Remember the Dragon Magazine CD archives that came out a couple years ago? Are they still available?

Were/are the issues all in PDF format? If so, are the pages essentially static scans of the pages or are they actual vector type (in other words, can you actually select and copy the text in Acrobat)? What was the issue range?

For everyone that has this product, is it worth the rather high price I seem to recall is having. What are everyone's thoughts?

Thanks!

Remember the Dragon Magazine CD archives that came out a couple years ago? Are they still available?

Were/are the issues all in PDF format? If so, are the pages essentially static scans of the pages or are they actual vector type (in other words, can you actually select and copy the text in Acrobat)? What was the issue range?

For everyone that has this product, is it worth the rather high price I seem to recall is having. What are everyone's thoughts?

Thanks!

It's no longer commercially available, though you might find it on ebay. It covered issues 1-250. I've never tried to select the text, so I don't know whether it was a straight scan of a vector scan, but I know you can search the text, which suggests that the text is selectable.

I don't recall it being particularly expensive, but it's also out of print so to speak, so current prices may seem prohibitive.

- Ashavan

Interesting. The fact that the PDFs are searchable would indeed seem to indicate that the text is true vector text. How many CDs were there? I'd love to get my hands on a set - I'll have to start trolling around eBay ...

What are everyone's opinion of this archive? Is it worth my time and effort to track down?

Thanks

Thanks!

I've never tried to select the text, so I don't know whether it was a straight scan of a vector scan, but I know you can search the text, which suggests that the text is selectable.

- Ashavan

I have this product. It's very nice having the first 250 issues of Dragon handy like that. It has a program that installs with it that lets you search for specific things. I find it very useful. Email me if you want some more info.

matt_the_dm (at) yahoo (dot) com

M@

Thanks for the info!

Regarding the application that gets installed ... I assume this is a Windows app? Do you know if there is a Mac version as well? I would assume that, even if there is not a Mac version of the search software, I could still just open the individual PDFs in Acrobat, which is good enough ...

Thanks again!

It has a program that installs with it that lets you search for specific things.

M@

Thanks for the info!

Regarding the application that gets installed ... I assume this is a Windows app? Do you know if there is a Mac version as well? I would assume that, even if there is not a Mac version of the search software, I could still just open the individual PDFs in Acrobat, which is good enough ...

Thanks again!

The one I have is for Windows. I don't know if there's a Mac-based version for it or not.

M@

The archive CD's are awesome. A friend of mine who had them as well was hard up for cash two years ago and sold them on E-bay for $140.....however, even at that, they're worth every penny.

It's a nice product with every page of every issue of the first 250, including ads, back and front cover, etc.

I wish it had been made optionally available on a DVD-ROM at the time so you wouldn't have to play the CD swap game. The index to search the entire archive is available on every disk but if you click on one of your search hits and it's on one of the other discs then you are forced to swap disks. Sadly, I don't believe there is a full install option either to load all 5 (?) CDs to the hard drive. I can't recall at the moment if it lets you copy text from the articles and paste them into other applications like Word, Notepad, etc.

L

The application is Windows-only.

However, on Mac OS X, I have simply copied the unprotected PDFs to the hard drive and use Spotlight to search the files. The PDFs do not use any special Acrobat functionality, so I find Preview to be a faster and simpler interface for perusing all the issues.

Monte Cook once recommended them on his forums and Amazon sold out of its remaining copies quickly. These events may or may not be related; at least one of the buyers evidently put his copy back up on Amazon New & Used for double the price.

I suppose at least I can rest in the knowledge that I'm saving myself the effort of converting so much old stuff ;)

I have them loaded to my portable hard drive and open them in Acrobat. You don`t have to swap CDs (or risk damaging them) that way.

I've been looking to get these as well. One or two a week come up on Ebay, and the lowest I've seen them go is about $50, with most going between $70 & $90. They originally retailed for $60, I now wish I had bought them new. Bidding is quite active on them, perhaps Paizo should consider re-issuing them.

They are well worth the effort tracking down. I was lucky enough to get a copy when they were still in print and use them all the time. I copied all the issues to my hard drive - you can set the search program that comes with the CDs to search on your hard drive instead of on the CDs. That way you don't need to bother with the CDs at all once they are copied to your drive.

I have the CDs, and I do love them. I probably should copy them to my portable hard drive and use acrobat.

I'm not a big fan of the viewing program that came with the program. The text can be copied and pasted.

I do remember having a few issues with the copy and paste in regards to some artwork included in the magazine, for example, special letters at the start of a section like you would find on an illuminated manuscript....

Also, if I recall correctly, sometimes if you try to select large bodies of text you'll run into sections that are not meant to be included - small ads for instance.

IMHO, Paizo should release a new version in DVD with issues 1-273, thus incluiding everything prior to 3rd edition.

Well, I recieved a set as a gift and I love them much.

IMHO, Paizo should release a new version in DVD with issues 1-273, thus incluiding everything prior to 3rd edition.

From earlier threads I took it to believe that TSR did not get electronic distribution rights contracts from the original authors, so TSR/Wizards could not "legally" distribute the original Dragon 1-250 CD Rom to begin with.

Putting out issues 1-273 on CD ROMS would require contacting every author and having them sign a new contract, which is an impossible task, I'm sure. Unddeaddragonhunter said this in the thread link showen below.

I believe this was discussed in this thread and somebody at Paizo correct me if I'm wrong, please:

Earlier thread about authors of early Dragon issues

I think that's the reason the very early issues of Dragon are not available in PDF format anywhere except for the out-of-production CD rom collection from 1999.

Putting out issues 1-273 on CD ROMS would require contacting every author and having them sign a new contract, which is an impossible task, I'm sure. Unddeaddragonhunter said this in the thread link showen below.

Since AFAIK Unddeaddragonhunter does not work(ed) at paizo/wotc his reply is far from official. On the other hand, supposing everything happened as he says, I do not think it is impossible to get in contact with every authot since more often than not people do several pieces of work for dragon, you have a rather finite number of authors and in this era of e.mail it can be done quite efficiently. On the other hand, I still do not buy it since AFAIK no author had to be contacted to release in electronic format all the old d&d books avaible at paizo or rpgnow or drivethru or enworld.

Actually, as far as I'm aware, Paizo owns the rights to everything they print. If you write an article for Dragon, they buy all the rights from you. They can print it in the magazine, they can scrumple it up and throw it in the bin, and they can let Wizards print your content in their latest expansion book without paying you anything (although you would get credited in the book).

Since AFAIK Unddeaddragonhunter does not work(ed) at paizo/wotc his reply is far from official.

Exactly, that's why I posted "I think" that's the reason you can't get early PDFs. I was hoping that would prompt an "official" reply. I, too would gladly pay for PDF's of all Dragon material from 251 onward so I could complete my collection, electronically or in print.

Actually, as far as I'm aware, Paizo owns the rights to everything they print.

That's true now, but it wasn't always true in the past. A lot of the authors retained the rights to their work in Dragon in the early years.

When Wizards put out the CD collection, they did so under the belief that it counted as a straight reprint of the originals, which was something they believed they were allowed to do. However, some sort of legal battle ensued (or perhaps merely the threat of one), and consequently it was decided to let the collection go out of print. Whether this was a legally-mandated decision, some sort of settlement, or just a decision based on the project being too risky, I don't know.

I would very much like to see a second collection, covering issues #251-present, and a third dealing with Dungeon, but sadly such things aren't going to happen.

That's true now, but it wasn't always true in the past. A lot of the authors retained the rights to their work in Dragon in the early years.

When Wizards put out the CD collection, they did so under the belief that it counted as a straight reprint of the originals, which was something they believed they were allowed to do. However, some sort of legal battle ensued (or perhaps merely the threat of one), and consequently it was decided to let the collection go out of print. Whether this was a legally-mandated decision, some sort of settlement, or just a decision based on the project being too risky, I don't know.

I would very much like to see a second collection, covering issues #251-present, and a third dealing with Dungeon, but sadly such things aren't going to happen.

What he said.

And some other stuff.

It's not going to happen*.

...

* Of course, as soon as you say "impossible" and "never" you get proven wrong. So my caveat is that while it isn't impossible, it's highly improbable. Like being saved from a golfball-sized meteorite by a lightning bolt on a clear day.

When Wizards put out the CD collection, they did so under the belief that it counted as a straight reprint of the originals, which was something they believed they were allowed to do. However, some sort of legal battle ensued (or perhaps merely the threat of one), and consequently it was decided to let the collection go out of print. Whether this was a legally-mandated decision, some sort of settlement, or just a decision based on the project being too risky, I don't know.

IIRC, it was a huge lawsuit in publishing generally. All the old media companies were claiming that the various agreements with authors granted them the ability to publish electronically. I want to say the case made it to the supreme court and the publishers lost. It was back in the late 90's.

way back on the days of "TSR on AOL", TSR had put up a bunch of scanned back issues on their AOL site. at that time, it was mostly newer issues and very few older ones. this prompted people to ask, hey, "when are you going to put older issues up in the site?"

the answer was pretty much what was stated above, that they did not have the rights to reproduce it that way. needless to say, i was more than a little surprised when the CD-archive came out a few years later.

I wish it had been made optionally available on a DVD-ROM at the time so you wouldn't have to play the CD swap game. The index to search the entire archive is available on every disk but if you click on one of your search hits and it's on one of the other discs then you are forced to swap disks. Sadly, I don't believe there is a full install option either to load all 5 (?) CDs to the hard drive. I can't recall at the moment if it lets you copy text from the articles and paste them into other applications like Word, Notepad, etc.

L

There were instructions I think in the readme where you manually copy the pdf files into a specific directory and then be able to just run off the hard drive. It takes about 2 Gig of space which is not as big a deal now as pre 2K.