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Would you buy more manga if it was distributed like this?

B

BluePikmin11

Member
I hope this kind of topic is ok here. I went here to talk about a manga related idea that's being I've been thinking about the whole day and I would like to share it here. I know the title doesn't say much, but's hard to explain the idea with just a few words.

There's so many good manga out there that I would love to collect personally, but so many of them are long-running manga that I worry manga will consume physical space too much for me. I've wanting to find a way to figure out this problem but also have manga in some physical form. So I have this concept I have been playing around called manga USB tablet, and I explain the entire concept here in one image. I've put a lot thought into this concept, so I hope you read it all the way through:

QZjqgkJ.png


What do you think? I don't expect this to be the primary means of distributing manga, it's more so of a novelty and alternative. I know this is not the typical kind of thing you'd buy easily, it's a product that takes a lot thought to put into in the same way you think about buying manga boxsets. Do you believe the concept appeals to you personally? Would it be better to replace USBs with card chips akin gaming portable cards? Should the concept be fleshed out more?

Regardless if the opinion is negative or positive, I do want to hear your thoughts. The point of making this thread is to create discussion, and I love discussing various topics. I'm sorry if the way the concept was handled was pretty loose, it's just something I wanted to get out of my brain cause I thought it was a neat idea.
 
5

5taquitos

Member
Why would I need or want a USB in this scenario? Just to have? Hardly a substitute for a book, just give me a link.
 
T

Tye The Czar

Member
It sounds like a great portable idea! I've often been reluctant to buy manga due to the fear of not having enough space for all of it.

What could make them even better, and I don't know if this gets too ambitious, but programming manga with the option to have panels and speech appear dynamically like in other digital comics.
 
Giolon

Giolon

Member
I read the whole thing, and no I wouldn't want this. It's the worst of both worlds to me.

You have the limitation that you don't have the actual physical thing to hold in your hands (the USB stick is a poor substitute and is just something to get lost easily), and you also have the limitation that you have an electronic device still that needs to be charged.

I'll take just reading digital on my iPad to save space and buy physical copies of the things I truly wish to have forever.
 
N

nabe_shogun

Member
no. If I want manga in a physical form, I'd rather have the actual books. Otherwise I'd just rather have all digital and read it on any device, preferably my computer.
 
T

TheBryanJZX90

Member
Nah I haven't cared about physical media since I graduated college like oh jeez 12 years ago. Incidentally, this was largely because I moved to Japan and back in the intervening time frame, got separated from the majority of my media collections, and discovered that not collecting is juuuust fine.
 
1

13randO

Member
I need my Watamote physical!
I see this having legs for long series, but maybe making a proper Android/ iOS manga digital storefront would more convenient for the consumer?
 
Machine

Machine

Member
Convert the manga so it reads front to back and left to right. Until then, forget it. I've been reading the western way for far to long to try anything new now.
 
F

Freezasaurus

Member
I buy most of my manga digitally these days, space being the main factor for me as well. Rows of identical spines sure do look swell on a shelf, but I don't like sacrificing all of that space for something I'm probably not going to read again.

As to a tablet specifically for reading manga, I doubt that would be something I'd purchase. As long as the screen is big enough, I've found that pretty much any tablet is fine for reading manga. Splash pages can create some difficulty, but I don't plan on spending a great length of time staring at them either way, so the need for a solution to the problem is pretty negligible for me personally.
 
D

dani_dc

Member
Not at all, give me a good digital service for most manga, and physical for the few ones that I love enough to justify having it take physical space in my room.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I love the idea of physical media. But it just doesn't make any sense to launch physical media formats at this point. Everything about this says "it should just be digital download" and "it should just be a service on the tablet I already have."
 
G

Gentleman Jack

Member
If you really, really needed to collect physical goods I can sort of see the appeal, but I don't know if there's sufficient crossover between people who primarly consume digital media on an all-purpose mobile device and those who hoard chip-based media. It'd be like demanding physical copies of iphone games. I carry one portable supercomputer with me everywhere I go. I don't also want to invest in a 3DS mobile accessory carrying case to accommodate the peripherals.
 
L

Loxley

Member
Machine said:
Convert the manga so it reads front to back and left to right. Until then, forget it. I've been reading the western way for far to long to try anything new now.
Click to expand...

It's been tried a number of times and almost never works well, at least in my opinion.
 
F

Faiz

Member
5taquitos said:
Why would I need or want a USB in this scenario? Just to have? Hardly a substitute for a book, just give me a link.
Click to expand...

If I'm paying for it it better be cheap af or I need a DRM free download, no simple link to the content online tyvm. Industry doesn't need another freakin Jmanga selling viewing rights and then going belly up with customers losing access to the manga they paid for
 
5

5taquitos

Member
Faiz said:
If I'm paying for it it better be cheap af or I need a DRM free download, no simple link to the content online tyvm. Industry doesn't need another freakin Jmanga selling viewing rights and then going belly up with customers losing access to the manga they paid for
Click to expand...
Maybe I meant a link to a download? Geez ಥ_ಥ
 
1

18-Volt

Member
Chorazin said:
No. Put more manga on Kindle and don't charge me $9 a volume.
Click to expand...

Wasn't there a lawsuit about this couple of years ago? Like, you can't sell digital books or comics cheaper than retail/print price. If that's true, then by law they can't cut the price.
 
B

BosSin

Member
Sounds like a solution to a non-existent problem. We have tablets and e-ink readers out there already, just make the manga more readily available on those devices and job done.

If someone wants something more physical then they would just get the book itself. A tablet in any shape or form would not make for an acceptable substitute.
 
Z

zoku88

Member
18-Volt said:
Wasn't there a lawsuit about this couple of years ago? Like, you can't sell digital books or comics cheaper than retail/print price. If that's true, then by law they can't cut the price.
Click to expand...

I think you are thinking of the opposite, where there was this price fixing thing where publishers didn't want Amazon to sell ebooks cheaper than digital books and they schemed with Apple to raise prices and enforcing agency pricing.

They got sued (and lost). They were able to indepently set up agency pricing, though.
 
G

Gentleman Jack

Member
BluePikmin11 said:
This is assuming you'd want to buy manga legally. :p
Click to expand...

Let me give you my dream world scenario.

In my dream world, physical books also come with a digital copy. I wanted a digital copy only, I could get that digital copy at a reduced price and that copy worked on any number of authorized devices. If I just had to have a physical copy, I'd want that to come with a trivially unlocked copy of the digital version. I'd be willing to pay more to have both in my possession, as long as I'm not restricted in how I enjoy either. I already enjoy this dream world in the universe of film and music. Books are way, way behind here. Manga is even further behind than mainstream printed material.

Having a USB stick sounds like the worst of both worlds. I don't get a physical copy I can enjoy offline, and the digital copy is married to something that takes up physical space.
 
E

ElBoxyBrown

Banned
What if the USB or the USB reader on your tablet breaks? It makes no sense in today's comic reading market. Manga distributors won't get behind it cuz it cost more money to put the book on USB then uploading it to a service to download.
 
U

UnemployedVillain

Member
This seems a bit odd. People who buy physical books do so for the form factor and the "feel" of flipping through a book. People who get it digital do so for the convenience of only requiring the device used to read it on.

This is like the worst of both worlds
 
R

_Ryo_

Member
Nope. I would buy more if I could afford it though. Physical books + digital copy. None of the digital only stuff.
 
L

louiedog

Member
I don't get it.

I'm going to echo the questions of "why a dedicated device" and "why a usb stick instead of (micro)SD?""
 
B

BajiBoxer

Banned
If you want something physical for your digital manga, maybe try a variation of the Amibo thing. Sell a high quality collectable toy/statue that gives access to digital manga volumes when scanned.

Otaku love high quality figures, right?
 
J

Jindrael

Banned
Give me Netflix/Crunchyroll(CR has manga but it's still very limited) for manga, I am willing to pay but I think manga is way too expensive as it is right now.

I read quite fast, a lot of books last me 1-2 weeks depending if I have the energy to read much in the evenings that week.
I'm not willing to pay the equivalent to like 20 ebooks for a full manga that takes me days to read.

I'm willing to pay some kind of premium because I know about the work conditions in japan for mangaka but not as it is right now.

And to comment specifically to the device idea:

1) another device that pretty much does what my tablet does with a limited usage is not a good idea
2)the appeal for physical merch or physical collections can't be easily reproduced, it's about the nice looking backcover image in the bookshelf, the feel of the paper etc. a simple USB even with nice design feels too "clean" especially for a stylized medium like manga same would apply to comics
3)the idea to give the manga as a ditital bonus for physical amiibo-like figurines seems like a better solution but would just increase the price for manga even more, which is the biggest problem manga has right now
 
B

BluePikmin11

Member
BajiBoxer said:
If you want something physical for your digital manga, maybe try a variation of the Amibo thing. Sell a high quality collectable toy/statue that gives access to digital manga volumes when scanned.

Otaku love high quality figures, right?
Click to expand...

Damn, that's actually a really good idea. Compared to my USB idea, this would be more attractive to have haha!

Just imagine it. Get access to the entirety of the original Dragon Ball manga by tapping the tablet with a Young Goku NFC figure. Buying a NFC figure of Edward Elric to access the entirety of the FMA manga.
 
Z

Zaraki_Kenpachi

Member
18-Volt said:
Wasn't there a lawsuit about this couple of years ago? Like, you can't sell digital books or comics cheaper than retail/print price. If that's true, then by law they can't cut the price.
Click to expand...
When has this ever been true? Digital comics are constantly cheaper than physical....
 
JSoup

JSoup

Banned
Aside from reason already given, the number of people who basically already do this sans money and USB drives is...substantially high.

Hell, I do this. Manga Downloader > Nook > CBR app.
 
K

Kieli

Member
I don't like digital manga. I buy all my manga in print. I make an exception for subscriptions (currently subscribed to WSJ, and had subs to Crunchyroll which includes manga).

Also, USB as delivery mechanism is a terrible idea in 2017.
 
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