Digital magazines....what an inane idea

[JDgreen227]

Just got a notice (online of course) that a print magazine I have subscribed to for the past ten years is changing to an all-digital format soon, and I have never understood why subscribers prefer that format. I enjoy reading a print edition sitting on the couch or while in bed (usually with a cat or two atop me) which isn't conductive to using a laptop computer or e-reader. I have viewed a number of automotive publications online and after the first experience or two I began detesting the experience. While I have always passed along good magazines to friends or dropped them off at the local hospital's waiting rooms, you cannot do that with a digital edition.

Exactly WHAT is the appeal of online magazines? As bad as the advertising content is in the print editions, it is nowhere as irritating as the barrage of ads one has to endure while using an online magazine. I used to subscribe to ACCESS magazine, which was printed for Directv subscribers, and it was so convenient to use the PRINT edition and learn what programs were on. They cancelled publication about 2 years ago. Now I have to turn on my TV set and DVR and scroll through an entire group of screens to learn what will be televised on a certain day, then write the information down. Waste of time having to do that.

Digital magazines are of little use to many people who are stuck with dial-up and/or low speed DSL service (like me) and I wish they had never invented the concept. What are your opinions?

 

[MossRoad]

Bear with me here, as I may get long winded.
(I have a little insight to this as I have been employed in the printing industry for 26 years)

First, I am in agreement with you on the preference part... I like a printed product in my hands. I can hold it. Turn it into the light to see it better, etc...

Let's first analyse the cost of printing a magazine or newspaper.

How is printing paid for?
The cost of your subscription does not cover the cost of the paper the magazine is printed on, let alone the ink, labor to produce, or transportation and delivery costs. That's a fact. And that's just physical production costs. You also have the cost of the staff to produce the content, sell the ads, accounting, etc....

To cover those costs, the magazine or newspaper has to sell advertising. If they want to make a profit, they have to sell LOTS of advertising.

Until 10 years ago, there were basically 4 major routes for advertising.....
Newspapers
Magazines
Radio/TV
Junk Mail

Those 4 big entities carved up the advertising dollar pie from all advertisers.

Along comes the internet. Anybody with a computer can start a website. If the website becomes popular, they can promote to advertisers "Hey, look, tens of thousands of people look at my website every day. Why don't you advertise on my site?"
Anyone, and I mean anyone, can go to a place like Google AdSense and sign up to become an advertiser. They get paid pennies per click. Pennies don't sound like much. But when you have millions of individual people taking millions of pennies from the advertising dollar pie, everyone gets a smaller slice. Now if you are a hungry person, you'll gladly take that smaller slice. If, however, you are a fat person (newspaper, magazine, radio/TV, junk mailer) you are gonna get hungry real fast. You won't be able to support your size. You have to lose weight. Those 4 big entities have to cut where it costs them the most.

For newspapers and magazines, the two most expensive components of their organizations are paper and labor. Period.

You need the same people to produce content, weather its digital or print. Producing a digital product is immensly less costly than print and you can still make a profit.

In order for you favorite magazines to survive, they have to stop printing on paper. They just can't afford it anymore. If they pass along the increased cost of production to you, your subscription rate would skyrocket and you would cancel. They have to go digital. There is no other choice.

So what to do JDgreen227?
We gotta drag ourselves into the digital age if we want to keep reading the content that we enjoy.

For starters, get a good monitor and good lighting.
Try a large tablet computer for browsing on the couch. I kind of enjoy those.
Get an HD big screen TV and surf the web on that. National Geographic nature shots on a 60" plasma are pretty darn impressive.
One nice thing about digital is you can blow up the pictures, blow up the text.
But my favorite aspect of digital is SEARCH. Man, you can search anything so fast.

I often wonder what happened to the telegraph operators once the telephone came around. I bet they wondered what happend to the pony express riders. Technology changes and we have to adapt or be left behind.

Hope that explanation helps.

 

[KTurner]

For me, it comes down to one word - SEARCH. I can always print a hard copy if needed. And I can print it more than once, so I don't have to worry about getting my only copy of the repair manual all greasy. I can't point to the magazine and say 'show me the first page that contains the word hydraulics' and have it happen. Not all digital interfaces are done well, but that's more of an implementation issue than a problem with the format.

Still like some print though.

Keith

 

[dave1949]

I understand the truth behind MossRoad's explanation, but for some reading material, I still like it on paper. Of course, I wouldn't be willing to pay a lot for that. :laughing:

 

[rockinmywaypa]

I saved the piece of counter top that I cut out to put in a double sink, I use it as a lap table to set my laptop on while relaxing in my recliner chair. I use a mouse and it provides a hard surface for that and the heat produced by the laptop is able to get away and it's not heating up my leg. I love it and I enjoy relaxing and looking at the computer/laptop this way. TBN is a lot better when stretched out and comfortable.

 

[DFB]

I miss magazines and and big magazine stands! For a long time I was keen on bowhunting mags, all kinds of motorcycle mags, then farming rags.

The appeal of internet use is both technology and the bottom line.

Some how I think magazines fell out favor even before widespread internet availabilty. Cover costs of printed magazines was always going up, story content it seemed was going down, and ads were ever increasing.

And at one time it was more purist world those that wrote about it seemed to live it. Articles had a lot of real life experiences behind them. Remember all those great outdoor life stories! I had both journalism and creative writing training so I really do like a good style and story.

Today many column writers and magazine editors dont even have real life experiences in the field there writing about, just mainly a new media and communication degree and a tell us what you want to hear approach. Its not much more than just a connect advertiser to customer and bottom line dollar management in corporate run world. Many of them have not been in the woods, on a farm or had their head under a hood. and are most likely being paid less money too.

I'm not a fan of the online magazine trend and I havent tried a paid subscription yet. Dont know if I ever will. I get free access online with many of the trade magazine subscriptions I have and dont bother looking at most of them anymore. Like you said lots of sidebar/banner bar advertising and I usually find the same stories copied online have been edited down from the original print version. I also find some digital format are difficult to read most especially a pdf. column.

News might sell but remember advertisers pay the bills

And online is here to stay

YMMV

 

[orezok]

I still like printed materials, but if it wasn't for digital media, Tractorbynet wouldn't exist!

 

[Baby Grand]

I definitely prefer print media of e-pubs. But I'm quick becoming an olde fahrt.
MossRoad gave a crystal clear explanation of the economics of the reason for e-pubs.
I don't know how long print media will hold out - I will mourn its passing.
My first job was as a 12 year old paperboy to 21 customers on a 9 mile bike route over hill and dale.
Had that route for 3 years and grew it to 35 customers - about the limit of how many papers I could carry on the bike.
I met all sorts of people & animals.
Got bit by dogs more than once and never thought about suing anyone.
Had a customer with a Dalmation named Baxton who followed me until I got to the end of his teritory - which was considerable.
I never got bit as long as Baxton was with me. That was a lesson in making friends.
I learned that wealthy customers were often the hardest to collect money from.
I learned to fix my own bike.
I saved enough cash to buy a model kit of the SST, built it and wondered what the World would be like when they were flying.

Where are the paperboys of the future?

 

[nybirdman]

Print media of all sorts will disappear in time;includeing newspapers.The US Postal service will be gone also.
I didn't say I would like this,it's just the way things are today and will be in the future.

 

[cointoss]

I understand what you are saying JD GREEN 227 and agree. I live in a rural area of NW Michigan and do not have access to high speed. My telephone line speed is 21.6, satellite speed isn't a whole lot better, no cable or WI-FI.

 

[jymbee]

I understand the truth behind MossRoad's explanation, but for some reading material, I still like it on paper. Of course, I wouldn't be willing to pay a lot for that. :laughing:

That pretty much sums it up! :laughing:

 

[/pine]

One benefit over hard copy magazines is you don't have to deal with all those blasted mail in cards that fall out every few pages...!

 

[dmccarty]

Magazines and newspapers are dying. Their sizes have been shrinking for years and this will continue as their content quality decline and as people realize there is better content elsewhere.

The Raleigh newspaper is putting up a pay wall and it will be interesting to see how long that will last. I stopped getting that paper decades ago due to their political bias and I only read bits of it online. With the new pay wall they are going to loose even more readers as they spiral down. The Durham paper put up a pay wall years ago and I think they pulled it down, but once I stopped visiting the site, I really have not returned.

I have subscribed to the WSJ for decades and when they came out with a Kindle edition I bought a Kindle. In a year, the lower subscription cost of the Kindle version paid for the Kindle. What is VERY nice about the Kindle version is that I don't have to walk/drive a mile to get my paper. The latest edition is downloaded automatically several times during the day. If I am away on vacation, as long as I have my Kindle and wifi, I can get the paper. I don't have to put a hold on the paper for trips. Even better, I can save articles on the Kindle and email them to others. I can save quite a few article on a thin little device. Try that with a newspaper.

The Kindle also allows me to more easily read in bed. I don't know what is wrong with some of these magazines, but using a dark print over a dark background makes it hard to read. The Kindle helps with these publishing issues. Another advantage to digital magazine is you can store them. I used to keep a large number of magazines but I just do not have the space to store them anymore. With digital storage is not an issue. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

I love my books but it really prefer the Kindle. Never thought I would say that either. The ability to say, I want that book NOW, and be able to push a button and have the book NOW, is very powerful even with two day shipping.

The reality is that the best information on many subjects is on the Internet. If I want to know what is happening in my county, I don't read the weekly paper, I get on the Internet. The weekly paper is pathetic but we buy it to see a few things, get a sales flyer for the grocery store and to have fire starter. That is the real problem with digital, you can't start a fire with it.

Later,
Dan

 

[rockinmywaypa]

" with digital you can't start a fire" the paper towel people may just have a new use for their product that they can pitch to us.

 

[dmccarty]

" with digital you can't start a fire" the paper towel people may just have a new use for their product that they can pitch to us.

Brawny Builds BIGGER Bonfires! :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[daugen]

I understand what you are saying JD GREEN 227 and agree. I live in a rural area of NW Michigan and do not have access to high speed. My telephone line speed is 21.6, satellite speed isn't a whole lot better, no cable or WI-FI.

Well, for those of us cranking along at 25+mps, I have to say, reading online has been great for me. Last year I treated myself to a 27" monitor, so everything is big enough to read easily.
My wife is ecstatic that I cancelled close to a dozen magazine subscriptions. Every one had an online option, for free. So what if I have to wait a week for the latest article on Autoweek.
I even cancelled Consumer Reports because they kept annoying me with offers to spend even more money to get a digital source, granted which is searchable. Now with Amazon, there is such an experience base
on that site that my need for Consumer Reports has really diminished.

I agree that most print media will go the way of the dodo bird. But until they make an e-reader that will really survive the beach, we still need our paperbacks.

 

[daugen]

One benefit over hard copy magazines is you don't have to deal with all those blasted mail in cards that fall out every few pages...!

:thumbsup:
Consumer Reports was one of the worst. I think I counted seven of those things dropping to the floor when I shook the silly thing.

 

[dmccarty]

Well, for those of us cranking along at 25+mps, I have to say, reading online has been great for me. Last year I treated myself to a 27" monitor, so everything is big enough to read easily.

I agree that most print media will go the way of the dodo bird. But until they make an e-reader that will really survive the beach, we still need our paperbacks.

We only have 1.5 mbps which has been just fine with the WSJ. Most of the time, the latest edition is downloaded around 5:00am and waiting for me to read when I wake up.

We have a cheaper B&W Kindle which I don't like as much as the Fire. The Fire is just easier to use but the cheaper Kindle looks robust, is supposed to handle direct sunlight, and its battery lifetime is measure in weeks. The cheaper kindle might work well on the beach.

Later,
Dan

 

[JDgreen227]

Mossroad, thank you VERY much for your detailed and informative post on the subject. I do understand the realities of digital publication, but I sincerely wish those of us who have to deal with very slow internet access didn't have to bear the negative aspects we are stuck with. At the absolute maximum, my gaming ready desktop coupled with a 25" LCD can download at 54 mbps using DSL which is at the maximum 3 mile range where I live. The hardware can operate at much higher speeds but I will probably never be able to get much faster DSL than that 54 mbps speed. Very frustrating.

 

[Pirate]

I bought a Nexus 7 thinking I could enjoy magazine ereading. NOT. The 7" Nexus is way too small. I do enjoy reading books on this device but I will keep magazines on paper. If they discontinue paper (re: Newsweek), they I will stop reading them.