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Future plc > Coverdisc Support

Coverdisc Support

Welcome to the Future Publishing Disc Support page. Here you will find solutions to problems you may encounter when using one of our CDs or DVDs.

We aim to support discs for a reasonable period – a minimum of six months from their original on-sale in most cases. If your disc is older than this then we may still be able to help (though disc support over 6 months is limited to the availability of stock), though we recommend you try the steps listed on this page first.

If the solutions below do not solve your problem, please send an email to support@futurenet.com and include as many details as you can, including the magazine name and issue number. We will then do our best to help solve the issue.

Problem

My disc is missing, damaged or broken

If the disc is damaged and will not read at all, or you have bought a magazine and the disc is missing, please email support@futurenet.com making sure to include the following information:

• Your name and full postal address, including the country and any postal codes

• The magazine name and issue number

• Information about where you purchased the magazine

A replacement will then be sent out to you and should arrive within 28 days.

Videos on the disc do not play correctly

There are two main ways that our discs provide video content.

Many of our titles, such as our photography magazines, have a bespoke application or user interface that contains all the information and videos within it. This is designed to be an easy-to-navigate way to present all the disc content and you should encounter no problems in terms of video playback when using it.

Other discs, such as those provided with our music technology titles, are simple data discs that contain video files. Often these files are very large and so we recommend copying the videos to your hard drive and playing them from there. The best software to play these videos is QuickTime or VLC Media Player as all of the videos should be supported by one of these players.

If you still encounter video playback problems then email support@futurenet.com with details of the disc, the video and some information about your computer and software and a brief description of the problem. We will then strive to advise you the best course of action.

The disc will not read/just spins in the drive

Check the data surface of the disc for damage or blemishes – try using a soft dry cloth to gently wipe in straight lines from the centre to the outer edge. If the disc is still not working correctly, place the disc on a flat surface – if there are any gaps between the disc and the surface then your disc may be warped. If there are no gaps but the disc is not working, the disc may be corrupt.

If the disc interface only partially loads, or there is a lot of drive activity but very slow loading times, then your drive is having difficulty reading the disc. This could indicate a problem with either the disc or the drive; if possible, try the disc in another machine to verify the problem.

Contact support@futurenet.com making sure to include the magazine name, issue number, your full postal address and information on where you purchased the magazine and a replacement will be sent to you.

I cannot open the disc interface

All of our discs that have a user interface are designed to automatically run on systems that support it.

If this doesn’t happen, try manually running the application – using a file explorer (Windows Explorer or Finder) navigate to the main contents of the disc. Exactly what you will see will vary from disc to disc but generally there will be one or more files and folders, and an application file (usually named the same as the disc). This file should be the application launcher for the user interface – double-clicking the icon should run it.

If this does not help, please check that you have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player installed on your system.

Occasionally users may experience trouble using our discs when there is security or disk management software running on their system. This can be hard to diagnose, however, so we recommend trying the disc on another system to verify where the problem lies.

If the disc interface only partially loads, or there is a lot of drive activity but very slow loading times, then your drive is having difficulty reading the disc. Usually this indicates a fault with the disc – email support@futurenet.com with details of the disc, the video and some information about your computer and software and a brief description of the problem. We will then strive to advise you the best course of action.

I am having problems with a Linux Format disc

Linux Format provides ISO image downloads of the cover discs via torrents – select your issue number here to download the disc image.

If your Linux Format disc is damaged or obviously faulty (read errors occur), and a download is unsuitable for you, contact support@futurenet.com making sure to include the magazine name and issue number, your full postal address and information on where you purchased the magazine and a replacement disc will be sent to you.

Due to the nature of Linux, our disc support team is unable to provide any technical help or advice for Linux problems. The best way to get information on any Linux issues is to visit the Linux Format forums where you can search open threads or post a question to solve your problem.

My Official Playstation/Xbox 360 Magazine demo disc will not read in my console

Please make sure the disc is totally free from dust, fingerprints and dirt, particularly on the outer edge of the disc. This area contains the copyright and anti-piracy information and if this is not able to be read correctly, the disc will not run.

If your disc is faulty, contact support@futurenet.com making sure to include the magazine name, issue number, your full postal address and information on where you purchased the magazine and a replacement will be sent to you.

Do digital editions of the magazine enable me to get the same disc content as a print edition?

We have a number of methods for providing digital content for the digital editions of our magazines, including direct in-app links to content and download sites. Each digital edition of our magazines will have a description at the point of purchase explaining exactly what content is available. Please visit the App Support page for more details.