On Thu, 01 Apr 2004, Chris M wrote:

>On Thu, 01 Apr 2004 "Stephen Hartz" wrote:
>
>>Tell me a little about this user group.  Is it legitimate?   I paid to join
>>over a month ago and have received NOTHING.  They haven't responded to
>>several emails...  Be careful!
>
>Is this Call A.P.P.L.E. (www.callapple.org) or a different A.P.P.L.E.?
>
>Call A.P.P.L.E. has had some (major?) delays with it's magazine, but
>should be rectified soon.  Still, with a membership (and
>username/password for the site) you can download previuos issues from
>last year.
>
>// CHRIS

I've been a subscriber since Call A.P.P.L.E. was resurrected in 2002.
My reason for joining was that I wanted to support an Apple II
organization and the monthly downloadable magazine started off being
pretty decent.  However there were problems starting to crop up even
before the end of 2002 that was proving to be a bad omen.  Now they
are in a position where they are many months behind (November 2003 was
just recently released) and the quality of what you are getting is
poor with little or no Apple II related material.  The last magazine
has acknowledged the problems and are attempting to restructure Call
A.P.P.L.E. by moving the production of the magazine from Japan back to
North America and pretty much have someone else take over a lot of the
responsibilities.  Their web site has indicated that current
subscriptions will be extended through the end of the year as
compensation for the delays.

The good news is that Call A.P.P.L.E. has their "The Complete
Collection 1978-1990" 15 CD set out the door and it is very good.  I
purchased it almost as soon as it was available and am pleased with
the overall package.  There are only a few minor problems affecting
two of the scanned issues that I've brought to their attention.

The bad news is that despite how good the CD set is that membership is
not required to purchase and members don't receive a discount.  As a
matter of fact membership only seems to apply to the current run of
monthly magazines (and backissues) and the fairly sparse download
areas, most of which is included with the 15 CD set.  Unless thing
turn around quickly with the current magazine, I have serious doubts
as to whether I will renew my subscription at whatever point it
expires.

My recommendation?  Subscribe to Juiced.GS (www.juiced.gs).  For a
quarterly 20 page minimum Apple II specific print publication, Editor
Ryan Suenaga and gang do a great job.  For $18 US subscribers, $26
International you get a great "bang for your buck" and all Apple II
related articles.

Mark R. Percival - RTC Host - Syndicomm Online Apple II Forum
"Midweek Madness!" Every Wednesday Night : 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Pacific Time

http://www.syndicomm.com