Is there any word on the new Index and Readers that were supposed to come out? Thanks.
Received a card in the mail a few days ago that stated they expected it to ship at the "end of June."
Ken
I'm still trying to understand exactly what the Index and Reader is or does?
I finally bought one after years of seeing it advertised and when it arrived it seemed as though I paid a lot of money for what amounts to an additional copy of DGJ.
What am I missing?
It's just like any other index. You can look up a particular subject in right sidebar of the index, such as "Ithaca 4E", and the index will tell which issue and page number it was mentioned.
I find the inex very handy, for example if I wanted to find Oscar Gaddy's articles on Damascus Steel it lists the Volumes, issues and pages to look up. The same can be done to find a reference to an obscure gun maker, any place in any of the issues will be shown, if the are pictures it will be anotated. IMO this is a very useful research tool. The index is the column an the righ hand side of the pages.
If you can't figure it out, there is probably nothing we can do to convince you of the value of the index. Well, what the heck, I'll give it a try. Obviously you have never tried to look up some way back article by author or subject. The index makes that much easier than flipping through dozens of old issues. If you never need information from an old article, you don't need the Index and Reader. The good news is that hardly anyone ever sells a back issue for less than they paid for it. You may want to sell your index on the For Sale section of this site. You might actually lose a few bucks on it, because it is still available from DGJ. When they run out, the price will go up. The DGJ is not as good an investment as I thought since I have seen a few sets sell for less than $1000 lately. I guess it goes with the state of the market in general. I would like to see the index printed in soft cover instead of hard to make the price more reasonable. That way I could save ten or fifteen bucks every seven or eight years.
"Obviously you have never tried to look up some way back article by author or subject." In fact I have.
"The index makes that much easier than flipping through dozens of old issues". If easy is the goal, then an index, it's not an especially easy format to navigate. And I guess I am unusual in that I don't have that tough a time remembering about when an article appeared. And I actually enjoy flipping through old issues.
In the past month I have had to look up some articles that went back 15+ years ago. If you think I can remeber what volume, issue, and page number the various articles were on, you are GREATLY overestimating my brain power! It is very handy for folks like me.
But irrespective of the index, I liked the additional articles that were in the first readr. To me, it was worth the price just for all of those articles. If you do not want all of the additional writing, and can remeber things from 15+ years back, then it is a total waste of money. Personally, I thought the Reader articles were little more laid back and personal. Had kind of a "homey" feeling to me.
The morning after I learned there was a second Index and Reader in the making, I called them up and paid for mine in advance and can't wait to get it!
Bill, I believe DGJs by the bundle are all over the place pricewise. About two months ago, I saw your post that stated that you had seen a complete 17 vol. set go for $650. Immediately after, there was a complete set with the volume sleeves but no index reader advertised here BO. I didn't want to lowball the seller and miss any chance at all of getting them so I used your number and got them. $690 w/ shipping; all issues very crisp except for one '98 issue with some damage to the spine. I had about 11 issues of my own which I sold to a gentleman in Alberta who was going the a la carte route. Within two weeks of receiving my gilded rags, another member here put his up for $1k and found a buyer. As with guns, need to be in a cheap place at a flush time.
I have thought of photographing the separate indices and making my own index. Fairly easy with a digital and computer storage or printout but still a bit of work. Might be worth it if the second Index Reader doesn't materialize.
jack
I love the additional articles BUT would really love to see the combined index on CD-rom. Then you have value!
Jack easiest way to get a yearly index is to scan the index page as a gif to your computer, label them and put in 1 folder. You can view them with windows picture viewer and go from one to the next one using the forward and back arrows. I labeled them 1-1,1-2.1-3, etc. When a new issue comes I just scan it, label it and add it to the folder. Beats looking in each issue to find something. The scanned image is much clearer than a photo and uses less room.
Jim
Sounds like a plan! Thanks Jim. May have to enlist aid of technoid spouse. Say, those sleeves or slipcases are sort of pricey at 17 bucks a pop, but they do keep off the dust and they match the "books by the yard" which fill the shelves of my cavernous yet sumptuous panelled library. Yeh, right.
jack
Great, so most of us like the reader. I'm not too familiar with the procedures involved, but I bet that if someone scanned all the individual index pages, it could be gifted to the rest of us by email or some other simple means. Of course, the indexes are printed on consecutive pages in the reader if you choose to look for articles using this system. Jack, you are right about prices. It seems anyone advertising a nice set will get close to his price, no matter what it is. I am trying to put a set together now and was outbid on ebay for some issues I need. I couldn't imagine anyone being interested in the mix being bid on, but I was wrong. I lost even after bidding agressively.
I have them scanned and in a folder on my computer except for volume 1 and 2 which seem to go at ridiculous prices on ebay. the file is around 6Mb, however I am a bit reluctant to get involved in distribution because of copyright problems. If it is legal it would be available at no cost to anyone wanting one. If someone has volume 1 and 2 I can scan them and add them to the file, or they can just send the scans to me. It might be a practical idea to add them to a page on this site as useful information. Ideas anyone?
Jim
I don't think that a "table of contents" would be something that Mr. Cote would be interested in protecting by copyright.
Jim:
WIfe has scanner at work but is out of town until next Weds. She had already promised me that she might scan a volume per day for me so I don't think doing 89-90-91 would be much of a problem. Let you know end of next week.
jack
Nothing came thru. Never works for me unless I hit the add recipient button. Add suggests additional but I think it means principal.
jack
Jack, I sent you an email on this. Jim