Hello:

Now that our new Jun/Jun issue has been out for a couple of weeks, we are looking for reader input. As many of you know, Non-Sport Update was recently purchased by Beckett Media. The Apr/May issue was very much in the works at the time of the announcement and a product of the family-run regime with some input by Beckett staff. The new Jun/Jul issue has been fully developed by Beckett Media staff (including Beckett's printer and designers).

Have you received your copy? If so, we would really like to know what you think. Please respond below or send me an email. What did you like and dislike? We really want input good or bad from those who have the issue and can offer their opinions.

Thanks!

Harris

I have not received my copy yet but should not the NSU opening page be changed as it still shows the Apr-May cover.

regards

John

HI John:

The page is being worked on. Please feel free to offer your input when you the issue in hand. We'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

Has not shown up by me yet.

I received mine - the paper stock feels a little different(cheaper?), and it's slightly smaller than the old magazines. Other than that, it looks fine.

I purchased a copy at the philly show. My first impression was that it didn't feel like nsu. It is slightly smaller and the paper feels much cheaper (same with the price guide) other than that it looks like nsu.

I have not received my issue yet. I am making the assumption that the Beckett team will be a completely different group of people working on the magazine.

I would hope to see some creative changes or new ideas brought to its pages.

So I still have not received my subscription copy, but my LHS has the new issue and I grabbed one. Here's my somewhat incomplete review, I did not have the time to read everything.

The good news . . .

As the first issue released under Beckett ownership I was happy to see that the NSU format and some personnel were mostly retained. I was even happier to see that this first edition, which is picking up as volume 27 #3, is really a tribute to the Toser family. They are mentioned in the Editorial (still written by Alan Biegel) and the Non-Sport Notes (once the column of Roxanne Toser and now done by Ryan Cracknell). The NSU Price Guide Specialist is still Bill DeFranzo, also doing a promo column, and Dave Thompson has his Non-Sport University article as usual.

There is an extra article by Harris Toser included that repeats many posts from NSU readers, some of which come from Card Talk. Several members, including yours truly, are mentioned talking about NSU and the contributions of the Toser family to our hobby. It's a really nice article and I hope that we will be seeing other columns written by Harris in future editions.

By-in-large the ads and other articles are consistent with what has been there, so the reports of a similar magazine are quite right.

Now here is the only less than good news I would say and it is about the price guide more than the magazine . . .

As already noted, NSU is a bit smaller, about a half inch less in both the length/height and width across. The paper stock is different. The magazine side is thinner, but not so noticeable. The price guide paper is more noticeably glossier and thinner. Because the guide size has been similarly reduced, there is a very subtle difference in the font. The printing is smaller and lighter, but you really have to look at it twice. The pages are not as bright, they are grayer somehow. When you compare old and new guides side to side, the new one is obviously harder to read.

Also it would appear that some titles have been dropped. Inkworks five seasons of Angel are no longer listed. That's from the first A page, so you would really have to go page by page to check for other missing titles. I jumped around a little to see if others were gone, but got tired of it fast. I'll leave it to someone else.

One thing about Beckett publications that I know from sport cards days, the price guides need a magnifying glass to be read.

If I have one suggestion now it would be to return the price guide to its original size. Bigger would even be better, but I'll settle for the same.

That's about it from me. Except that I still don't know what's holding up my subscription copy. Maybe Beckett mails commercial first, but I won't get mail again till after the holiday.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Raven,

Having recently researched opinions on-line about some of the Beckett Price Guides it appears that from Raven's review Beckett may not have taken notice of the criticism given by some on their products. Being from the UK I tend to use the NSU $ price guide merely as printed listing of issued cards although for completeness I much prefer the on-line Allender version.

And just to be even more annoying the current NSU has two covers.

quote:

Originally posted by JOHN LEVITT:
Having recently researched opinions on-line about some of the Beckett Price Guides it appears that from Raven's review Beckett may not have taken notice of the criticism given by some on their products. Being from the UK I tend to use the NSU $ price guide merely as printed listing of issued cards although for completeness I much prefer the on-line Allender version.

And just to be even more annoying the current NSU has two covers.

Well just to explain that, Beckett's love of the minuscule font size is well known and has been complained about for years. It has to do with space and page size and criticism is the expected by product, so reduction has continued to the point where it is not humanly possible to get any smaller and still have it in print form in some places.

What I don't know if you know is that Beckett runs a subscription price guide service. So if you don't like to read the price guide while squinting with one eye, their suggestion would be to get an online subscription. Not sure if they have one for non-sport cards yet because I haven't looked, but if not, they will.

OK I just pulled up Beckett's site and yearly on-line pricing subscriptions are available for non-sport cards too. You pay and you have access to the lists, among a lot of other things that you could potentially do.

See Beckett Media has many facets and tie in services. It dominates in the sport cards business world, where as NSU was a Mom and Pop store by comparison and I mean that in the very best way, but the organizations are very different.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Raven,

Just ordered an issue off eBay after not finding it a couple different Barnes & Noble's and my local comic shop didn't get it in last week.

Are the Ghostbusters and Dr. Who covers exclusive to hobby shops and retailers or will they have both? Didn't NSU have alternate covers before or was that only for convention variants?

Hello Mr. Toser,

I'm away on business in the Gainesville, FL area. Usually, I can pick up NSU at the Books-A-Million in Gainesville but it's not on the shelf (used to arrive the week after the site noted its release) I asked about it but the employee hadn't heard of the magazine and said there was no way to know if it is a magazine they carry. I worked in a bookstore (many) years ago and we knew what magazines we carried.

Anyway, it appears the issue has not appeared in stores yet. Can you let us know when to expect it?

Thanks,

Jess

[QUOTE]Originally posted by H_Toser:
Hello:

quote:

Originally posted by Heroes For Hire:
Are the Ghostbusters and Dr. Who covers exclusive to hobby shops and retailers or will they have both? Didn't NSU have alternate covers before or was that only for convention variants?

I received my dealer order this week. Only received Dr. Who covers.

No idea if it's random or if there is some pattern to which you get. Would have liked to have had some of each, but it is what it is.

Ed

I should imagine it is random regarding cover, they were both available at the Philly show so I purchased 1 of each, still waiting for my subscription copy

quote:

Originally posted by Heroes For Hire:
Are the Ghostbusters and Dr. Who covers exclusive to hobby shops and retailers or will they have both? Didn't NSU have alternate covers before or was that only for convention variants?

Hi All:

The two cover is not going to be a regular thing. It was something special to kick things off under Beckett ownership.

Also, yes, we have done variant covers previously but those have been for conventions. Those not only had a different cover but a different set of promo cards inside as well. The Doctor Who/Ghostbusters covers of the current issue contain the same set of promos and not convention variants.

Picked mine up from my dads house the other day. Arrived in plastic instead of a nice white envelope.

Overall quality has dropped significantly. Does Beckett use recycled paper? My pages look wrinkled.

The price guides are something I rarely use, especially for cards released over the past 2 or 3 years. I have always preferred something more on an annual basis that is more complete. With that said the cover of the price guide itself was actually pretty cool. It's always been hard for me to read so no real problems with it in the new format.

Seems that many of the usual suspects have been kept on as contributors which is cool. As stated before, I would hope to see some new ideas explored. If there are any. :-P

The promo cards made it just fine.

I guess the biggest question is, do I want to keep paying the same price for something less? I am sure I will have figured it out by renewal time.

I received mine yesterday via eBay and thought it was a very nice tribute to the Toser's stewardship of NSU. I wasn't expecting NSU to change into the typical sports card version of a Beckett publication with the first issue since the change over, but thought there might be some subtle differences, and like others mentioned before, there was some changes ... paper quality was different, the magazine is now the same size of other Beckett price guides, font in the price guide seems to be smaller to mention a few ... but I feel that it still retained that feel of community to it. I definitely liked that feeling community, but how do I quantify that and put into words here? Was it that columns mentioned Card Talk members and were written by familiar names? Was it the ads by dealers were there still supporting this publication? Maybe. But I know it "feels" different than reading Beckett's basketball price guide.

One thing that I disliked (maybe "dislike" is too harsh of a word, maybe "disappointed" would be better) was that the price guide didn't seem to utilize the Beckett resources to expand and/or update some of the pricing. Of course, expanding the price guide and making it look more like the non sport pricing that can be found in the Beckett Gaming or Sport Card Monthly magazines would probably add pages (especially if the font is larger) and may increase the price point of the magazine from the current $5.99 to closer to the $9.99 of those other Beckett magazines.

Speaking of price point, if keeping the price closer to $5.99 than $9.99 means that the magazine isn't as tall and the paper quality is different for the magazine and price guide then that's fine with me. I think it helps keeps the magazine accessible to more people and especailly those just getting into the non sport card world. Just try to keep the content of the magazine true to the character of what NSU has been all these years.

quote:

Originally posted by Heroes For Hire:

Speaking of price point, if keeping the price closer to $5.99 than $9.99 means that the magazine isn't as tall and the paper quality is different for the magazine and price guide then that's fine with me. I think it helps keeps the magazine accessible to more people and especailly those just getting into the non sport card world. Just try to keep the content of the magazine true to the character of what NSU has been all these years.

When you think that the magazine has been a "standalone" magazine for 25 years, you would think/hope that Beckett with all their resources would be able to keep the price point for some time!

The other point is - When are the subscription copies arriving in Europe????

I just found a copy at a Books-A-Million where I have found it before when in Gainesville, Florida. The issue came at least two weeks later than usual so I would expect international subscribers to receive their in the next week or two.

quote:

Originally posted by hammer:
The other point is - When are the subscription copies arriving in Europe????