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Comment by mdavidn | Hacker News Reader

I am really disappointed by this. These days, I mostly use my (fifth) Kindle when flying on aircraft, and there I mostly read The Economist or The Atlantic.

They don't publish offline media for laptops. I don't own a tablet. My phone battery is precious on trips. I guess I'll just look for paper copies at the terminal again...?

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> They don't publish in an offline format for laptops. I don't own a tablet.

The conclusion to draw is that you clearly don't own your ereader either.

I mean DRM does not stop those unwilling to pay. If the only achievement of DRM is to annoy the people who are willing to pay, i wonder if it likely increases rather than reduces piracy. There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to be served an open epub with your magazine subscription.

The problem isn't putting the content onto the device, that's very easy to do. The problem is that the content isn't being published in any offline-viewable formats anymore, so there's nothing to transfer.

I'm not sure who you're preaching to. I've owned five of these devices over the past 14 years. I accept DRM for the things I read on it. If the publishers offered a DRM-laden edition that I could read offline on my laptop, I would find that to be a compelling option.

Not to mention that DRM on the Kindle isn't a hardware-side constraint. The device will happily accept DRM-free files side-loaded onto it.

While maybe not what GP was getting at, it sounds like you're frustrated that they don't offer a format, not that they don't offer a DRM-free version. That sounds like being frustrated your owner only gives you dry kibble.

For the Economist you should be able to download offline editions through the app- https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/Whats-included-in-...

Is it really the same experience, though? In newsstand publications, you can swipe up/down to skip articles and there's a special 2-pane ToC that lets you navigate by sections. I'm not even sure if the epub format has the capability to provide magazine-specific integrations like these.

fyi, if you have a subscription to the Economist, you can read each edition offline via their mobile app. Available every Thursday.

You can also listen to it, but that doesnt work offline.

It does work offline. I don't remember the exact steps on how to do it.

Basically, you can get an rss feed with credentials imported into podcast app of your choice and just download the episode before going offline.

I prefer this approach since 1) It works offline 2) I can use podcast player of my choice with much better UX than the economist app

Ahh, you are saying the Economists app just uses RSS behind the scenes? Why didn't I think of that!?!

This actually solves real problems for me as I have to often drive through areas where I have no coverage, and I listen to the economist (much to the chagrin of my wife who is riding with me).

Thanks!

edit: Found the info, its actually on the Economists site (looks like you have to login):

https://www.economist.com/audio-edition

Welcome!

Yup. That’s the link. You can just log in there if you have subscription and grab the rss url

It will look like

https://www.economist.com/audio-edition-podcast/<auth_token>...

You can paste that into a podcast app of your choice. I use pocket casts on iOS which works with the above url for sure

Do people not fly with a USB battery on trips these days?

You can use Calibre to download the Economist each week and send it to your kindle.

Sure, but I wish I didn't have to jump through these hoops.

Did you know that airplanes have power outlets at foot level, sometimes USB ports higher up? You could simply bring your phone charger with you on the plane..

This varies by configuration. Some aircraft and airlines do not.

Only one out of the last 25 or so flights I’ve been on have an outlet.

For example, Southwest is one of the worlds largest airlines and didn’t have outlets on any of its 700+ airplanes. (Neither AC nor USB) They just announced they will start ordering jets with USB ports starting this year.

Also it is fairly common for short haul or regional jets to lack power outlets as well.

Surprising to hear that such a large airline wouldn't have power outlets in 2023 but perhaps it makes sense, because Southwest doesn't really do "long flights". Good info for fliers to be aware of.

For Southwest and short haul fliers, I would then recommend an USB battery bank. They come in large capacities now which would cover several full charges.

I no longer have USB-A, which is the only USB receptacle I’ve ever seen on a plane.

They make USB-A to USB-C adapters.

True, but if I'm traveling I'm not likely to bring a second phone charger cable just for this, especially because they can't charge as fast as USB-C cables. I bring a USB-C brick for my computer and USB-C to lightning cable for my iPhone.

Calibre from command line + email to Kindle works fine if you have any kind of machine that's online (or even a free tier Oracle VPS)

Can't you use the Kindle app on your laptop?

I don't see how this helps? If I could get The Economist in the Kindle app, then I could still get it on my Kindle.

That doesn't help, the issue is these things are no longer going to be published on the Kindle platform at all.

Why haven’t you invested in a open source alternative that doesn’t limit your choices?

What would an "open source alternative" to The Economist look like exactly?

I meant the e reader, not the economist, to clarify.

Also there are many open source e readers, that include e ink technology too. Amazon tried but idk something’s off.. smells like Microsoft… a bit if you ask me :^)

Ah yes, the DRM that is solved by buying a device which does not support said DRM.

You've not understood the problem.

The problem is not the devices that support DRM.

Many ereaders support some form of DRM, but that doesn't stop you reading both free and paid content without DRM.

The problem is that the content (Newspapers/Magazine) is not made available via a suitable medium to continue reading it on an ereader.

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