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NEWS: JManga Site Launches with Works Never Printed in U.S.


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Zilan



Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Posts: 167
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 2:33 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Greetings and thank you for your interest in JManga.

In regards to the different levels of service available, there are basically two available:

1. Free Subscription
2. $10 Monthly Plan

At the moment, becoming a paid subscriber grants you 1000 "points" a month (with a limited time kickoff bonus of an additional 500 points), which you can use to buy chapters or volumes of manga for your reading pleasure. It is currently required that one be a paid member to buy more points or purchase manga, however, we are currently discussing other pricing/service models with the publishers, so leave some feedback if you have any suggestions.

Sincerely,
JManga Customer Service



Pretty shitty model. I gotta pay 10 dollar's of month to be able to spend more money to buy books or chapter, which I don't really own seeing as if the site tanks then all my purchases are gone.

Wtf are they thinking? It's cheaper to just buy physical manga off rightstuf or amazon.com

Also looking at the price points of manga 10 dollar's is = to 1000 points. Most full volumes cost 899 points. so $8.99 for a digital volume? thats pretty much the same price as physical. Again, wtf are they thinking?
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zeonozero



Joined: 01 Mar 2008
Posts: 85
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 2:45 pm Reply with quote
I guess that the reason the pricing is so high is cause they know that none of the titles will probably be licensed in America. Instead of doing what other companies like Viz is and letting you buy the manga cheaply, even though they have it in paper print already

This stuff we will probably never get in English, unless you go to a site that has scanlations, which as we all know does not help any company make money.

Anyway im not gonna pay until i know that im gonna get an unbelievable deal out of this, cause im all for supporting the industry
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7358
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 2:52 pm Reply with quote
Zilan wrote:
Wtf are they thinking? It's cheaper to just buy physical manga off rightstuf or amazon.com

Also looking at the price points of manga 10 dollar's is = to 1000 points. Most full volumes cost 899 points. so $8.99 for a digital volume? thats pretty much the same price as physical. Again, wtf are they thinking?

Agreed. Heck, even on some of the more expensive manga, say the Sig IKKI line (usually $13 each), would only be 75 cents more on TRSI on a normal day and cheaper than $9 during a Viz sale so I really don't see what the point is. Sure, you don't have to wait for shipping, but you also don't get to look at the glorious physical copy for all time. Also, I can read books anywhere, I don't typically bring my laptop everywhere with me. And if I did, it'll eventually run out of batteries/power, can't say that ever happens to books. I like the idea of having physical copies as well cus dude, what if something horrific ever happens to their servers?

I feel like places are trying to convince consumers that "old fashioned printed on paper" books are already obsolete and I hardly think they are, but that's not really related entirely to this, I'm just thinking that printed manga should be around for a long time to come.
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machetecat



Joined: 06 Jan 2010
Posts: 396
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 2:57 pm Reply with quote
Yet I see no Mahoraba...

You know, if I read scanlations of a comic, I have a tendency to buy it. There seems to be a slight fanbase for Mahoraba, yet no one's grabbed either the anime or the manga for it.

By this point, I'd be willing to pay for even a digital copy of this series. I adored Mahoraba back in the day. I'd like to pay for it in a language I understand, thank you.

Other than that, looks interesting. I doubt I'll be spending much time/money on this site, but it's definitely worth bookmarking and checking up on every now and then.
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jsc315



Joined: 09 Aug 2004
Posts: 925
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 3:20 pm Reply with quote
Zilan wrote:
Quote:
Greetings and thank you for your interest in JManga.

In regards to the different levels of service available, there are basically two available:

1. Free Subscription
2. $10 Monthly Plan

At the moment, becoming a paid subscriber grants you 1000 "points" a month (with a limited time kickoff bonus of an additional 500 points), which you can use to buy chapters or volumes of manga for your reading pleasure. It is currently required that one be a paid member to buy more points or purchase manga, however, we are currently discussing other pricing/service models with the publishers, so leave some feedback if you have any suggestions.

Sincerely,
JManga Customer Service



Pretty shitty model. I gotta pay 10 dollar's of month to be able to spend more money to buy books or chapter, which I don't really own seeing as if the site tanks then all my purchases are gone.

Wtf are they thinking? It's cheaper to just buy physical manga off rightstuf or amazon.com

Also looking at the price points of manga 10 dollar's is = to 1000 points. Most full volumes cost 899 points. so $8.99 for a digital volume? thats pretty much the same price as physical. Again, wtf are they thinking?


READ the FAQ before you make stupid remarks that make you look silly!
This again is from directly from the FAQ on Jmanga.
Quote:
Q If I revert from a paid member back to a free member, will I no longer be able to read the manga I purchased as a paid member?

A Once you have purchased a manga, you can read it even if you change your membership level.
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Zilan



Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Posts: 167
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 3:23 pm Reply with quote
jsc315 wrote:
Zilan wrote:
Quote:
Greetings and thank you for your interest in JManga.

In regards to the different levels of service available, there are basically two available:

1. Free Subscription
2. $10 Monthly Plan

At the moment, becoming a paid subscriber grants you 1000 "points" a month (with a limited time kickoff bonus of an additional 500 points), which you can use to buy chapters or volumes of manga for your reading pleasure. It is currently required that one be a paid member to buy more points or purchase manga, however, we are currently discussing other pricing/service models with the publishers, so leave some feedback if you have any suggestions.

Sincerely,
JManga Customer Service



Pretty shitty model. I gotta pay 10 dollar's of month to be able to spend more money to buy books or chapter, which I don't really own seeing as if the site tanks then all my purchases are gone.

Wtf are they thinking? It's cheaper to just buy physical manga off rightstuf or amazon.com

Also looking at the price points of manga 10 dollar's is = to 1000 points. Most full volumes cost 899 points. so $8.99 for a digital volume? thats pretty much the same price as physical. Again, wtf are they thinking?


READ the FAQ before you make stupid remarks that make you look silly!
This again is from directly from the FAQ on Jmanga.
Quote:
Q If I revert from a paid member back to a free member, will I no longer be able to read the manga I purchased as a paid member?

A Once you have purchased a manga, you can read it even if you change your membership level.


huh? What does that have to do with anything I said?

If for some reason this site fails or shuts down then all the stuff I purchased is gone.

Maybe that's what you're replying to? If so read more carefully, because what you just quoted doesn't have anything to do with what I'm bitching about, sir.
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agila61



Joined: 22 Feb 2009
Posts: 3213
Location: NE Ohio
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 3:28 pm Reply with quote
Zilan wrote:
Pretty shitty model. I gotta pay 10 dollar's of month to be able to spend more money to buy books or chapter, which I don't really own seeing as if the site tanks then all my purchases are gone.
How shitty the model is depends on what price point emerges. The $8.99 price point is high, I think. But each publisher sets the points for each title, so there's room for them to experiment.

They do need to sit back and reflect how much a single chapter in one of their serials in Japan costs, when you divide the price of the serial by the number of chapters of different series running.

From the interview that Deb Aoki did with them recently, if any publisher gets their ducks in a row to offer a broader geographic distribution, the site can accommodate them. It also is supposed to cater to Canada as well as the US ~ if that only meant some of the titles, they need to get on the ball about labeling which content is North American and which is US-only.
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PBsallad



Joined: 19 Dec 2009
Posts: 338
Location: Phoenix
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 3:40 pm Reply with quote
Zilan wrote:
They haven't really made it clear as to how the subscription works, unless Im overlooking something.

Do I pay 10 dollar's a month to get access to everything? Or can I just pay for what I want? I don't understand.


Yeah, I looked at the FAQ but the only thing it implied was that with a sub gets you points per month and they roll over. On the guide page it says:

Quote:
If you are buying manga and don’t have enough points, a credit registration page will pop up.
You can upgrade to a $10 Monthly Plan by registering your credit card information using this screen!
Caution: Your account will be charged as soon as you register your credit card information.

Becoming a paid subscriber lets you…

    Use 1,000 points ($10 Monthly Plan) per month

    Receive 500 bonus points ($10 Monthly Plan) as part of our special kickoff campaign

    Receive an ongoing bonus of 50 points/month ($10 Monthly Plan Subscriber) as part of our gift campaign

    Buy additional points as desired


…and more!


edit: some one beat me to it, sort of.

Last edited by PBsallad on Wed Aug 17, 2011 3:46 pm; edited 1 time in total
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einhorn303



Joined: 20 Nov 2006
Posts: 1180
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 3:43 pm Reply with quote
For me, the price issue is immaterial. This site is ruined for me by the inability to actually download manga, and own DRM-files that I can read anywhere, at any time.

I want to own content, not pay for access rights to content.

As it is, I hope this business model fails. If this is the future of niche manga, I'll be reading a lot less manga in the future.
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Tsukento



Joined: 06 Dec 2006
Posts: 89
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 3:58 pm Reply with quote
I was hesitant about this site. Originally I was under the impression it would be a free manga viewing site that was legal. Then I discovered the pay format.

Browsing through their User Guide and FAQs, you will not find a single explanation about the differences or pros and cons between Free Subscribers and Paid Subscribers. Instead, the most focus you'll find is how much you'll be paying, that you're limited by monthly points by how the subscription cost and so on. Not one thing that makes things perfectly clear for those who are hesitant about paying.

Signed up as a Free User and started browsing around. Instantly, you will find two horrible problems.

1) Many manga are set up without any previews what-so-ever. This gets very aggravating, as you will literally find yourself bouncing from series to series, looking for something to even read.

2) Should you find something with a preview, you're more likely to run into something that was uploaded ONLY IN JAPANESE. So far, I've discovered the following series' in Japanese: Hellsing, Trigun, Trigun Maximum, Excel Saga, Tujiurauri, TABLEAU GATE and SAMURAI HAREM : ASU NO YOICHI. It seems all they did was upload raws of those manga.

This really begs the question: Is all of this really worth the $10 subscription fee? Things aren't looking good with this kind of start. I'd rather pay full price for my physical copies of manga or even the digital versions Viz puts up on the iOS format. At least with those, I know exactly what I'm paying for and don't have to worry about any sort of restrictions or problems.
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Minatsu



Joined: 16 Feb 2011
Posts: 16
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 3:58 pm Reply with quote
This site has serious problems, I live in Pennsylvania, but I'm restricted from viewing the page, because it's available in North America only? Where exactly do they think PA is?
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sarusa



Joined: 17 Aug 2011
Posts: 101
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 4:01 pm Reply with quote
Typically books seem to be ~750-980 'points' and as near as I can tell points are a penny each ($10 gets you 1000 points).

I realize they have to make some money, but that's more than it would cost me to get a physical manga sent from Amazon.com. Furthermore, the jmanga manga is lower resolution and tied to reading online only (that's a huge convenience issue).

Given all that I can't see buying much. Make it a buck a book and I'd buy tons, because at that point the selection would make it worth the limitations.
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Jaymie



Joined: 18 Jun 2009
Posts: 915
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 5:26 pm Reply with quote
This is going to fail, big time. 9 dollars per Digital volume. Not available in Canada or Mexico (WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY THINKING!?). No previews before you make a purchase.

I couldn't make a purchase due to my location, so I don't know how good the reader itself is. Hopefully it's better than Viz's.
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GWOtaku



Joined: 19 Jul 2003
Posts: 678
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 5:36 pm Reply with quote
einhorn303 wrote:
For me, the price issue is immaterial. This site is ruined for me by the inability to actually download manga, and own DRM-files that I can read anywhere, at any time.

I want to own content, not pay for access rights to content.

As it is, I hope this business model fails. If this is the future of niche manga, I'll be reading a lot less manga in the future.


Your problem is with digital comics as a format, not just the JManga website. Not that that's unreasonable. For people that feel this way, it's books or bust.

That said, while a book might be cheaper at Amazon, delivering translated manga not printed in English is a service that no retailer can compete with. That is a new and different playing field.
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Nebs



Joined: 19 Jul 2003
Posts: 386
Location: University of Illinois
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 5:55 pm Reply with quote
Hmmm, pricier than I was expecting. And as bad as it sounds, I was really hoping for some smutty/risque manga from seinen magazines like Champion Red, Comic High, and Young Magazine. Laughing As unlikely as it was, this project was the best hope to get such titles out in the US. And if they did that, they would surely get my money.
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