Digital App Question

[VidKid]

Yea, i'm a nerd. And my comics are collected in both physical and digital formats. But business is business and now I have to make a decision about the digital side.

After various readers and comic apps I finally chose and used Comixology. It WAS a great app until recently. They had a built in store, connections to all sorts of publishers, catalog of your purchases that synced with their online store and anywhere you had the app installed.

They have since been purchased by Amazon. After the purchase, Amazon reduced functionality to a basic reader. This was done to avoid paying Apple's 30% for in-app purchases (much like they did with the Kindle app). So of course, user backlash, ratings dropped from a 4.5 to a 1.5.

I have some comics there that I would hate to lose, but at the same time and bothered by the fact that now I have to open a browser, search via the web, buy stuff there, then go back to the app, run the sync, before I can read anything. Sure, impluse buying will be more in control, but that was also part of the fun.

After the purchase, Marvel/DC/Image/etc. all said they would continue to use/support the comixology app. (they use the comixology framework for their apps). That's great and all, but maybe i should just use the specific marvel app, dc app, image app, etc. Those apps work just as the original comixology app did with a full store front, reader, and so on.

So do i use one app for everything, even with the inconvenience of losing the in-app purchasing?

Do i download and use 3 separate apps (maybe more if we include independents) for buying/reading comics?

Supposedly the Android version still includes the full store front/reader/catalog functionality. So do i get a droid tablet for just my comics?

Household devices:

Apple iPod (2x)
Apple iPad (mini and iPad2)
Apple Phone (2x)
Apple tv
Apple mac laptop

Google Chromecast  (recent purchase)

PC laptop

Samsung TVs

[Dave Gray]

Is there a chance that in App purchases will ever happen?

And is it only the ordering that has to be done through a more traditional source?

[Brian Fein]

This is one reason why I'm resisting the whole "digital media/cloud storage/streaming" movement.  I feel like some technicality, some server maintenance, some corporate merger could render all your media that you paid for inaccessible.

For this reason, I make sure any digital media I purchase is downloadable and I can maintain possession of it at all times.

[VidKid]

I agree and that's why i've set up a personal server to store all my own stuff. This way i have no size restraints, upload, bandwidth, etc etc.. The problem is that there are some issues that are either harder to find or tht I want to stay up-to-date on and need to get week-to-week or month-to-month. Sometimes its such a pain to go looking for the next issue, its just not worth the 2.99-3.99.

This thought, however, is why I brought up the fact that I could use the publishers own app. They aren't going anywhere.

But I do like having all my stuff in one location regardless of the publisher.

Dave -
The old app would give you the option to start the next issue if available or recommend new readings and such. Now when you finish, you have to leave the app, go to webstore, go thru checkout, go back to app and sync (aka download) the issue to your device. I'm not saying its terrible, just inconvenient.

From what Amazon has done with the Kindle app, in-app purchases probably won't be back unless I use Droid products.