15. Magazine, Newspaper, or Movie?

The previous two chapters introduced you to iBooks and iTunes, two apps that allow you to download a variety of content—books, songs, movies, and more. But these two apps aren’t the only ones that offer you the ability to purchase or view content (or download and watch free content).

Your iPad comes with two additional apps, one for purchasing content and the other for viewing it. The first is the Newsstand app, which allows you to purchase magazines and newspapers as well as subscriptions. And while you can download movies and TV shows from iTunes, it’s the Movies app that is required to actually view them.

FIGURE 15.1. The icon for the Newsstand app.

The Newsstand app looks similar to the iBooks app, with the only difference being that instead of a bookshelf, you’ll be greeted by the magazine rack shown in Figure 15.2 (notice that it doesn’t fill the entire screen).

FIGURE 15.2. The Newsstand app offers up a magazine rack.

I have a couple magazine subscriptions (one paid, one free), as you can see, but your magazine rack will most likely be empty if you haven’t purchased a newspaper or magazine subscription from the Newsstand Store.

In the upper-right corner of the magazine rack, you’ll see the familiar Store button—tap it to open up the Newsstand Store, as shown in Figure 15.3.

FIGURE 15.3. The Newsstand Store offers up magazines and newspapers.

In my opinion, the Newsstand Store is a confusing mess, so let me explain. Notice along the top of the screen that you have various categories, such as All Categories, Games, Education, Newsstand, and More. If you tap on any of those buttons, except for the Newsstand button, you’ll essentially be back in the App Store browsing for apps such as games or recipe apps.

The same goes for the buttons along the bottom of the screen—Featured, Top Charts, Genius, Purchased, and Updates. These buttons all are App Store buttons, not Newsstand features. If you’re interested in buying a single magazine issue, a newspaper, or a subscription, you’ll want to make certain you tap nothing but the Newsstand button at the top—anything else will take you away from the Newsstand. It’s annoying, and I’m not quite sure why Apple doesn’t have a Newsstand-only app. However, this is what we’ve got for now.

That said, while you’re viewing the Newsstand options, you’ll find a scrollable screen (swipe up and down) with a number of magazines available for purchase.

Don’t get too excited about all the FREE listings—these aren’t free magazines (usually). Instead, the “free” part is simply an app that installs on your iPad and alerts you when new issues are available for purchase. Yes, it’s misleading—and, no, I don’t think Apple’s going to change it.

Let me show you how it all works, and I think the concept of magazine purchases and subscriptions will make a little more sense. First, you’ll want to find a magazine for which you might consider purchasing an issue. Unfortunately, there is no Search bar, so you’ll need to do a lot of swiping and tapping to burrow down into various categories to find what you might like. Yes, it’s annoying. And again, I’m not expecting a fix for this issue. (Like I said earlier, the Newsstand app is a mess and not even close to being as useful as it could be.)

Once you’ve found a magazine, tap the cover and you’ll see the familiar information page, as shown in Figure 15.4.

FIGURE 15.4. A magazine’s information page.

I’ve always liked the print version of Popular Mechanics, but I can always check out reviews and read a description of any magazine I might not be familiar with. In order to get pricing details, you can examine the information found in the Description section or you can tap the FREE button to install the magazine’s app and then tap the Install App button that appears.

After you provide an Apple ID password, the magazine begins to download, as shown in Figure 15.5.

FIGURE 15.5. The magazine app begins to download.

After the app is installed, you can tap the Open button or you can tap the Home button and then relaunch the Newsstand app.

When you return to the magazine rack, you’ll see your new magazine app appear on the magazine rack, as shown in Figure 15.6.

FIGURE 15.6. The magazine app is added to the magazine rack.

Whether you tap the Open button or tap the magazine app that just appeared on the magazine rack (in Figure 15.6), you’ll start a process that walks you through purchasing an issue or a subscription.

Every magazine I’ve ever considered subscribing to on my iPad behaves a little differently when I first open the magazine’s app, but the goal is ultimately the same—to get you to purchase an individual issue or a subscription. As you can see in Figure 15.7, the Popular Mechanics magazine app opens and asks whether you’re already a subscriber. After you read a magazine issue, you can always delete it to free up space. But if you decide at a later time you want to reinstall an issue (that you’ve already purchased), you can do so by tapping the Restore button. The Newsstand Store records will be checked to verify any previous purchases; if they are found, you’ll be given a chance to reinstall one or more issues you’ve deleted.

FIGURE 15.7. You can reinstall issues if you’re a subscriber.

If you’re not an existing subscriber, tap the Cancel button, shown in Figure 15.7.

Now you can swipe left or right to view the current issue and older issues. Notice the big red Buy Issue button, just below the Contents button in Figure 15.8.

FIGURE 15.8. You can view a magazine’s contents or purchase an issue.

At the bottom of the screen is a free sample of the magazine; not all magazines offer a full issue for sampling, so the number of pages may vary. Also, not every magazine will have all of its past issues available for download.

Along the top of the screen, you’ll see a banner offering a full subscription. Sometimes there’s a discount advertised, but there will always be a button that allows you to purchase a subscription. If you tap that button, a window appears offering you a monthly subscription (basically buying the current issue one month at a time for a year) or a yearly subscription (usually at a discount) at a listed price, as shown in Figure 15.9.

FIGURE 15.9. Select your magazine purchase option.

No matter which selection you choose, you have to confirm the purchase.

Some magazines request personal information, such as your name, email, and zip code. You can choose Don’t Allow or Allow, but after tapping one of these buttons, the current issue will begin to download.

Again, not all magazine subscriptions behave the same, but the basic idea is that after a magazine issue finishes downloading, it will be available in the magazine app’s library, as shown in Figure 15.10.

FIGURE 15.10. Tap the cover of a purchased issue to open and begin reading.

You might not want a magazine issue to download automatically. If that’s the case, open the Settings app and tap the Newsstand option on the left. Every magazine you subscribe to will have the option to automatically download content. You can turn the toggle button to On or Off, as shown in Figure 15.11.

FIGURE 15.11. Choose whether or not to download magazines automatically.

If you don’t have your magazine downloading automatically, you’ll need to open the magazine app again and browse to the issue you purchased. Instead of a Buy Issue button, you’ll see a Download button; tap it to start the download of the magazine.

To open a magazine for reading, just tap the cover. Most magazines are taking advantage of the iPad’s full-color screen and fast processor, so don’t be surprised to see some animation or maybe even a video about the current issue’s contents!

Although the Newsstand app is a buggy mess, actually reading magazines on the iPad is amazing. First, some magazine covers are actually touch sensitive—if you see a headline that interests you, tap it and you’ll jump immediately to the start of that article. Not all magazines do this, however, and those that do offer it don’t always have every headline working as a fast-jump to the article.

Reading a digital magazine works just like reading an eBook—a swipe from right to left turns the page, and a swipe left to right returns you to the previous page. Every magazine I’ve ever read on my iPad offers a slightly different toolbar, but most of them offer you the toolbar if you tap somewhere near the center of the screen. As you can see in Figure 15.12, when you tap the center of the page, you get some buttons at the bottom and near the top.

FIGURE 15.12. Most magazines have a toolbar.

You’ll have to experiment with these buttons because they’ll almost always differ from magazine to magazine, but some fairly common buttons provide the ability to return to the magazine’s Table of Contents and a quick listing of all the articles. There is also usually some method for bookmarking a page and maybe even sharing a link to an article with a friend.

Everything I’ve described so far about buying issues or subscriptions to magazines also applies to newspapers. You won’t find a lot of newspapers available in digital format, but those that are available will typically offer up the ability to buy a single day’s worth of news or a longer subscription. And again, every newspaper will work a little different in terms of navigation and downloading, but it always starts with downloading the app from the Newsstand Store.

Well, to do that you’ll want to open up the Videos app, whose icon is shown in Figure 15.13.

FIGURE 15.13. The icon for the Videos app.

If you open up the Videos app and have no movies or TV shows installed on your iPad, you’ll see a video screen.

What I love best about the Videos app is its simplicity! All you have to do to watch a movie or TV show is tap the icon. The movie or show will open its information page so you can read a synopsis. When you’re ready to start watching, tap the Play button shown in Figure 15.14.

FIGURE 15.14. Read details of the movie or tap the Play button to start watching it.

The only choice you need to make now is whether to watch in Portrait or Landscape view. I prefer Landscape because you get a larger image, but some prefer Portrait (especially on airplanes) because it offers up a bit more privacy and doesn’t feel like you’re sharing your movie with those around you. (Plug in some headphones and nosy neighbors might be able to watch the action, but the lack of sound will eventually run them off.)

The Videos app offers the most basic of controls—Play, Pause, and buttons to jump to various locations. You can also tap and drag the progress button at the top of the screen left or right to move forward or backward through a show. These buttons will disappear as the show plays, but you can get them back at any time by tapping in the center of the iPad’s screen, as shown in Figure 15.15. (Tap the Done button to close the movie or TV show—your location will be saved so you can start watching from where you left off the next time.)

FIGURE 15.15. Simple controls for playing and pausing shows.

And that’s it for the Videos app! Well, almost. To delete a movie, tap and hold your finger on a movie or TV show, and then tap the X that appears in the upper-left corner. Or, if you want to buy more movies or shows, tap the Store button, and you will be taken to the iTunes Store.