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Content
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| Quality : |
18.0 / 20 |
| Quantity : |
14.5 / 15 |
| Entertain : |
14.0 / 15 |
| Updates : |
7.5 / 10 |
| Exclusive : |
5.0 / 05 |
| Download : |
4.5 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
63.5 / 70 |
| Navigation |
| Easy : |
8.5 / 10 |
| Features : |
4.0 / 05 |
| Design : |
4.0 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
16.5 / 20 |
| Other |
| Originality : |
4.0 / 05 |
| Hard Facts : |
4.5 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
8.5 / 10 |
Scoring Criteria New
New Update!
As of Aug 15th, 07, price of a site is no longer factored into the overall score/rank. |
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| Editor: Spencer |
Initial Review: 01-03-08 |
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1. Great content all around.
2. Updates come fairly often.
3. Lots of viewing options.
1. Membership is confusing.
2. Could get expensive if you PPV.
3. The site feels a little cluttered.
"The content here is awesome if you can get past a few confusing issues." |
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On our plate today is Mystique Magazine, which focuses on high-quality content in an internet magazine style format. Their tagline claims these are "women you could spend your life with." Every couple of days, a new model is put up with about 40 photos, and sometimes a video as well. The focus here is quality, and they definitely don't let down. The membership here is a little confusing, as you pay $30 a month which buys you 50 credits, plus access to their "sample collection" which includes a few photos and a video clip from every gallery. The credits let you buy full galleries or videos, and roll over if you don't use them. You can also forego the monthly rate and just purchase credits individually, though I think it gets more expensive that way.
The goods:
- Great content all around. You can't fault their pictures much, and even their videos are pretty decent too. It's a pretty specific type of photography and all, but the quality is top-notch, and you should have a good time viewing it.
- Updates come fairly often. Granted they aren't daily, which is what some of their competition is up to, but something new is up every couple of days as mentioned previously. Anything that keeps the site growing is okay by me.
- Lots of viewing options. For videos, you have 14 options currently, which is pretty impressive. Each video comes in Flash and Quicktime streaming in two quality options, plus Real Video, WMV, Quicktime, DivX and iPod (and Apple TV) in two quality options each as well. Photos come in four sizes, plus have a zip file available as well. Whew!
The bads:
- Membership is confusing. Honestly, I'm more confused than ever. They offer the monthly membership, which gets you preview access, plus 50 (or more) credits per month. However, there are no mention of credits in the member's area, so I'm not sure where they go exactly. It's hard to tell what's included with membership, and what may cost extra.
- Could get expensive if you PPV. One set costs $6 or so to buy, which is quite a bit of money compared to most sites that get you full access for just 3-5x that amount.
- The site feels a little cluttered. They just have so many options and so much info that it confused me a bit at times. They've cleaned it up since my last visit, which is nice to see the changes, but you just have to take some time to get familiar with the site so you feel comfortable working your way around.
Conclusion:
Overall, they've put together a pretty impressive site here. I like the content and quality overall, and they offer lots of options and info. The membership and site may be a bit confusing at first, as it was to me, but in time, you should become more familiar with things. I don't have many complaints, except those listed. If you like what you see in the tour, you shouldn't be disappointed in the membership offerings at all.
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