The start of the end? [Elektor] - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: BurtyB
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 09:28:49 am
content: 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.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 09:41:50 am
content: I'm surprised it's still going TBH

author: CrashBang
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 09:55:52 am
content: 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

author: kripton2035
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 09:57:32 am
content: if the selling of the paper does not pay for the writers, then closing it is the only way ...

author: ElektroQuark
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 10:13:11 am
content: 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.

author: CrashBang
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 10:20:31 am
content: 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.

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 10:36:10 am
content: I guess they are still shipping for subscribers, just not off-the-shelf customers?

author: BurtyB
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 11:02:53 am
content: Quote from: Wilksey on September 30, 2014, 10:36:10 amYeah they're still doing printed versions for subscribers and they can be ordered via their site.

author: firewalker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 11:28:40 am
content: 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.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 12:01:03 pm
content: 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.

author: PPA94
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 12:04:19 pm
content: Quote from: BurtyB on September 30, 2014, 09:28:49 amHi, can you give some link, I cannot find this announcement?

author: BurtyB
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 12:22:50 pm
content: Quote from: PPA94 on September 30, 2014, 12:04:19 pmI found it on page 6 of the magazine - they have some info in their FAQ too (http://www.elektor.com/faq).

author: PPA94
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 12:43:08 pm
content: Quote from: BurtyB on September 30, 2014, 12:22:50 pmThanks.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.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 01:09:56 pm
content: 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.

author: SpiderElectronics
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 01:37:38 pm
content: 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.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 03:23:31 pm
content: Quote from: BurtyB on September 30, 2014, 09:28:49 amI 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'.

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 03:46:34 pm
content: 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

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 04:51:31 pm
content: 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.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 04:59:01 pm
content: About time Elektor bites the dust.Quote from: mojo-chan on September 30, 2014, 10:25:06 amYour mission now, if you choose to accept, is to track down the publisher and convince him to start producing international, English issues.

author: netdudeuk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 06:57:44 pm
content: Quote from: SeanB on September 30, 2014, 04:51:31 pmSame 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.

author: jancumps
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 07:36:23 pm
content: My October 2014 edition says that the November one will be released on October 21:

author: jancumps
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 30, 2014, 08:01:36 pm
content: 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.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 10:12:21 am
content: 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.

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2014, 10:14:55 pm
content: 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.

author: steve30
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2014, 02:57:31 pm
content: Quote from: mojo-chan on October 02, 2014, 10:26:24 amI 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.

author: wagon
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 04, 2014, 01:30:10 pm
content: Electronics Australia started to go down hill when they became largely a consumer crap review magazine. Huh?Silicon Chip is still good, but they have gone down the microprocessor road a lot. Makes for more compact, simpler circuits, but unless you have the internet subscription, you can't see the source code to understand how it works.

author: ivan747
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 04, 2014, 11:23:54 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on September 30, 2014, 12:01:03 pmhmmmmmmmmmmm...What if we make a magazine section on this forum??? Just for polished, well documented publications???Here in the spanish speaking world we got this nasty thing called Saber Electrónica (Knowing electronics). So far it has always been crap. They often publish the same stuff over and over. They seem to be stuck with Livewire and PCB wizard as their CAD tools (if you can even call those things CAD). Those programs are crap. They often publish stuff copied over the internet without even building it. Frankly I have no respect for them.The worst offence?The guy who runs the magazine (or the chief editor.. i don't know) once published a 1.5GHz RF prescaler, you can't trust the design or even build it, as I will explain. The PCB was an AUTOROUTE job, straight edges, all 0.1" traces. I mean, the guy who runs the magazine published that and put a photo of himself on the first page of the magazine and then went to embarass himself with that and autoroute job on a 1.5GHz ciruit. He publishes (plagiarizes) half of the articles in that magazine, from stupidly simple to complex, he uses PCB Wizard and hits the autoplace/autoroute button.The article had photos from a website, clearly showing a good RF board layout with a HAM callsign. It didn't take me long to find the original author.This is the project in question, it is actually a very impressive 12GHz prescaler module card for an HP frequency counter:http://ve2zaz.net/hp5328a/hp5328a_prescaler.htmThe schematic in the magazine is different from VE2ZAZ's circuit. Looking around, it seems like the same circuit was originally published 120 editions ago. I can't track the original author of the circuit but it uses an obsolete IC anyway. There's stuff like that all over this magazine.----And I actually found something funny in this magazine, the same guy is talking about the distribution of the magazine, he says it is hard and can be expensive because many of the copies stay in the shelves... he believes it's because the readers don't stumble upon it.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 05, 2014, 05:01:39 pm
content: I stopped Elektor a few months ago when they bundle the print and digital edition for $80 US dollars. I was paying $40 just for the printed edition, but no longer, $80 or nothing. $40 was high, but Elektor was better than Nuts and Volts and i am an electronics junky.So now i am just going with Circuit Cellar and Nuts and Volts. I miss Steve Ciarcia!

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2014, 05:22:30 pm
content: Quote from: ivan747 on October 04, 2014, 11:23:54 pmI like that idea. Something a bit more substantial than Hack-a-day.

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 06, 2014, 09:23:32 am
content: I thought I was the only person who remembered Steve Ciarcia, I still have the full set of Circuit Cellar books on my shelf but they don't get referred to all that often now because the technology has moved on. Scary to think that at one point I considered building the Circuit Cellar PC from a bare board.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 06, 2014, 06:56:44 pm
content: Steve solar powered his house when solar was still something insanely expensive. Very friendly, and quite approachable online. I think his series on solar power installation are still up on the CC website., he had issues with digging into the ground by him, which is essentially basalt and granite.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 06, 2014, 09:21:32 pm
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on October 05, 2014, 05:22:30 pmThe idea is nice but it takes a lot of time and effort to make a circuit ready for publishing. It is as much work as making a circuit ready for mass production plus creating proper documentation on how it works. I doubt many people would like to do that for free.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 06, 2014, 09:37:16 pm
content: If you take your hobby project seriously, as in that the project is going to fullfill a real need on a dayly basis, it is a good practice to document the project anyway in case you need to repair or expand it in a few years.The schematics are already there as the pcb layout.The most time is going in the description of the circuit but as the audience are EE,s you can skip the basic stuff.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 06, 2014, 09:46:55 pm
content: Still you'd need to update the schematic after testing, make a proper parts list, description, convert drafts into documents. A lot of documentation for my projects are hand written notes and calculations.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 06, 2014, 10:11:54 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on October 06, 2014, 09:46:55 pmThat's what Altium CM is for. Community projects. Dave can partner with them.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 06, 2014, 10:16:17 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on October 06, 2014, 09:21:32 pmAnd if you go through all that work you could also offer it to a real publisher. Not that you make more money, or even any money, by getting it published the classic way. But you could at least add a publication to your CV. As opposite to adding a mention on hack-a-day to your CV, which won't cut it.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 06, 2014, 11:32:22 pm
content: Quote from: zapta on October 06, 2014, 10:11:54 pmI don't see how a piece of software can create documentation out of thin air. Or do you want to use Doxygen? "There is resistor one and there is resistor two, and... and..." Utterly uselessWhat makes a circuit interesting and educational is the reasoning and math behind it. The diagram itself is just an end result. Fine if you just want to copy a circuit but that doesn't provide much gain in knowledge.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2014, 07:10:41 pm
content: Good news, Circuit Cellar is now no longer part of the Elektor collective!Quote:Last week, Circuit Cellar's founder Steve Ciarcia finalized a deal to purchase Circuit Cellar, audioXpress, Voice Coil, Loudspeaker Industry Sourcebook, and their respective websites, newsletters, and products from Netherlands-based Elektor International Media. The aforementioned magazines will continue to be published by Ciarcia's US-based team.I might even renew my subscription again.

author: slburris
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2014, 07:57:46 pm
content: I've got to think this is a hugely positive move for Circuit Cellar. I've been a long time subscriberand after the Elektor purchase I found the mix of articles to be less and less interesting.Anyone know what the backstory on Steve's purchase is? I thought he wanted to retire?What does this mean for Elektor? Do you think they will pull out of the US market now?ScottQuote from: SeanB on October 07, 2014, 07:10:41 pm

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2014, 08:10:36 pm
content: I think he was disappointed about the direction, and with the falling subs income from others showing as well he probably was able to get it for fire sale price. He might want to have a less regular contribution, but I cannot see him actually sitting back and doing gardening full time.