All new FindmyPast in beta

At the end of last year I blogged about the fact that FindmyPast was going to create a new all singing all dancing integrated website that would incorporate the holdings of FindmyPast UK, FindmyPast Ireland and FindmyPast Australasia (see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/findmypast-to-widen-access-to.html). The plan was originally to try to add bolt-on packages, as with Genes Reunited, but following that announcement things changed a bit, with FindmyPast instead opting to go down the Ancestry.com type route, of a single portal that would offer worldwide subscriptions.

It seems that dream is drawing ever nearer. American blogger Dick Eastman has just announced at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2012/07/findmypastcom-launches-an-international-records-web-site.html that the new American based website FindmyPast.com site (www.findmypast.com) is now up and running in beta format (meaning it's still a bit rough and ready, but now being tested with the public). This site appears to be geared towards the American market, with a new limited "Pioneer offer" of access to all the collections from the three established sites, plus the American 1940 US federal census, for just $4.95 a month if you choose an annual subscription (no overseas currency equivalents are listed). The British Newspaper Archive will be added in due course. If you instead wish to go for a six month or a single month based subscription, there is a temporary 20% discount on offer also.

On first glimpse, I have to say the interface looks fairly horrendous compared to the simplicity of the UK and Irish sites - it's really going to take some getting used to (each search category displays results before you have even commenced a search!). Accessing records is done by performing a search at the top of the page, selecting a category from the main menu, choosing the country of interest and then using filters to narrow down results to the desired entry. It seems to be a clunkier way of getting to what you want.

As with the original sites, there is an online tree building package, though several features have yet to be added (including the ability to import a tree), and there is a blog, written from the American end. There is no Knowledge Base there yet actually providing information on the record sets, with the exception of the 1940 census and some generic how to guides.

It is a beta site, and it is early days, but this is the way that the site is heading. How soon changes are applied at this end, or in Ireland or down under, is not yet known, but according to Dick Eastman further details will be announced about the US based portal within the next week or so.

(With thanks to Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter)

UPDATE: the update to a world based platform has now also been extended to the Australasian site at www.findmypast.com.au - no Pioneer subscription, however, simply a 10% discount for 6 month and 12 month subscriptions.

UPDATE: See comments below - UK readers of this blog are happily purchasing subs from the American site for under £40 annually! Bargain!

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)