Ask Slashdot: What Magazines Do You Still Read?

AmiMoJo writes "Over on Slashdot Japan, there is a discussion about what magazines people still read (Google translation of Japanese original). Japanese people still tend to read a lot of periodicals, while in the west readership seems to be in decline. Do you read magazines regularly, or at all? Are websites a good substitute, or do print publications still offer something worth spending your cash on?"

None

[gameboyhippo]

None... The Internet has replaced the function of magazines.

Active web user, still read periodicals

[shbazjinkens]

There's really no substitute on the web (for free) that replaces quality scientific periodicals. If I want to know about some uncommon subject, often the only way to get that information is by paying a credible source to deliver it regularly. The news-media and blogosphere aren't particularly interested in detailing the latest way to detect carbon nanotubes of a particular chirality, or the latest low-energy method of measuring gas flow. That's why I'm still an IEEE member, among other organizations.

Re:None

[Anonymous Coward]

Cracked.com [cracked.com] is a perfect example of how to move from a print publication to an online model.

Re:None

[mtrachtenberg]

A subscription to The New Yorker is like giving yourself a little treat every week. A subscription to Mother Jones helps pay David Corn's salary. I'm sure there are others worth subscribing to. I've never found a rapid computer multimedia data access mechanism that matches sheets of paper.

c't

[Anonymous Coward]

C't [heise.de] is the top computer magazine in Germany. Their online newsticker is among the most visited German web sites and they make the tool which is used for testing the integrity of USB thumbdrives all over the world: h2testw [h-online.com]. It is available in print and online with the same content.

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[PopeRatzo]

Batteries? Oh, those. No, I rarely bother with them other than the internal ones you get with mp3 players, kindles, tablets etc.

You bother with them all the time, by having to remember to plug them in at night. You bother with them when you have to think about whether you're going to be able to finish the movie you're watching on the plane before the battery dies. You bother with them by having to keep your eye on the little battery symbol because once that goes down, your "mp3 players, kindles, tablets etc." are useless until you find somewhere to plug in.

When people are asked what is the most important feature they wish they had on their electronic devices, "longer battery life" is always #1. So yes, people are clearly bothered with them.

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[metlin]

Indeed. I couldn't agree more. There are some magazines that I continue to read regularly.

The Economist, National Geographic, Harper's, Paris Review, NY Review of Books, Granta, and Foreign Affairs to name a few.

The content in some of these magazines are unique and not available online. More importantly, it keeps these publishers and writers in business, which to me is a great incentive.

I am happy to pay for these publications because they are well written, well edited, and have content that is not easily available elsewhere. They are not just sensationalism and raw data that's poorly written by a 20 year old (e.g. cnn.com) -- they are well written pieces with commentary, insights, and opinions that I value.

Re:None

[PopeRatzo]

You bother carrying one on a plane? What's wrong with the dozens of movies, tv shows, and documentaries showing on the screen built into the back of the seat in front of you?

The cheap-ass airline I fly on mostly doesn't have such niceties as a magic picture box on the back of the seat in front of me.

Hell, I'm surprised they still have toilet paper in the bathroom. Last time I flew I swear I saw one of the stewardesses fueling the plane before takeoff. This is the airline that declared bankruptcy and took all the employees' pensions to pay bonuses to management (the same management who took the company into bankruptcy in the first place).

Although they're not really serious about cutting costs, because when I recommended that they jettison the crying baby in the seat behind me in order to save weight (and thus, jet fuel) they acted like they didn't hear me.