Starlog Issue 050 September 1981

Hello and welcome to my conversion/packing of the Starlog magazine series. What this means is that I have downloaded all but one of the 374 issues from this site:

https://archive.org/details/starlogmagazine

So far Issue 360 has not been scanned, and Issue 375 (to my knowledge) was never printed or released online. There are also various other formats for the issues here (PDF for example) but I wanted to get the highest quality scan (which happened to be the JP2 file).

Next, I used an image viewing program called "IrfanView" and converted the JP2 files into Jpeg images. Finally, I packed the images into a zip file and renamed it into a .CBR file (most commonly known for holding comic book scans).

If you wish to have the program to view JP2 files, go to http://www.irfanview.com/

My schedule for uploading will be three issues a week, on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. I am in no hurry to upload all 373 issues, not to mention that I very busy with normal life (plus downloading this or that from the site) so this project will take about 2 and 1/2 years to complete. So in the first year, Issues 001-156 will be released (to give you an example). The Torrent title will have the Issue number, as well as the Month/Year that it came out in. I will also have the cover image posted in the description (which will give you an idea as to what the issue will be covering). That image will be listed at the top of this description, so that you won't have to re-read this every single time.

I will seed the issue for 48 hours. After that, I will move on to the next issue. I don't have super fast internet like most people do, so I have to do things this way. If I had an upload speed faster than my current 65kbps garbage, then yeah...I could easily seed them all, but until I move (which might be within a year's time) then that would change.

If anyone wants to do packs of say, 25 issues, once they are out (to help those who might have missed out on earlier issues) then by all means go for it. I've seen some members here do that for comics, and I would do it myself...if I had an upload speed faster than a turtle crawling through tar.

Now, if you are impatient, you can easily go to the link above and download the JP2 file (along with IrfanView) and look at any of the issues if you wish. My torrents will be for those who prefer the CBR file, or wish to rename it as a WinRar file and then have access to the single pages/images.

Also, if you have no clue as to how to view a .CBR file, just search online for a .CBR reader (I personally use the outdated "Comical" program easily found by typing in said name). Or, if you wish to change the file so that you can unzip the images (very easy to do, but you need WinRar...again, free and found online) just follow these simple instructions:

1. Go to your Folder Options (found in Control Panel)

2. Click the "View" tab.

3. Uncheck the box that says "Hide extensions for known file types."

IF for some reason you can already see the file extensions at the end of your files, IGNORE the first three steps.

4. Rename the file and at the end of the file name, change the ".CBR" part to ".RAR" Once done, the file becomes a WinRar file.

5. Click on the file as normal and unzip the contents to wherever you would want them on your computer.

Once that is done, your folder will have every page scanned from that issue. Windows image viewer will have no problem opening these (since they are your basic jpeg image).

As for the quality of the scans, they are very nice. All text is easily readable, and I have only seen maybe 10 bad page scans (where the bottom of the page is missing, about 15% of it) in total. There were a few upside down images, but I was able to fix those. Some of these files will be noticeably larger in size, since the resolution is much higher. I could have lowered the resolution via Photoshop, but I didn't have the time for that. To my knowledge, each Issue is a page by page scan. Nothing was skipped, although some issues will jump up in the page count (special issues) compared to normal (example: 99 VS 83 pages).

If someone manages to scan the missing issue from this set (# 360) then I will add it to the schedule (If it's before Issue 361, then it will fall in line. If it's out after 361 then I'll post it after 374).

Once Issue 374 is uploaded, I will then upload the 15 special issues that were found on the Internet Archive site.

If I can find the missing issues from Fangoria (and they are not ridiculously expensive) then I will scan those issues and upload them once this project is completed.

I'm not sure if there will be an audience for this magazine, but since I personally wanted to have the Starlog issues (since I read it and Fangoria during the 80's) it won't be a waste of time if no one wants to download them from me. I am also very thankful to those involved in scanning Fangoria and having that Torrent available for us who want a large percentage of the still going series.

Oh, and even though it should be obvious. A HUGE Thank You to those involved in scanning the Starlog issues and having them archived online. After the warehouse burned down that contained the back issues for Starlog and Fangoria, I wasn't sure if any type of computer-assisted back up for the issues would exist. Thankfully, there was.