GM, I probably should have sent this earlier for all of your information, so sorry if I am a bit late to the dance! I did send Bob's message to some Directors, Vice Directors and SMs who had to deal with the issue of the QST View product directly. I want to emphasize that we are not discontinuing the product altogether. As Bob explains very well in his email below, the current product is old and has some major league compatibility issues with current software. Please be assured that we are currently negotiating with Terry Muncey of Radio Era Archives, who produces the current product, for a more updated version, possibly available on CD, DVD or even a flash drive. There are also some legal issues involved with this product that we are trying to work through as well. 73, Harold ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2007 5:32 PM To: 'Rich MC Clung' Cc: Vallio, Bob (Dir, Pacific) Subject: RE: QST CDs Dear Rich, WA6KNW Dave Sumner shared your message with the ARRL publication sales team. We have received a handful of inquiries from Collins Radio enthusiasts this week seeking background on our decision to discontinue the QST View CD-ROM collections. Most of this CD collection was produced over 10 years ago, includes black-and-white scans, and software that supports a limited search feature to browse articles by title and author. The CDs were produced in sets covering 5 or 10 years of QST magazine, and each set includes multiple CD-ROMs. We regret that some of the QST View sets have stocked-out. We had recently investigated options for reproducing the sets, recent customer feedback, demand, and alternative ways to fulfill this digital archive. We learned the following: * The current demand for QST View will not support the expense associated with re-manufacturing, royalty, carrying costs, and marketing. * We receive increasing complaints about the resolution-quality of the page-scans. * Customers have struggled with the product's limited indexing and search capability (no full-text search). * QST View is increasingly incompatible with some computer configurations. We presently fulfill the sets with a separate software engine on CD. Nearly half of all our software support inquiries have been associated with these collections-which is disproportionably high when compared to the little amount of support we manage for our high-demand CDs such as The ARRL Handbook and annually-produced periodical collections. While we are sorry to retire the current version of QST View, we will continue to pursue a new path for managing ARRL's large collection of archived media in an electronic form. Some of our initial research has included web-based solutions-all extremely expensive and requiring substantial upfront investment (new scans, indexing, etc.), for which we're not sure we'll recoup in demand. We're also investigating some on-demand CD/DVD manufacturing and fulfillment options, though this option will still require an entirely new software product or a significant overhaul of the current product. We will continue to offer the more popular annually-produced "ARRL Periodicals on CD-ROM" product. These single-year CDs are available for 1995 through present. This product supports a more enduring electronic media format. Although the current version of QST View has reached the end of its lifespan, we want to assure our valued ARRL members and customers that our consideration of alternatives is ongoing. Sincerely and 73, Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Sales and Marketing Manager ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: (860) 594-0213 FAX: (860) 594-0303 Email: rinderbitzen@arrl.org <mailto:rinderbitzen@arrl.org> World Wide Web: www.arrl.org <http://www.arrl.org/>