pipes|drums launches fresh new look and features
It started 22 years ago with the launch of the online version of pipes|drums, the first and for many years only digital publication for pipers and drummers.
And, today, we are pleased and proud to bring you the latest iteration of the world’s most popular online magazine for our growing community.
This is the seventh major redesign of pipes|drums. What began as a basic news source with a (for the time) clever spinning logo, today is a powerful resource for pipers, drummers and enthusiasts of all abilities and interests, with more than 6,000 separate, original articles in the searchable archives.
With a major expansion of the publication in 2004 that coincided with a departure from the quarterly print Piper & Drummer magazine, we introduced subscription-level content, knowing that most of our readers would agree that our content has value and that they would be willing to pay a fair price to access all of it.
The new pipes|drums is easier than ever to navigate, and you will no doubt investigate now. New features of the online magazine:
The Shop
A new Shop created exclusively for pipes|drums visitors to purchase products from our advertisers. Each vendor has their own area to post and market products, and visitors can purchase directly from them via the Shop. The pipes|drums Shop begins with a few early participants. Stay tuned as new vendors create their Shop sections.
The Newsletter
We’re introducing a regular email newsletter for readers who register or subscribe to pipes|drums. It will be a quick round-up of published articles and features, as well as the occasional offers from advertisers. Just make sure you have a free Registration or take out a nickel-a-day paid subscription to get access to all pipes|drums content.
Magazine & Community
We’ve reorganized our sections, putting them in new areas. News, Results Features, Interviews, Editorials, Trailing Drones, By The Left, and Style Guy can be found under Magazine, while fun and productive resources like Classifieds and Events listings (open to all readers to post on their own), our Big Prizes database of major competition winners, William Donaldson’s Set Tunes Series, and the always silly BandNamer and TuneNamer tools can be found in the new Community section.
Editorial section
We’ve integrated our popular Blogpipe blog into pipes|drums as an Editorial section. Previously separate, readers can now access all of these opinion pieces without exiting. We are also opening the section up to guest contributors who want to have their say on matters of interest, whimsical observations, or personal suggestions.
Improved subscription process
We’ve worked to make the process for subscribing or donating to pipes|drums even easier. Our subscription rates remain the same $14.99/year or $24.99 for two years. You will find this simple and easy as you gain access to the entirety of the publication while feeling great about being part of the solution.
Mobile friendly responsive design
Our mobile app remains available for download, but now readers accessing pipes|drums from their phone or tablet will find it completely mobile friendly through its responsive design. You will be able to enjoy a graphically rich and clean experience on your handheld device as you check pipes|drums for results from competitions and other breaking news wherever you are.
Steady rates
Subscriptions today are the same price that they were when we started. While our advertising benefits have expanded, ad rates have also remained constant. Advertisers and subscribers make our non-profit publication feasible, with funds committed to the maintenance of the magazine, and anything remaining contributed to worthy non-profit projects and causes.
There are of course many more features and improvements, and we hope that you enjoy investigating the seventh major redesign of pipes|drums.
If you have not already, please do subscribe or make a donation so that we can be sure to continue to make our publication thrive for you and, if you are a subscriber, thank you, and thanks for reading.
As always, Stay tuned.
Where on the front page can you log-in?????? I fortunately or by luck found I could log-in from the Fresh New Look page and scrolling down to find the log-in. Put a log-in button at the top of the master page where it was on the old format. With that said, the new look is fantastic and keep up the great work . . . for all the piping world to “stay tuned”.