Out-of-Print Archive is now officially open

[triverse]

  I am proud to announce that Out-of-Print is now open for your enjoyment.  We launched on 9/9/09 and have a pretty comprehensive Dreamcast dedication available now (we are going to focus on other systems and magazines but since it was the DC's birthday we felt it might be nice to celebrate).

 

  Out-of-Print is a magazine preservation site unlike any before it being run by STGuy1040 (of Classic Video Gamer Magazine fame), meppi (former "co-owner" of another magazine preservation site) and myself.  We are dedicated to being different than other magazine preservation sites in how we operate and how the magazines are presented to our loyal members.  We have already secured agreements with some publishers and copyright owners and will be making announcements in due time.

 

  Come on over and check out the DC dedication and get a feel for how things are presented there, we would love to hear your comments on the site and we are open to suggestions you may have that can make OoPA better.

 

  

 

http://www.outofprintarchive.com/

 

 

[GroovyBee]

Looks good so far. What other magazines are you going to archive?

[triverse]

Looks good so far. What other magazines are you going to archive?

 

Thank you for the compliment and for checking it out, we just launched yesterday and haven't been live for even 24 hours yet and the response has already been wonderful.

 

We are open to suggestions and donations from members as long as they are issues prior to the 1999 print date or are specifically Dreamcast magazines (just because EGM from may of 2000 may have covered Dreamcast, we can't accept it).

 

 

We have gained support from many publishers and copyright owners and will be making those announcements soon so donations from their collected works would definitely be welcome from our members.

 

 

[cimerians]

I have some EG stuff from the early 80's but kind of lazy to scan them in. I saw your "former" site still has some EG stuff as well as other mags. I just didnt like the fact that you had to donate or upload stuff in order to download something. So I never bothered uploading anything just because of that. I also hate Rapidshare and basically the way things were done there.

 

I have a ton of PSM, Computer Gaming World, Next Gen and other mags as well as a few rarities, maybe someday I will start scanning some in if you guys dont become annoying like ok shall I say it? Retromags.

[triverse]

While myself and meppi were in "staff" positions for a short time with Retromags, many of the problems that people have with that site were out of our control to change. Out-of-Print Archive is a completely free to join and participate with site, we will not be requiring payment of any kind in exchange for access to features of our site.

  We are not a closed community that is requiring you to part with money, time or magazines to gain access to areas or magazines that other members that simply can't do one of those options. 

  OoPA will not be taking in any kind of money from members or visitors in any way, this includes not having a donate button on our site and not having various membership levels that were "purchased" so that members can access mags. We feel this is too close to "selling" scans and do not wish to be involved with such activity.

  We won't be hosting the mags on our servers, they will be hosted on Rapidshare, which, yes, can be annoying but it is the best solution for all involved. Rapidshare is the easiest solution to the hosting problem for any site dealing with many many gigs worth of files.

  There are options available that will make it easier to use Rapidshare and other download site that are "annoying" to the end user. One of which is Jdownloader available here [http://jdownloader.org/] that will allow you to set many downloads in que and it will automatically do the waiting for you so you are not required to be at the computer to download the files.

 

  Also, we have Official releases coming that no other preservation site will be able to host so many of the issues we post no one will have to worry about them being removed due to their legallity.

 

  We hope with these and other ways that we are running Out-of-Print Archive will help keep it from being as "annoying" as that other site.

 

  It would be great to have your support with us

[triverse]

We just launched Out-of-Print Archive 2.0, why not come by and check it out?  We have expanded the reviews section, released our first OoPA interview with the man that created a life size Link (from Legend of Zelda) out of paper and we have more coming soon (like over 100 UK magazines, about 40 or so are Atari focused) so be get prepared.

 

The press release

 

Out-of-Print Archive 2.0 main site

 

 

 

If you have any suggestions, we are interested in hearing them and will do our best to implement the good ones.

 

 

[Retro Rogue]

You really should have some sort of documentation of at least an attempt to get permission to have those magazines up. For example, all the mags and books at Kevin Savetz's atarimagazines.com and atariarchives.org are done with the permission of the original publishers/authors/copyright holders.

[triverse]

You really should have some sort of documentation of at least an attempt to get permission to have those magazines up.  For example, all the mags and books at Kevin Savetz's atarimagazines.com and atariarchives.org are done with the permission of the original publishers/authors/copyright holders.

 

I agree with you.  Notice we don't have many up at the moment (something like 3 or so).  We are actively searching out the original copyright owners of these publications and are working closely with more than a couple already to figure out the best way for everyone involved.

 

 

This is part of the concern that meppi and myself had with Retromags (http://www.retromags.com) who has over 600 issues and NO permission to host ANYTHING there.  We have permission to host some stuff and we will be focusing on that in the future, unlike Retromags, we are trying to stay on the right side of the law with Out-of-Print.

 

  Notice we don't charge ANYTHING to access mags at Out-of-Print?  Can't say the same for Retromags who charges for access to mags on their site.  For proof, here is a release from them (again without ANY permission whatsoever either):

 

http://www.retromags...s&showfile=1377

 

  You will see that the first option is to pay money to acces this file (sounds like selling the magazines illegally to me).  Here is a thumbnail for people wanting to see what it says.

 

  This is also a release from a member that was banned earlier this year by one of my partners with Out-of-Print for stealing scans from World of Spectrum and passing them off as his own on Retromags (clearly against the FAQ for RM).

 

  We don't take other people's scans and upload them to Out-of-Print, and we also actively pursue permission to release the mags we release (no, we don't have permission for the few that are up yet, I am not trying to imply we do).

 

 

[KiwiArcader]

You really should have some sort of documentation of at least an attempt to get permission to have those magazines up.  For example, all the mags and books at Kevin Savetz's atarimagazines.com and atariarchives.org are done with the permission of the original publishers/authors/copyright holders.

 

I agree with you.  Notice we don't have many up at the moment (something like 3 or so).  We are actively searching out the original copyright owners of these publications and are working closely with more than a couple already to figure out the best way for everyone involved.

 

 

This is part of the concern that meppi and myself had with Retromags (http://www.retromags.com) who has over 600 issues and NO permission to host ANYTHING there.  We have permission to host some stuff and we will be focusing on that in the future, unlike Retromags, we are trying to stay on the right side of the law with Out-of-Print.

 

  Notice we don't charge ANYTHING to access mags at Out-of-Print?  Can't say the same for Retromags who charges for access to mags on their site.  For proof, here is a release from them (again without ANY permission whatsoever either):

 

http://www.retromags...s&showfile=1377

 

  You will see that the first option is to pay money to acces this file (sounds like selling the magazines illegally to me).  Here is a thumbnail for people wanting to see what it says.

 

  This is also a release from a member that was banned earlier this year by one of my partners with Out-of-Print for stealing scans from World of Spectrum and passing them off as his own on Retromags (clearly against the FAQ for RM).

 

  We don't take other people's scans and upload them to Out-of-Print, and we also actively pursue permission to release the mags we release (no, we don't have permission for the few that are up yet, I am not trying to imply we do).

 

As the person being targeted by Triverse here for uploading ANALOG Computing magazine scans "without permission of any kind" to Retromags I thought it prudent to set the record straight even though he seemingly cannot understand the words "This issue was kindly donated by H. Frank Kowatari of http://analog.katorlegaz.com" in the description of the page he used as an example. I approached H.Frank Kowatari via his email address on the website in question and asked if I could make his scanned magazines available and he said he was happy with this situation. I have an email from him which I can happily make available to verifiy this but such is my past dealings with Triverse that there is no point trying to convince him otherwise. On the same site is an email from the author of ANALOG magazine itself allowing public dissemination of the magazines so I would have thought that pretty much covered the permission angle from all sides. Maybe I am wrong?

 

I have also emailed ThumpNugget recently asking for permission to use his ANALOG scans for issues 1-22 that Mr Kowatari didn't have along with his ANTIC's as although I have 80+ ANTIC issues in my collection it would save a lot of effort reinventing the wheel by not having to rescan them. I have yet to receive a reply to that email. I readily admit that I did upload two magazines of W.o.S before I cottoned onto the personal scans requirement and I did ask for them to be removed while retaining my personal scans.

 

Retromags has until now been a site predominantly favoring gaming console publications while I personally appreciate the old school PC publications. I am trying to broaden the appeal of the site by putting the Atari/CBM type of content there as these magazines also don't deserve to be lost to future generations just as much as any gaming console magazine. I notice Triverse didn't bother to tell anyone here that as fast as the owner of retromags can he is putting all hosted magazines on megupload for any and all visitors to obtain a copy so again his argument of HAVING to pay something is somewhat wrong. Maybe when Out-of-Print gets a large bandwidth bill him and Meppi may understand the reasons why the other site is doing it this way?

 

Lastly, I think Triverse's constant attacks on www.retromags.com is simply childish behaviour perpetrated by someone who threw his toys out of the cot after getting a telling off. I don't know ... I wasn't there at the time. Unfortunately, while the owner of www.retromags.com has apologised and moved on Triverse seems to be the type who can't which is truly unfortunate. Life's too short to worry about what other people are doing. Maybe he should just concentrate on his website and not worry about the other site in question or slandering people without ascertaining the facts first?

[Phillyman]

Hey Triverse, I see you still like to badmouth me on other forums. You are officially pathetic! Its really funny how after you get kicked to the curb, that you start bashing how the Retromags project was run. Oh but a few months ago you had defended our position....lets take a look people! Now go crawl back into your hole and leave my site out of your mouth....pathetic little man!

 

http://www.retromags.com/forums/topic/3979-bad-suggestion-dont-make-people-workpay-to-view-stuff/page__view__findpost__p__19611

 

 

Triverse Defending How Retromags Provides Scans!

 

Where to begin on this? I mean, on one hand you say you love the site but on the other you are saying it is kind of an insult to ask for participation to maintain the site in some small way (sure, donations are the quickest and easiest way to get the downloads-you do know that there are free for everyone Rapidshare links available for about 99% of the mags here right?). It is a shame that you are not willing to take the time to look at the releases. Sure the newest ones are usually without Rapidshare links, not because we want to charge you for access but because there is 1 (one) member willing to take time out of their day and upload releases to Rapidshare (that costs them about $80 a year for a premium account so that the files are never deleted due to inactivity). There are other methods of earning access to the direct downloads, sure, as you stated, doing something for the site like working on the wiki or, gasp, uploading a magazine you scanned and edited are two options. There is also the option of freely participating in the forums (25 posts gets you started with something like 3 downloads a week, sure not much, but it is better than the other options that you feel are too harsh).

It is your right to not donate to the site, not do any work here, not to help out in any way. Guess what, you still get access to the files with the Rapidshare links-no clicking, no posting required, no money donation no uploading a magazine and no working on the wiki required. Unfortunately, just giving access to the direct downloads doesn't work for the members that want to help out (most members join just to get one or two magazines or on the other hand to grab as much as they can and then they are gone forever but may come back periodically and grab more). The settings are in place to keep the FTP server available to the members that volunteer here so that they can access files without a problem. Like torrents? Download the files from Rapidshare and torrent them out for others and see how many people actually stick around to seed after downloading the file. You are more than welcome to torrent, we don't because of the lack of participation of people after they get the 100% on the file they download.

If you are not interested in doing a little bit of editing on the wiki, not interested in making some posts on the forum or one of the many other methods of getting access to the files then go ahead and spend money on ebay to purchase the mags you want (I have personally watched issues like Gamefan #1 go for $450, EGM #3 go for close to $100 and many more, that is a lot more than a simple $5 donation here to access plenty more files).

 

PS: White text on a black background burns my retinas, choose a more pleasant color scheme for your "new" website.

Edited September 26, 2009 by Phillyman

[Phillyman]

Wow you have way too much time on your hands! I could respond to your points above, but it doesn't matter at this point. Your a childish little man who fell in love with my website, and then you got a bit too cocky and slammed me in front of my memberbase. You probably thought I would roll over and take it, but instead I removed your access to the administrative end of my site. You then got all pissy and decided to create a clone site. Its an adorable site and I wish you all the luck in the world with it. I love how you critizize me for providing direct downloads and accepting donations as a way to earn them. But then on the same hand you critizize a place like Underground Gamer. I do this as a preservation project, if you think I am making money off this venture....your dead wrong. I get maybe $10 a week in donations, so thats $520 a year....

 

Let me break it down

 

$10 per month for hosting = $120

$120 per year for the forum software = $120

 

So that is $240 right there, and that leaves me $260.....which is like $14 a month? How much do you think I spend in Magazines per month? How about in hard drives to store this stuff.

 

Look you need to just stop mentioning Retromags, you dont want to come back....fine! I really could care less....But going around the internet spreading lies is completely childish. You think your hurting me, but your only hurting the members of Retromags. Remember those people you were friends with and said you were going to miss in your signature.

[akator]

Sorry to hear that you guys had a falling out...

[KiwiArcader]

The last thing I will say here is ..

 

1. Yes ... I used a couple of W.o.S Computer Gamer scans as I alluded to earlier. When I became aware of the rules I requested them taken down while I tried contacting Martijn to get permission.

 

2. I have obtained permission to use Mr Kowatari's scans for ANALOG Computing so I will be making issues 23 and above available on www.retromags.com as they should not be lost to future generations.

 

3. ThumpNugget ... if you read this would you kindly consider letting our website host your scanned issues 1-22 of ANALOG and your ANTIC magazines? Currently the only way to obtain these are through a torrent that isn't particularly well seeded and hosting on our site will allow Atari fans to access them via direct downloads which is a lot better for everyone interested in these treasures.

 

I sincerely hope Out-of-Print website grows a fan base of their own and that they can provide a different flavour to the magazine preservation scene. Maybe Triverse or Meppi can contact Mr Kowatari and ThumpNugget as well to broaden the availability of Atari magazines to help ensure they remain available for future generations as well?

[retrogeek]

Ive been readin' this thread most of the day and laughing hysterically.

 

 

instead he comes to a huge site like AtariAge to bash me.....wonder why?

 

uh, dude, you and your mate started the bashin' hate to break it to ya'. Why don't all of ya' go back to your separate corners and scan mags,mmkay?

[retrogeek]

I wish you guys much luck over at outofprint Triverse. Cool site, I havent signed up, maybe I will. I read yer posts, funny how this Philly character hasnt answered one of yer questions yet like why he bought those other web addresses for your site. All he does is bash you, speaks volumes for the type of guy he is really. You posted enough that makes me believe some of what is being said is bullshit. Well tah, and good luck again.

[Chickybaby]

That is enough you two!- Phillyman and triverse I don't care who started what or who said what first keep it off the forums and take it to pm if you have to. One more comment from either of you in this thread or anywhere and you'll be on Mod Preview. I would suggest you put one another on ignore and be done with it.

Please do not push me on this issue - I mean what I say. Thank you and I hope everyone has a good weekend.

[KiwiArcader]

Forgetting about the whole retromags website thing itself for a minute Triverse you started this when you stated that I had posted ANALOG magazines without permission from the original scanner even though there was clearly a message advising of this on the page you chose to use here as proof. Additionally you implied that these mags have never been placed in the public arena yet if you had looked on Frank Kowatari's website itself you should have seen permission from the producer of the magazine itself ... Lee Pappas ... to do so.

 

In effect you slandered me with the allegation that I was stealing at the very least H. Frank Kowatari's work. This necessitated a reply to clear up the confusion.

 

I have a LOT of issues of Antic magazine that I will be submitting. www.atarimagazines.com states permission has been obtained to place these in the public arena. Are you going to say that I am acting illegally the minute I place one of these on retromags? I would prefer to use ThumpNugget's scans to save rescanning time but if he isn't cool with that I respect his decision one way or the other and will move on.

 

You notice have just made available Nintendo Magazine issue 1. And I see that Mort provided the scans. That is great but did Mort receive permission to scan them himself from the publisher? I think Mort runs http://www.zzap64.co.uk/zzuperstore.html where it specifically states that permission by and large hasn't been obtained for any of the works that he openly sells. That would indicate your site doesn't have permission to provide a copy of this magazine either.

 

If I am wrong I happily take it all back. But this is the nature of the hobby we partake in, that being the preservation of old magazines. There will always be questions around the legality of this given publishers come and go and sometimes ownership rights may not be sold to other companies etc making tracking the the owners down for permission is a very hit or miss affair. That's why the 1999 rule exists ... I do understand that ... and even you are using it even though no legal precedent exists that states 1999 and before is exempt. And I have no doubt that both your site and retromags would take down content if requested by the rights holders of the content.

 

I don't know what your beef is with Phillyman nor do I really want to. I just want to concentrate on making magazines from the C-64/Atari gaming age which I consider to be the golden age of gaming more accessible to those people interested in that era.

 

Sorry Chickbaby ... I felt the need to clear my name in regards to allegations of theft that triverse implied. Here endeth any further posts on this issue. Cheers....

Edited September 27, 2009 by KiwiArcader

[Chickybaby]

Phillyman has taken the high road and has asked that his off topic posts be made invisible. I am going to unapprove both phillyman and triverse's comments arguing back and forth so that it can stay on topic and the original intent of this thread can be honored. Also I am asking that everyone does not post private information or messages from other forums and keep that information there.I firmly believe in respectfully agreeing to disagree and I thank the members for their cooperation.Thank you.

[kevincal]

Old Video Game Magazines;

 

SERIOUS BUSINESS!

 

Can't we all, just get along?