Can no longer subscribe to Transformers comics via Comixology

[abates]

I got this email today from Comixology - as they're migrating to Amazon, subscriptions for a number of titles I follow are no longer going to be offered.

Hello!

We're writing because you have existing series subscription(s) on comiXology that we're unable to migrate to Amazon because they are not available for subscription in your marketplace.

The following series subscriptions cannot be moved over and as of February 10th, will no longer be fulfilled by comiXology. These titles may be available to pre-order and purchase individually via your local Amazon marketplace:

The list includes all of the Transformers ongoing series. The subscription service was very convenient, so this is a huge step down. Bad enough that they're getting rid of the DRM free backups, but it seems like Amazon's set on getting rid of everything that made Comixology great.

 

[ssg 4 life]

glad my lcs went to a new system years ago.

 

[Exatron]

I was already planning on ditching Comixology as soon as I learned they're getting rid of the backups. That was the one thing that convinced me to give digital comics a try in the first place. If they're gone, so am I. Just really sucks that this is happening before IDW's run is ending anyway later this year.

On that note, are there any alternatives to Comixology to get those DRM-free copies? I know I got a bunch of the IDW 2005 comics from Humble Bundle, but that's not a reliable option. I haven't looked into buying comics directly from IDW's site yet.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

Is there a good way to back up the copies en masse?

What a bunch of backstabbers.

 

[Salt-Man Z]

I haven't looked into buying comics directly from IDW's site yet.

That's the route I've been planning to take. I believe they give downloads in PDF. I'd rather have a CBZ, but at least my reader apps all do PDFs fine.

 

[Salt-Man Z]

Is there a good way to back up the copies en masse?

What a bunch of backstabbers.

I don't think so. The simplest way is probably to go to the backups tab and start moving down the list.

 

[Exatron]

I don't think so. The simplest way is probably to go to the backups tab and start moving down the list.

Yeah, no way to do them en masse that I know of. I found the site would let me download 6 books at a time, so I'd normally start a batch, then check back in a few minutes to start the next batch.

You can sort by last backup date, or you can filter your list down to only books you haven't already downloaded a backup of previously, so at least it's easy enough to figure out what you still need to download.

 

[Salt-Man Z]

What formats are available?

All Digital Comics will now be served through our brand new IDW Digital Experience reader.

Yeah, now I'm not at all certain you can get downloads from IDW anymore. I'm going to email customer service to hopefully verify. But if I'm going to be locked into an app and barred from downloading comics I own, then I guess I'm done with digital comics.

 

[Powered Convoy]

Is it only Transformers and certain other titles that are a concern or all titles?

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

Good to know, thanks!

Was reading on the situation, and man, it's all just SO much worse -- especially if you live outside the US. I was looking into getting into some other books on there (I'd been going physical with Power Rangers until it started to bloat like Transformers did), but now I'm wondering how much I'll even bother.

One bit of info I haven't seen is how long we have to download.

 

[Exatron]

Yeah, now I'm not at all certain you can get downloads from IDW anymore. I'm going to email customer service to hopefully verify. But if I'm going to be locked into an app and barred from downloading comics I own, then I guess I'm done with digital comics.

Damn. I'm in the same boat. I won't keep buying digital comics if I'm locked into using a particular app and can't download it in an open format. Please let us know what you hear back!

Is it only Transformers and certain other titles that are a concern or all titles?

Comixology doesn't offer DRM-free downloads of all titles. It's up to the individual publishers to decide whether they allow it or not. IDW is one that does, on all its titles as far as I know. A lot of the others, including DC and Marvel I believe, have never offered DRM-free downloads. So for those comics, there's really no change on that front.

Good to know, thanks!

Was reading on the situation, and man, it's all just SO much worse -- especially if you live outside the US. I was looking into getting into some other books on there (I'd been going physical with Power Rangers until it started to bloat like Transformers did), but now I'm wondering how much I'll even bother.

One bit of info I haven't seen is how long we have to download.

My understanding is that any books you've already bought that had the DRM-free backup option will still be available after the merge, but the option will no longer be available for any new books. I'm not sure how they'd handle new purchases of those books that are grandfathered in with the backup option.

 

[abates]

A lot of the others, including DC and Marvel I believe, have never offered DRM-free downloads. So for those comics, there's really no change on that front.

Which is a big reason why I never bought much in the way of DC and Marvel comics from Comixology. I think the only one I got that didn't have DRM backups was the Titan Doctor Who comic, which I read in-browser, which is apparently another option that's going away.

Comixology got me into buying comics regularly, and now Amazon have all but killed it. I guess I'll go back to not buying comics.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

My understanding is that any books you've already bought that had the DRM-free backup option will still be available after the merge, but the option will no longer be available for any new books. I'm not sure how they'd handle new purchases of those books that are grandfathered in with the backup option.

Well, I guess that's good news. Of a sort.

So, do we have to merge our accounts now? What's the deadline? And what happens if we haven't done it by then?

Comixology got me into buying comics regularly, and now Amazon have all but killed it. I guess I'll go back to not buying comics.

It certainly made it more viable and affordable for me. I'd have likely never been able to catch up with IDW's Transformers, Ghostbusters, and a good chunk of TMNT, among others, without it.

At this point, though, I don't know what comes next.

 

[The Phazer]

Yes, unfortunately this move seems to be a disaster that will kill Comixology as a service.

 

[Salt-Man Z]

I haven't heard back from IDW, but after playing with things for a while, it looks like I've found a solution, though it's a little bit of a compromise:

Your e-comic purchases now all show up in your Amazon digital content library (assuming you've linked your accounts; I've just always used my Amazon account for Comixology.) You can use the "download to transfer via USB" option to download each comic as an AZW3 file. This is not a great option for reading on its own, however, if you use the Calibre ebook management tool with the DeDRM plugin (as I already do to manage all my non-comic ebooks) you can load your comic AZW3 into Calibre, then use Calibre's convert function to convert the book to a ZIP. At that point you can just rename the ZIP to a CBZ and be done, or you can dig into the ZIP, pull out the cover.jpg and the \images\ folder containing the rest of the pages, zip those back together and rename to a CBZ (these extra steps just eliminate the other extraneous files from the ZIP that you don't otherwise need in the CBZ). Either way, you'll get a DRM-free file of decent quality. Not the full 3056px barely-compressed images you'd get from the old IDW downloads, but still roughly-1920px images with relatively-minimal JPG artifacting.

Previously, I'd been using a Chrome extension to convert my non-downloadable Comixology purchases (Marvel, DC, Dynamite, etc.) into CBZs. This process of using Calibre to convert AZW3s to CBZs results in similar-quality files (some noticeably better, some roughly the same.) So this is probably good enough to make me turn my TF subscriptions back on again.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

My biggest concern is whether panel-by-panel reading will still be a thing. My eyes aren't what they used to be, not that they were ever great, but I digress. It's why I bought a ton of IDW Hasbroverse stuff over again on ComiXology despite having gotten them through a Humble Bundle previously.

 

[Exatron]

So today's the first new comic release after the merge. I cancelled my subscriptions on Amazon once they'd been switched over. However, I did confirm today's Transformers #40 is still available with a CBZ/PDF backup available on the Comixology site. Not sure when that's getting turned off. Hopefully it at least stays available for the rest of IDW's TF run.

 

[Salt-Man Z]

So today's the first new comic release after the merge. I cancelled my subscriptions on Amazon once they'd been switched over. However, I did confirm today's Transformers #40 is still available with a CBZ/PDF backup available on the Comixology site. Not sure when that's getting turned off. Hopefully it at least stays available for the rest of IDW's TF run.

Yeah, I re-upped my subscription through Amazon yesterday (after initially cancelling) and today I was pleasantly surprised to see #40 with CBZ backup in my Comixology library. (I was especially surprised considering I had purchased a comic on Amazon a couple weeks ago that never showed up in my Comixology library, making me think the connection had already been severed.)

Good to see I can still download CBZs as long as the Comixology site remains active, but who knows how long that will last...

 

[Galvaplexia]

[SCRUBBED]

 

[Salt-Man Z]

Well, yes, if you want to pirate your comics, there are still plenty of ways to do that.