“Content is free. Formats are not” is the article’s title from cnet. Now, this strays away from purely printing, although content in the digital printing world and certainly the publishing sector faces a similar fate:

“Content may be free, but the format in which we buy it certainly is not. As Apple, Google, Red Hat, and others increasingly demonstrate, consumers and enterprises are happy to pay for “free” when packaged in convenient formats that add value to digital goods.
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All of these (re)purchases strike me that the media world may have problems, but they are mostly of discovering convenient formats in which to deliver content. Formats that suggest, and sometimes demand, payment.”
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Good content is a necessary precondition to getting paid, but it’s not going to be reason we pay anymore. That reason for payment is the format in which the content is delivered.
Perhaps it’s always been that way, but the physicality of the delivery mechanisms confused us: we were buying the paper but thought we were buying the news.”
Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10369471-16.html  Read more... (348 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Everyday the catalogue of QuarkXPress 7 XTensions modules is becoming larger and larger. Recently, ID2Q7 from Markzware was added to the pages of this virtual layout catalog. (Read the review PDF)

BY TAMI STODGHILLPRESS RELATIONS, XCHANGE UK You know the story, as many of you are living it – day in and day out. Your client presents you with their document, and it’s up to you to replicate it within the application of their choice — or your choice. It sounds simple, but in reality it’s generally a nightmare of tedious reformatting, and after hours of that, your next client’s project arrives. Often enough to make you reconsider your choice of applications on some days, but before you hang up your mouse, take a minute to look at what might become the most important tools in your design tool chest.

ID2Q (Adobe® InDesign® to QuarkXPress®) is an XTensions module for QuarkXPress® and Q2ID (QuarkXPress to InDesign) is a Plug-in for Adobe InDesign that provides a swift and efficient way to transform one application’s elements into the other application’s elements. That’s right…an entirely new document in a snap! No more reformatting and lost time — the conversion is a simple menu selection.  Read more... (583 words, 22 images, estimated 2:20 mins reading time)