Just renewed our membership for the second year. I always get something out of reading the publication. Also, there are always discounts for NAPP members. Dell just came out with discounts for members. Best $99 well spent IMHO.
Marion
its worth the membership plus the site gives excellent tutorials and help
Just get used to almost every screen shot coming from OSX. I’m sometimes not sure that NAPP realizes that Photoshop also runs on Windows.
Scott Kelby may just be the biggest Mac biggot walking on the face of the earth.
Bob
I have found it to be well worth the membership fee.
Cheers,
Mitch
Join for a year or two. Then quit and see if you miss it. I haven’t, but that’s just me, and I wouldn’t presume the value of membership is the same for all.
=-= Harron =-=
Im a happy member..
heathrowe
Starting my fourth year as a member! I disagree with the comments about the magazine and Kelby being so MAC pro. True they do show alot of MAC info but they also show and talk about alot of PC info!
The discounts, for seminars, conventions, books, magazines etc. have paid for my membership several times.
I have done a lot of networking reguarding tutorials and info.
Yes, its well worth the membership fee for me, but as previously posted, to each its own.
It’s well worth the money for someone just getting into the Photoshop world! I’ve been a member 6 mos…and have saved the membership fee alone from discounts for attending 3 workshops i’d have gone to anyway! As for the Mac thing……well….."They started it!" nad every workshop i’ve been to by Epson OR NAPP has stressed that the commands are this for Mac/This for Windows. So…..no confusion here.
My take…spend the $100……..and get it back inside of a year if you’re serious about any level of PS.
Shane
Minds-i Photgraphic Svc.
wrote in message
Hi All,
Just wondering if anyone has joined. Is it worth it? I’ve seen the
benefits posted on their website but wanted to get input and comments from those you are already members of NAPP.
Thanks
I disagree with the comments about the magazine and Kelby being so MAC pro.
Is this the same Kelby whose "Macintosh…Naked Truth" book has the following phrase on its cover: "An irreverent, off-the-wall, PC-slammin’, totally-biased look at Apple, and what it’s like to be a Mac user stuck in a Windows dominated world."
Since Kelby heads up NAPP, I decided to use my money elswhere rather than support his "PC-slammin" activities. His bias, which he seems quite proud of, clearly works its way into Photoshop User magazine.
It’s people like Kelby who perpetuate the myths about the Macs so-called graphics superiority. I still face disbelief from people when they find out that I’m a graphic designer who uses Windows.
Have you read his stuff in Mac Design magazine? Great mag that would undoubtedly have a higher subscription rate if he didn’t act like such a jerk.
Bob
Mac biggot–could that be shortened to Macggot??
Yes Kelby is a Macolyte, but forgive him his shortcomings, he usually has some great ideas!
Indeed he does, but he’s alienating a good deal of people.
Bob
But this goes back to the first days of Graphic Design. Most designers fell in love with their macs and refused to see that windows could do the same job with the same tools (Pshop)at half the price. And you could rebuild the box when ever you wanted to, not when Steve decided to let you.
I still fight this battle every day. I had one of my students tell me recently that someone "in the know" in the industry said that Pshop would only run on Macs!!!!!
I joined a few months ago after working in this field for a little over a year. I don’t know if advanced users would get as much out of it as I have. I used to buy PhotoshopUser off the shelf, so just getting the subscription pays for the membership. I visit the site regularly and have gotten some useful tips from it. I went to the San Francisco conference, too. I learned a bit and met some interesting folks. I like to think of myself as bi-lingual: Mac and PC, but I was taken aback by some of the anti-PC comments made by the speakers.
It’s not so much about the hardware.
It’s the OS that Kelby champions, first and foremost.
His book, Macintosh…The Naked Truth should be required reading for anyone who spends a considerable amount of their time using computers for doing graphic arts.
He has some niggles with Apple, and he’s not afraid to spell them out.
Sammybee,
I guess it all depends on what you want and expect to get out of it, and also where you live!
For example, the website is well designed and has masses of tutorials etc and other stuff, the magazine is excellent, and apparently the discounts are good also.
But regarding the last item I would disagree. They are only good if you live in either the USA OR Canada, for people like myself, who live in the UK or Europe / rest of world they are very very poor., Apart from the very odd one or two companies that make Actions and filters, none of the discounts ever apply to us. Try asking Wacom or Dell here for the discounts and they just tell you to whistle!
Also although US members get many seminars, workshops, and exhibitions, I can only recall them coming over to the UK twice in four years, which is really bad. I only subscribe because I love the magazine and am in my fourth year, but too be honest I doubt I will rejoin next time round. For International subscribers its 50% more in subscription, ($150) which is normally one hundred British pounds and is rather expensive for just six or seven issues a year.
I can’t say I hav ever made any savings to justify that level of membership.
As for Kelby, he is a bit of a pain going on about good old OS X etc, and it is about he shut up about it! Every system has good and bad points.
Andrew
His book, Macintosh…The Naked Truth should be required reading for anyone who spends a considerable amount of their time using computers for doing graphic arts.
What would reading Kelby’s anti-Windows/pro-Mac propaganda do for me?
I’ve used Macs before. I’ve worked for years in a 40-hour a week job using them. It was a tool, nothing more. I currently work surrounded by Mac advocates. Its scary, Really, really scary.
Getting back to the original topic a bit, NAPP certainly does have value, but its too bad that Kelby couldn’t leave his personal preferences at the door and run NAPP as 100% platform neutral.
I’m sure the absence of my one membership renewal is of no consequence to NAPP, but in this day and age which platform you use doesn’t mean a whole lot.
Hi all-
Thanks for your comments and suggestions. From what I gather, it would help me if I join NAPP. Being somewhat new to Photoshop and wanting to advance my skills with this awesome, but intimidating, piece of software, I think this will only help me get there.
Again, thank you for taking the time to answer my question. SammyBee
Try asking Wacom or Dell here for the discounts and they just tell you to whistle!
Exactly Andrew- which is why I didn’t renew my subscription. I also found that the magazines went missing in the post quite a lot and some didn’t arrive at all (although this could be just as much our postal service as anything else!). I didn’t realise that so many of the discounts wouldn’t apply to the UK and it doesn’t really make that clear.
However, if they set up a proper UK offshoot (offering all the same benefits/seminars/other goodies as are currently offered to the US) I’d join in a heartbeat.
Hey but you guys across the pond have the ultimate resource–Creative Arts magazines…I would love to subscribe but still can’t figure out how to make an international call from my home phone–let alone calculate the exchange rate!
I don’t mean to sound like a snooty know-it-all, but there’s nothing offered in Photoshop User magazine that I can’t get elsewhewre for free, or by having a quick peruse at the local Barnes+Noble or Borders.
As for any discounts…bah…not enough to offset the cost of membership.
And if they (KW Media) run the NAPP website with the shoddy attention the company pays to PlanetPhotoshop.com, I wouldn’t want anything to do with it.
