decades ago when they tried to become a computer magazine. What also put me off is that you have to buy preprogrammed chips for many projects and they don't publish the source. I built a fair amount of circuits from Elektor but always with my own modifications.

OTOH Elektor is a typical magazine which could aim at the 'maker community'.

[German_EE]

Is is interesting to compare the current Elektor with the original issues. When the magazine was originally published they did not specify transistor or diode part numbers, they had TUN, TUP, DUG and DUS which stood for Transistor Universal NPN/PNP and Diode Universal Germanium/Silicon and the designs would work with a wide variety of devices. I could get a 1980 Elektor and still build the design today using a 2N3904.

Summer Circuits was a treasure trove and I still have about fifteen years of each bumper issue which works out to about 1500 circuits.

All of that is now gone and most of the designs in Elektor have an Atmel or Microchip device stuck in the middle of the PCB. What is going to happen when in 2025 I pull the September 2014 issue from the shelf and try to build a project? I suspect I may have problems sourcing that chip 

[SeanB]

I stopped with Elektor when they priced themselves locally out of the price range I was willing to pay. I bought the odd issue but would give them a read through in the newsagent to see if it was of benefit to pay the price. I was very sad when they bought Circuit Cellar as well, the new editions are a sad shadow of the former magazine. I had my first digital subs to Circuit cellar, but after the sale I let it expire. I pretty much get all the mags I subscribe to now in digital form, which must be a plain PDF, so that you can print out an article if needs be. Give it in a form that has a special reader that does not allow printing ( you get them, and they are a pain) and I do not read it.

[Bored@Work]

About time Elektor bites the dust.

Paper magazines are still huge in Japan. They don't suck like the UK ones though, so no wonder.

For example, there is a monthly magazine called Interface here: http://interface.cqpub.co.jp/

Your mission now, if you choose to accept, is to track down the publisher and convince him to start producing international, English issues.

[netdudeuk]

I stopped with Elektor when they priced themselves locally out of the price range I was willing to pay. I bought the odd issue but would give them a read through in the newsagent to see if it was of benefit to pay the price. I was very sad when they bought Circuit Cellar as well, the new editions

Same with me.  I had a look a their 'Summer special' the other day and put it down when I saw the price.  It wasn't that the price was a large amount, it was just large for what it was and compared with all the other mags.

[jancumps]

My October 2014 edition says that the November one will be released on October 21:

[jancumps]

Not that I'll run out of issues soon. I have 2 big boxes full.
I just sold 4 'Electronica Wereld' issues from the early 60's. That was the predecessor of Elektor.

[dannyf]

Publications are really in the information dissemination business. Unfortunately for them, that hurdle has been lowered significantly over the lats 10-20 years. Thus many of them struggling.

[G0HZU]

I've not read Elektor for many years but I am surprised that it has survived for so long in paper format.

One of my gripes about some electronics publications is that they tend to target industry professionals like myself and send them 'subscription free' magazines every month. At one time I used to receive half a dozen or more every month. I don't think I requested any of them but they got my details somehow.

You would think it would be easy to unsubscribe from them but this doesn't always work. The worst offender is Eureka. I've given up trying to unsubscribe either by phone or by email. The feckers even phone me up (every year?) and ask me if I still want it and I say no. But it makes no difference. They just keep sending it. With some of the others it took numerous attempts to get me off (and keep me off) their distribution lists. i.e. they often stop for a while but then reappear a few months later.

[steve30]

My house is heated with an infinite supply of CPC catalogues that I never asked for.

I ordered from CPC once and was inundated with brochures. I had to write to them to tell them to stop, and they stopped. I wouldn't mind if they only sent them occasionally, but this was every two weeks, and it always seemed to be roughly the same products.

As for Elektor; I've bought it on the odd occasion, but I tend to buy Everyday Practical Electronics more often (if I can find it) as that appeals to me more. It'll be disappointing to see the choice reduced a bit more though.