Magazines made out of... paper??!!

Comment 1

I was in WHSmiths today (Appointments supplement in the Yorkshire Post on a Thursday) and I realised I haven't actually bought a magazine since I got broadband six months ago. And not just Internet-oriented mags. I used to read two or three mountain bike mags a month too.

Admittedly it's probably because I spend all my magazine money on boradband, but I don't think I've ever read so much as I do now.

So said Peter J.Lambert on Thursday 10 February, 2005 at 4:01PM GMT.

Comment 2

No, for me there is no place for them (I have not read one for years). I stopped buying newspapers for the same reasons. Why buy a newspaper, when you can read the news online the previous day?

So said Thomas Baekdal on Thursday 10 February, 2005 at 4:18PM GMT.

Comment 3

I think one of the last great Web magazines was Cre@te.Online. It had a good mix of "how to" and what was going on in the web community, although they did tend to lean more towards flash, but at the time, that was the big thing.

I think that the problem with Web mags is that by the time the material is written, printed and shipped...it is essentially out of date. Someone has already figured out a better way to do something and posted it on their blog.

Blogs and RSS have taken the place of print, at least in the case of web design news.

Of course you can always pick up that kickin issue of .NET and learn how to create awesome sites using Frontpage themes! :-)

So said Jeremy Flint on Thursday 10 February, 2005 at 6:14PM GMT.

Comment 4

I don't know about paper based content but I'd sure like to see where this: http://www.semiconductors.philips.com/news/content/file_1054.html leads us. I could read Dog Blog on the loo then! :-)

So said John Oxton on Thursday 10 February, 2005 at 9:26PM GMT.

Comment 5

Most of the conent in the computing mags is about 1-2 months old before it gets printed and the CSS "tricks" are outdated, I do read propert arts mags because they look feel and smell nice. I still buy an imported copy of wired even though I can read it all online. I like holding a copy perhaps even reading it on the bus.

So said Tom on Thursday 10 February, 2005 at 11:20PM GMT.

Comment 6

I still read WIRED's paper magazine, does that count?

So said tom on Thursday 10 February, 2005 at 11:38PM GMT.

Comment 7

Yep, i still do? is it a crime nowadays? ;)

With time not on my side in the office and at home... you can't read everything all the time on the "internets!" :P

So said Kevin Navia on Friday 11 February, 2005 at 2:58AM GMT.

Comment 8

I still read paper magazines, although not necessarily internet based, I prefer to read computer-oriented and other magazines in paper merely for the archival value.

Although there are many services that index and archive older internet pages, often enough the content is lost forever when a site is updated. When working with older systems, the only reliable source of information is the vast hardcopy library I have collected.

It's kind of like reading an eBook; the content may be the same, but the true feel and smell of the actual hardcopy is not.

Plus, I can read a paper magazine or actual book in the event of a power outage, which is something that computer manufacturers cannot compete with for extended periods of time...

So said J.Stanley on Friday 11 February, 2005 at 5:01AM GMT.

Comment 9

There’s already too much to read as it is, what with work from 9 to 5 that always starts at 8 and finish's at 7 then there’s that 1 - 2 hours of life you get in between. By the time it comes to reading the day is over and I’m off to bed, (in an hour or two...just gotta catch up with what’s going on in the world first) and at 5 am I'm finally in bed ready to get back up at 6 to be leaving for work by 7 to be sure to get there by 8 because I start at 9!

Wow... I love this job ;)

So said Nathan on Friday 11 February, 2005 at 8:44AM GMT.

Comment 10

Yeah, Cre@te online is sadly missed. When it went down the tubes, they replaces by subscription with .net - AArrrrgggh!!!

OK, RSS feeds are quick and free and up-to-the-minute, but nothing beats the luxury of reading a newspaper and relaxing. Something that doesn't need batteries or a plug!

I read mainly Grafik magazine - the feel of the paper, and the smell of the printing ink, makes it so much more off an experience than reading something on screen. Easy to read on the loo too...

So said Jon Hicks on Friday 11 February, 2005 at 11:39AM GMT.

Comment 11

I'm the same as one of the posters above - my magazine buying has dropped to virtually zero, and I'm devouring the content online instead! The mass uptake of RSS (not broadband) has been the critical change, I can stay up to date with 50 sites without having to visit them all the time... it simply wasn't feasible to do that before without page watching desktop utilities or online services like "www.watchthatpage.com" (which I still use for non RSS-enabled pages, especially for software updates and drivers).

Clearly at the moment I'm essentially getting all this information for free, but that's only because there's no way that I can pay for what I read - it's either fork out the wonga for the paper magazine or read it all for free online! However, as soon as micropayments become feasible I'll be happy to pay for the privilege of reading good content - but as we all know, micropayments have been "just around the corner" for about 5 years now and there still haven't been many confirmed sightings. One wonders why not, given the size of the online publishing industry, which needs exactly such a payment system... great opportunities there, methinks. Who will be the Google or eBay of the micropayment world, I wonder?!

So said Marcus Tucker on Friday 11 February, 2005 at 11:46AM GMT.

Comment 12

There seems to be some degree of animosity / mockery of the UK's .net magazine. Is that just because we're all too advanced for it? It certainly isn't as low-level as many mags ("Web Pages Made Easy" etc.) and their bumf claims that a majority of their readers are actually IT professionals.

So said Patrick on Friday 11 February, 2005 at 11:50AM GMT.

Comment 13

I've been looking in to magazines of late for potential advertising placement, which is why I've been going through a lot of them recently.

It's interesting to note that in the past 12 months the circulation of a vast majority of (certainly computer / net-focussed) magazines has dropped dramatically.

So said Patrick on Friday 11 February, 2005 at 11:56AM GMT.

Comment 14

Funny that - I haven't bought any webby-type magazines since cre@te online either. I do think blogs have had a (negative) impact on a monthly periodical's ability to stay fresh and find "new" topics for discussion - rss feeds do make it fiendishly easy to stay in touch with multiple subjects.

So said Mark Thristan on Tuesday 15 February, 2005 at 5:17PM GMT.

Comment 15

Digit is OK and Computer Arts is always worth a flick when I'm sitting in Borders coffee shop.

So said Andy Budd on Thursday 17 February, 2005 at 3:54PM GMT.

Comment 16

But, I'm sorry. Do you still write papers or books ?

So said moskito on Friday 4 March, 2005 at 3:57AM GMT.