Marvel just opened a digital distribution service. It’s not quite what it should be, but I suppose they’ve got to figure out for themselves that the internet isn’t there to destroy their business.
Things to Fix
Get rid of that Flash interface: no one likes to use Flash, it causes slow down, there’s an excellent chance it won’t completely or correctly load for a signiican number of people, a lot of folks have Flash blocking browser plug-ins for a a reason, it increases your bandwidth, and the interface is never as clever or intuitive as your designers will think it is.
Clean up those JPGs: you don’t need to give us super high print quality resolution, but you’ve got to make sure all your crazy fonts are readable.
Dump that registration reminder: that thing’s a great way to turn off a million potential subscribers, good work.
et beter servers: the thing is unusably slow right now, but hopefully that’s a result of so many people checking it out on release rather than by design.
Things They Got Right
Price point: $5/month at the annual rate is just trivial enough to make it worthwhile.
Good quality scans: could be better, but they’re much better than Marvel’s previous foray into digital distribution.
Selection: nice variety of titles and eras, A+
Posted:
November 14, 2007 at 01:44 AM