Top critical review
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2.0 out of 5 starsNot worth the money for the Kindle subscription
ByPaul Kandelon December 28, 2011
Foreign Affairs is a good and important journal, we all know that. My review here is of the Kindle format--the product sold on this page.
The Kindle format itself is very nice. I purchased Foreign Affairs for the Kindle because of the convenience and quality of the format, even though I can access the content through other sources to which my workplace subscribes.
However, I ended up cancelling due to two extremely annoying issues with this subscription:
1. Issues are not available on the Kindle until well after they actually come out. Today, December 28, the Jan/Feb edition has been out for two weeks and is available in many other sources (EBSCO, ProQuest, Factiva), and is already referenced in articles all over the place. But it is not yet on the Kindle.
2. Despite costing only $8 less than the digital subscription on the Foreign Affairs website, which provides full access to archives, the Kindle subscription offers no option to upgrade and get access to archives.
Given that I can access the content of Foreign Affairs through other sources, the only reason for me to pay for this subscription is to get the Kindle format. However, the late delivery and inability to access archives in Kindle (or even PDF) format greatly reduces the value of the subscription.
Overall, it is a good product but managed poorly; for me, the managemenent issues outweight the good product, so I give it two stars. If you want to read only new editions in Kindle format and don't care when they make their way to your Kindle, go for it.
