Hi Nick.
I'm sorry you're having trouble. Please explain to me what happened. Who did you speak with and what did they tell you?

Perhaps I can help. I might be able to get in touch with the right person at Zinio and have your problem corrected.

Hi, Nick, and welcome to the forum. I'm a digital subscriber and I, too, was a little put off that I had to wait several weeks to receive my first issue. It struck me as odd that something digital could not be "delivered" more quickly. I'm sorry that you didn't receive the July issue like you wanted, but the subscription process is very smooth and enjoyable once the first issue arrives. Good luck and I hope you're pleased with the rest of your digital experience.

Thanks Nick and Erik.
I wasn't aware that it takes weeks for the first digital issue to get to subscribers.

I've contacted Zinio to find out exactly how long it takes for the first issue to reach new subscribers and why. I'll see what we can do about getting that length of time shortened.

Nick, if you were hoping to receive your digital issue sooner than print subscribers, however, I don't think that's going to happen (even with future issues, I mean). Erik, can you verify this? I believe our digital issues are set to be sent out on the day that the previous issue is set to be removed from newsstands. In other words, the digital July issue will be sent to subscribers on June 19th, the day that June's print issue is removed from newsstands.

I hope you don't feel completely turned off by this. I think the digital version is excellent. It's a lot of fun to use, and even offers some advantages over the print issue, I think.

Yes, Stephen, the digital subscription is almost identical to its print counterpart in terms of wait time. Just as some subscribers receive their issues before others, it's often the case that forum members are discussing articles before my copy has been delivered. This isn't really a problem for me, though, because I treat the digital subscription as an electronic replacement for print. I expected the initial delivery to be a bit faster than it was , but that's due more to my preconceptions of the implications of digital delivery and my general anticipation when I'm waiting for something awesome (which Stereophile Digital definitely is). If the process could be streamlined at all to deliver the first issue sooner, then that would be a positive, but I think it's more practical to notify would-be subscribers that "digital" does not mean "now".

Here's what I've discovered:

According to a customer service manager at Zinio, the first issue of a digital subscription should be delivered immediately. There is no reason that the first issue should be delayed for a period of several weeks.

If a subscriber purchases directly from Zinio.com, the first issue should be delivered immediately following a purchase.

If a purchase is made from Sterephile.com, there should be a mechanism that provides the subscriber with a link that directs them to a landing page at Zinio.com to activate the first issue of the digital subscription.

So, can you please tell me, Nick, whether you purchased your subscription from Zinio.com or from Stereophile.com? If you purchased it from Stereophile.com, was there a link taking you directly to the Zinio site where you could activate your sub? If that mechanism is not in place, we can work to make it so.

Finally, our rep at Zinio would like to determine whether there was some problem with your specific order, Nick. He'll need your e-mail address in order to do this. Can I give him your e-mail address or would you prefer that I gather his contact info for you?

Please let me know. Thanks very much.

Hi Nick.
I'm so sorry to hear that you're still having difficulties. Have you been in contact with Matthew Dinkins at Zinio? He seemed so eager and able to help, I hoped that everything would have been properly handled by now.

Please let me know. Thanks.

I made the mistake to subscribe to the digital edition of Stereophile. This was on April 9. Today, May 3 ZI have not seen a page from any Stereophile magazine. Wrote to customer service because I coud not believe that the4 to 6 weeks term was really serious. And, of course, nothing happened. I am waiting for their IT department to add the first issue to "My Library" in Zinio. What a joke! And this magazine deals aot with the digital domain. Shameful!