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marktrade

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Posts posted by marktrade

  1. On 1/3/2018 at 5:53 PM, KiwiArcader said:

    You make an interesting point about legitimacy yet the fact is that we, you and I, and anyone else scanning magazines are committing copyright offences under current law. Unless we receive permission from the rights holders to do so we can be held accountable under said law if they decide to prosecute. I'm guessing you know that or else you would have been happy to use your real name. Jason gets away with that as he isn't running or doesn't own Archive.org and there exists some sort of Library of Congress umbrella protection for that particular site.

    Scanning for limited use is not an offense. There are vast library scanning projects happening all the time without permission from creators. Scanning and making public a searchable database has been ruled as transformative and therefore the same as original work in the eyes of American law. It is legitimate commerce.

    I am unfamiliar with any specific protections for the Library of Congress, but if that is true then it is even more to your benefit to share in that protection by having an account at archive.org. Retromags and OldGameMags are effectively private libraries that can partner with other libraries and share private use. Retromags is a little more private because of limited membership, but there are pathways to legitimacy for all scanners.

    This is not uplifting work. It is very lonely and unfulfilling, when you're always wondering if your hard work is going to be taken away or worse that you'll be punished for it. Working under that condition is unacceptable to me now. That it was ever acceptable to me gives me some embarrassment, but I started with desire to see certain magazines digitized and a critical level of impatience while waiting for someone else to do it.

    No, a publisher does not have a right to keep me from enjoying a copy of one of its magazines that I own on a tablet and it certainly does not have a right to keep me from being able to search its entire library digitally, whether it's from my collection or someone else's. Anyone who says you can't do that, whether the magazine is GameFan or some other work the creator has asked not to be scanned, is in the wrong. One might wish to refuse to scan and make searchable GameFan out of respect to its creator, but it would not be out of respect for the law.

    I haven't used my real name at first for the reasons you mention but later on as I learned more I wondered if I should. I experimented with a patreon to see if anyone would try to shut me down and they didn't. Instead I found increasing support. Not nearly enough to make it a career, but some of it was there to make me consider the possibility and if it is worth pursuing as a lifestyle. The events of 2017 convinced me that it was not for me.

  2. For what it's worth my advice is to talk to Jason and establish a formal means of recruiting his help instead of continuing bitterness and antagonism. I've managed to work well with everyone— you, Jason, Retromags, anyone willing to help. I have felt very lonely in that regard. It's depressing to see people ignore and resent each other's resources toward a common goal. Instead of seeing someone sharing your scans as a "ripping off," I invite you to see it as an effort to share the responsibility. You are regularly looking for better hosting. That is exactly the advantage Jason offers. Make an OldGameMags account on archive.org and drop a link in the description of every upload along with a donation link. You wish me good health, but it challenges my sanity that you bring such a grievance to me.

    Maybe I am wrong and it is to your advantage to maintain a negative attitude. Maybe your name really will go down in history as a leader against other people trying to share your scans. I do not remember offhand the names of any scribes or librarians in history, or any monk that painstakingly copied the Bible by candlelight in medieval Europe. I tell people about about my scanning hobby and they're very bored by it. Even the people who are interested in gaming and gaming magazines look at me and wonder why I would put so much money and resources into it. After doing it for a couple years, I wondered the same and am finished. Game journalists are not exactly heroes to be remembered either (although they may have looked that way when we were younger) so, no, I don't think anyone will remember any of our names. None of us even use our personal names except for Jason and he's still very behind the scenes. He doesn't take personal credit and has publicly admitted to a kind of digital kleptomania. Frankly I'm thankful for it because it's a healthy trait in a librarian.

    I have tried to lead the way toward legitimacy. There is legal precedent for earning money from scanning game magazines and transforming them into a searchable digital database. The only barrier is practicality. Do what you gotta go. Start patreons. Register as a nonprofit. Deduct your expenses from your taxes. This is neither immoral nor illegal. You're doing a lot of work and should get credit. You should also work together.

  3. On 1/1/2018 at 12:14 PM, Phillyman said:

    Yes I sent Marktrade two boxes of A3 sized magazines. I am unsure of what has been scanned thus far, because I sent those magazines back in March 2016. I believe Marktrades last upload to Retromags was in December 2016, and then he started only uploading to Internet Archive, which I have not kept up with. As for magazines he has not scanned, if Jason is going to scan them great, but how long will they sit before that happens? Jason seems to have his hands filled with other preservation projects, so personally I would rather see if we can get them shipped off to you (KiwiArcader). I still have no way to preserve A3 magazines, perhaps between You, MarkTrade and myself we can do a three way split to get the magazines into your hands?

    Just a thought :)

    I believe I've scanned all of them, but not edited them.

    I contacted Phillyman in October and asked him to let me know if there's any unfinished business I need to take care of and I never received a response. 

    As for my lack of engagement here, I faced my mortality multiple times in 2017 and it was extremely disquieting. Figuring out how to live when I may die tomorrow and move forward from scanning is very difficult because it means giving up on a childhood dream and letting some people down, but I will do it because I have to.

    Sean697's Playstation mags are still in my possession and I will take care of those. Most of Areala's magazines have already been uploaded and I will deal with those responsibly as well. I can't think of anyone else who has sent me mags that I haven't scanned. If there's anyone reading this who has unfinished business with me, please get in touch by PM'ing me.

    • Like 1
  4. On 3/1/2017 at 1:15 PM, Phillyman said:

    So easiest thing to do is create a new field type called "Sort", make it a number field up to 999. 

    Won't that break Famitsu, which has more than 1000 issues?

    I recall kitsunebi77 suggesting that we sort by an 8-digit issue date starting with the year (yyyy-mm-dd) and thinking that was a solid idea. Issue number inconsistencies are a lot more common than people realize. Just a couple weeks ago I encountered it in CyberSurfer, where the issue number on the cover was inconsistent with the issue number on the page footer because of an apparent oversight.

    • Like 1
  5. 11 hours ago, muller23 said:

    No ,you not alone here,i am on a mission here ,to get every single 1 of them

    if anybody got hard copy's that would be nice

    thanks

    I got into scanning because I was on a "mission" to get every issue of a magazine scanned as well. I learned it's a very large, time-consuming, and expensive project, which is why there are so few people in the world who do it. If it's something you really care about, we will welcome your help!

    • Like 1
  6. 32 minutes ago, kitsunebi77 said:

    I'll shamefully admit I don't actually contribute anything useful to the Magazine Database.  I mean sure, I add the basic stuff like country, editor, page count and price whenever I add a cover or link a download to the mag DB, but I never take the time to add anything useful by typing up the magazine contents.  It's not something I look for myself (if the mag is available to download, I download it and find out the contents for myself; if it isn't available, knowing the contents does me no immediate good).  Still, I'm amazed by some of the detailed contents descriptions some people type up, and agree that doing so is an invaluable addition to the site.  Unfortunately, I'm too lazy (or too busy adding other content to the site, usually).

    I'd say you've contributed quite a lot, particularly with Famitsu. I think you even agree that we have the most comprehensive Japanese magazine DB on the net, and we've just started!

  7. Nearing a complete collection of Game On! USA. The first six issues have been uploaded. The seventh and final issue will be uploaded tonight.

    https://archive.org/details/GameOnUSA

    On 2/14/2017 at 1:40 AM, kitsunebi77 said:

    Actually, the download section here is the one section that works as it should and isn't waiting on any fixes. :)

    Even still, since the DB is what I value most about Retromags, I'm holding off until its status quo. I don't want to mess anything up.

  8. Something else I wanted to mention about archive.org and large files. The BookReader web app from the Open Library, which archive.org uses in its fullscreen reading interface, is a dynamic application that re-renders each page from the source file to whatever size your browser window is set at or to whatever zoom level you're in. So you can access all the benefits of 600 DPI without having to download the entire file.

  9. 16 hours ago, Areala said:

    Just noticed you put up an issue of Tokyo Pop...do you have others, or was this a one-off? And if it was a one-off, are you interested in acquiring more...? :)

    *huggles*
    Areala

    It's the only one I have. I'm not looking for more right now, but maybe someday? :)

  10. I like the way you think!

    Continuing to upload magazines to ADO, including some obscure ones not in our database like PC Ace, PC Simulations, and CD-ROM Power. Some more issues of Electronic Entertainment. Today will be another one along with an issue of Computer Player. I'll upload Retromags versions and make the corresponding missing mag threads eventually but still sort of waiting for the site changes to stabalize.

  11. On 2/1/2017 at 4:25 AM, Depressor said:

    Does anybody use document cameras? I don't know how it really names, but i think you understand me - it's a camera on a support with top-down view...

     

    I've been experimenting with using my iPhone camera on a stand to "scan" some pages. I was thinking it might be useful for pages that are printed in some special way, like holograms or reflective coloring, or with posters that don't go through my scanner well. It's actually possible to use the panorama feature on the iPhone to get a picture of a long poster by keeping the camera stationary and just moving the poster underneath the camera. It takes some practice and I'm still working on it.

    However, I'm definitely going to start using my camera more often to document the appearance of magazines still sealed in their original bags. @Sean697 recently sent me some he wanted scanned and I've been procrastinating on them, but I know for sure that before any scanning I want to get good pictures of them before taking them out of their bags. What sort of standard should I be shooting for, though? Natural lighting? Midday or dusk? Black or white background? I don't know, there's definitely an art to it with room for differing perspectives.

    IMG_2047.JPG

    • Like 1
  12. On 8/28/2016 at 10:39 PM, RetroDefense said:

    Game Player's PC Buyer's Guide

    • Volume 1 Number 1 1989 (exist?)
    • Volume 1 Number 2* (noted in back issue list as "PC Buyer's Guide;" actually TGPGTMCG v1n2 below?)

    The Game Player's Guide to MS-DOS Computer Games

    • Volume 1 Number 2, Winter 1998 (exist?; actually GPPCBG v1n2 above?)
    • v1n3? (exist?)

    Volume 1 Number 2 exists as "The Game Player's Guide to MS-DOS Computer Games" and has been scanned!

    https://archive.org/details/GPGMSDOSCGVol1No2

    • Like 3
  13. My scanner alone was over $4000. The software to use the scanner was $600 (it's a production scanner meant for corporate use). I've spent about $3000 just on magazines. Plenty other supplies and costs go into everything. If I am super lucky and don't lose any patrons, maybe I break even in five years. After only two months, I'm not exactly counting on that to happen.

  14. S.T.U.N. Runner. I liked everything about it, but the fact that it was only a quarter and always open during visits to Chuck E. Cheese as a kid added to the feeling that it was made just for me. I can't not play "my" game, right? It's a one-player game, so if I was there with a friend, then we'd play the TMNT arcade game or The Simpsons.

    During visits to Six Flags, the go to game was Virtua Fighter 2, because I couldn't find it anywhere else. My friends would always chastise me. "Why are you playing arcade games? We came here to go on roller coasters!" And I told them they could still go on a roller coaster and meet me back in front of the VF2 machine, the most beautiful thing in a thousand-mile radius. They just didn't get it. 

    Going to the movies, I definitely had to stop and play Star Wars Episode 1 Pinball. Same deal, though. My friends or family would say, "we came here to watch movies." Okay, go watch your movie, then! I'll play the game, lol. Although I think any reasonable person would admit that Star Wars Episode 1 Pinball was over a hundred times better than the movie.

  15. Interesting, one of those links has an interview with the editor saying he intended to put scans of the first 16 issues online for free, but it looks like he never got around to it? Well, I was happy to help. :)

  16. CD-Rom User issue 09 is now available at OGM . I know marktrade likes multimedia oriented magazines so thought I'd knock it out for him. Unfortunately it's the only issue I possess of this particular title

     

    09.jpg

    Thanks, Kiwi! This looks great.

    I've added an ebay search so I can keep track of more issues, if they become available.

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