With how well my Scientific American electronic subscription is working out, I thought I’d have a look at Nature. They offer a print/online combo subscription. I’d prefer to forgo the paper magazine entirely. Also, they offer no detail on exactly what ‘online’ means. Is it a PDF? Or perhaps subscribers have to log in to the web site and they can then read articles there. The former would be idea while the latter would be all but useless.

So I thought I’d better ask. I sent this message yesterday morning.

I’m interested in subscribing to nature, but the subscription page gives no information about the online portion of the subscription. Is it strictly via the website?

Ideally, I’d prefer the way Scientific American does it. A plain PDF of each issue, that I can read at home or on the go, as I please.

Additional info about the online portion of the subscription, and if that can be purchased without the paper magazine, would be appreciated.

Thank you!

I thought it a pretty straight-forward question. I received a reply this morning.

Thank you for your email.

Please note that we only offer print + online subscriptions for personal subscribers for the title Nature.

To purchase a print + online personal subscription please follow the below link:

https://secure.nature.com/subscribe/nature

Please contact us for any further assistance.

Contact them for further assistance? They haven’t answered the question I asked. I already knew that they offer a print and online subscription, and I already knew how to subscribe. I asked what ‘online’ means in the context of their subscriptions. Given that they charge $199 per year for this combo subscription, I won’t be chasing after them to take my money, no matter how wonderful the publication is.

Customer service: fail.