Ask Slashdot: What Magazines Do You Still Read? 363
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 (Score:5, Insightful)
None... The Internet has replaced the function of magazines.
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My old routine of reading the newspaper has been completely replaced with eating cerial and reading the news on my tablet...however I like having my lunch outside in the sun (weather permitting) and reading a magazine is much easier on the eyes than a tablet.
So to answer the original question Canadian Biker [canadianbiker.com] magazine.
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FTFY.
Re:None (Score:5, Insightful)
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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Re:None (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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Well, that narrows it down.
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Cracked.com [cracked.com] is a perfect example of how to move from a print publication to an online model.
Re:None (Score:5, Interesting)
Cracked.com [cracked.com] is a perfect example of how to move from a print publication to an online model.
Actually, Cracked was a meh, me-too imitation of MAD as a print publication. They got MUCH better in their online incarnation.
Re:None (Score:5, Informative)
By completely changing your content type?
The website Cracked is pretty much nothing like the long-running magazine Cracked.
Cracked was a fairly successful ripoff of MAD. The problem, and it's the same one MAD faces, is that you can't really parody pop culture any more because it's become self-parodying. MAD stays in business, but just barely. There doesn't seem to be room for more than one mag in that segment now, though.
Re:None (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:None (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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The Economist and Science are my top two... though I mostly read them both online (and my roommate reads the print versions because it's cheaper to buy the print versions than online only.)
I've let my New Yorker subscription lapse, but will probably resubscribe one of these days. (I'm a doctoral student who lives in a zen center and teaches martial arts. Not a lot of time. Or money, for that matter. But mostly, the back issues were getting ahead of me, and I felt guilty every time I looked at the pile.)
I'm
Re:None (Score:4, Informative)
I am happy to pay for these publications because they are well written, well edited, and have content that is not easily available elsewhere.
Sure, except that they're all available online or in a digital format (e.g. eBook).
The Economist's [economist.com]
National Geographic [nationalgeographic.com]
Harper's [harpers.org]
Paris Review [theparisreview.org]
The New York Review of Books [nybooks.com]
Granta [granta.com]
Foreign Affairs [foreignaffairs.com]
Granta and The Paris Review appear to only have digital versions available, but the rest provide logins and a means to access the full content of each article online, from what I can gather. And, honestly, if you're interested in supporting these magazines, shouldn't you be reading them on a screen anyway, since the printing and distribution account for some of their largest costs?
I do believe something is lost in the experience when we switch to screens from paper, but I also believe that it is largely outweighed by the convenience of easier access, the availability of more content at any given moment, and the lower costs for content creators. And for someone like you, who seems to believe that content is king, I'm surprised you wouldn't agree.
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then you haven't used "DNI" direct neural input. Much faster then paper or even computer. Just turn it on and get what ever news the government wants you to think today.
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I also own thousands of sheets of paper and I agree with you.
Push vs. Pull (Score:5, Interesting)
Print publications are literally put into my hand, giving me more incentive to read them upon receipt. Web sites require an active effort on my part to go read them, which is often not done due to my habit of procrastination ("I'll take time to check that tomorrow"). Even email links to my monthly periodicals go unused, for similar reasons.
To me, it's the difference between polling- and interrupt-driven systems. The processor has to be constantly (or at least repetitively) awake to poll, while the processor can be asleep and awoken by an interrupt. The interrupt-based system is usually the lower-energy way to go.
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Re:Push vs. Pull (Score:5, Funny)
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to pull content for you . . . and your friends could share articles and feeds with you.
Yeah, thanks for that 21st-Century update -- I'll be sure to check out RSS RSN.
The trouble with such schemes is that they assume that I know a priori what information I either want or need, and that is almost never the case. It's hard to learn new stuff when the information to which you're exposed is pre-filtered to include only the stuff you think you want to hear. (It may harden one's political beliefs, but I wouldn't consider that a good thing.)
One of the benefits of a print journal is that I get expos
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And for me it's just the opposite - I sit down at my computer frequently. I not infrequently am sitting at my computer and want a mental break - and oh look, there's the SCOTUS blog tab! (Or Science, or The Economist...)
Active web user, still read periodicals (Score:5, Insightful)
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WIRED (Score:3)
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Wired used to be a great magazine until they switched their format a couple years back. Dropped it since it seemed to be full of Advertisements only, instead of true tech articles. It just sucks now, and no longer has any content that's worth paying for. (Electronic or Print version)
New Yorker (Score:4, Interesting)
The New Yorker's commentary is often insightful, and I read it regularly. I also occasionally read The Atlantic.
In general, magazines (either print or online) are still where one goes to get well-researched, long-form articles.
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Tomorrow, the first thing you do is go down to the newsstand and get Harper's.
They still have magazines? (Score:2)
I think the last time I regularly read a magazine was around the turn of the century. Ditto for newspapers. Subject-specific news aggregators like Slashdot have pretty much superseded magazines in every way that matters. Newspapers, on the other hand, are still occasionally useful as packing material.
Re:They still have magazines? (Score:4, Interesting)
I bought a newspaper last Sunday. The bird cages needed to be cleaned.
Just for old time's sake, I pulled out the want-ads, intending to look in a couple categories... I couldn't believe that those four skimpy pages were the entire Sunday want-ads. It used to be an entire separate section of the newspaper. One of the categories I was looking for didn't even exist.
I'm a little surprised that newspapers manage to stay in business.
Re:They still have magazines? (Score:4, Funny)
I bought a newspaper last Sunday. The bird cages needed to be cleaned.
Just for old time's sake[...]
Just for old times' sake, I took a shit on the front page and wiped my ass with the sports section
What a coincidence. So did the birds.
Linux Format (Score:3)
doctor's offices (Score:2)
a few (Score:2)
None (Score:4, Interesting)
What I would relish though is a magazine reader like a 17" touch screen iPad, but one with the smoothness of display of the iPad and the ease on the eyes of the liquidInk of the Kindle.
I WANT this.
I want it for reading PDFs of programming manuals, for reading beautiful magazines, for browsing beautiful coffee table books in digital format.
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...beautiful magazines...
Best. Euphemism. Ever.
iPad only (Score:2)
I read Wired and Cook's Illustrated and some cycling magazines. Both Wired and Cook's Illustrated are better than the print versions. Even small amounts of interactivity really make them fun to flip through. This is how Wired was always meant to be, if you ask me.
It's better than just reading off the website because someone has taken the time to really curate the layout and the videos and package everything just so. It's a step above in terms of polish. And, of course, I can read it off-line. (Though the vi
Playboy! (Score:2, Funny)
Know it's a long standing joke, but the articles are actually well written across a broad spectrum. My husband doesn't mind the pictures either. ;) Still love the tactile feel of real books too. (Yes I have an e-reader as well). But sometimes I don't want to take one to the beach and risk it getting soaked or stolen.
Unfortunately with electronic media, we lose the ability to loan/share a lot of the content; which I think is the biggest loss of all. Heck, I would consider buying more e-books if they w
Scifi/Technical (Score:2)
These are good (Score:3)
2. National Geographic
3. New York Times Magazine(some of the best writing out there)
Scientific American (Score:2)
Scientific American still has full articles, without interspersed ads, at a high reading level, on usually interesting topics. They are the only physical magazine I don't mind picking up. I am sad they lost the mathematical recreations section.
Ditto (Score:2)
I find the treeware version of Scientific American to work better for the way I read it. Deep articles outside of my area of expertise don't work for me on the computer but seem to work really well on paper. I also get "Air & Space" as treeware. Lots of eye-candy for a "plane nut" like me.
Cheers,
Dave
c't (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Also on Slashdot.jp (Score:3)
Can you sex with robot? [slashdot.org] 9% say yes!
If you're looking for an answer to the slow decline of Slashdot.org here it is: .jp has the news that matters!
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Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice won't get sex with robot [google.com] again.
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Given that we're talking about Slashdot Japan, the survey should be a multiple choice question:
- Tentacles
- Android
- Demon
- Virtual idol
Bookstores and magazine racks (Score:2)
I'd be inclined to buy a magazine or two (Wired, Ham Radio stuff, science fiction and the like, or even Bitch magazine) if there was a bookstore near me where I could browse the rack. Sadly, all the bookstores are gone now.
Premier Guitar (Score:3)
Private Eye (Score:2)
Private Eye is the last bastion of decent satire and serious investigative journalism "In the Back".
I also read New Scientist, but that's been declining in quality for years. I think they should switch to a bi-monthly edition, and really concentrate on improving the content. I haven't bought it for years, but I do read it at the library from time to time.
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I also read both of those, I get them on subscription. There are also a few society/clubs that I am a member of that produce things.
The Economist (Score:5, Interesting)
I read The Economist (every week) and I am constantly amazed by its quality and informativeness. Although, I must mention, I technically don't read most of it since I consume the Audio Edition [economist.com] during my commute to work. The articles I don't get to during the week (because my commute is slightly shorter than the average audio edition length) I typically try to catch up on with the dead-tree edition that is delivered. If the USPS ever ends Saturday delivery that's one thing I'll miss: getting my delivery of the economist before Monday.
The subscription price is a little steep (about US$120), I feel like I could not go without it.
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I also read the Economist. It's a very informative magazine, packed with information on any given week. I do still read the dead-tree edition of it too. One of it's strengths is the near complete lack of advertising. Well worth killing a few trees over.
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I went through an Economist phase, but gave up on it during the run-up to the Iraq war. I was getting enough stupid war propaganda from home-grown sources, I didn't need to pay for an import on top of that.
Since the Iraq war thing, there have been other things that turned me off... e.g. a cover photo of a demonstration in Indonesia-- as I remember it-- carefully selected to make it look dramatic and violent, when the actual event was fairly peaceful.
I sometimes wonder if the Economist has ever done any
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Down thread I list The Economist as well. I discovered early on that I can't get through it cover to cover in a week. I wish I had the time to read all of it every week. But, damn, it is the best of all the ones I read. It may be expensive but it is worth every cent. It is one that I and Mrs. Fool will not give up.
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I found it hard to complete every issue every week until I discovered the aforementioned audio edition. Now my drive to work is much more bearable (bordering on a pleasure!). If you have a short (or no) commute, YMMV of course. :)
Analog (Score:2)
Whatever's at the doctor's office (Score:2)
Which is mostly "People" and golf magazines.
But I just put a Kindle app on my phone, so probably none from now on.
BTW, traditional magazines suck being read on a smart phone or Kindle.
My Magazines (Score:2)
I like to read when tent camping, and I camp a lot (30+ nights a year). While I do often bring a laptop (and a 30 amp-hour 12 volt battery with some set of 12 volt accessories, including: computer PSU, lights, air pump, electric blanket, bug zapper, fans, etc.). I never have internet access.
Yes, I car camp, usually at my favorite spot where everybody knows my name (it's my Cheers).
We subscribe to:
1. Smithsonian
2. National Geographic
3. Arizona Highways (used to live in AZ, beautiful magazine)
4. Cook's
Paper still has its place, alas. (Score:2)
Print publications still have a place, and in a number of stituations (such as reading in the bathtub) they're superior. But I'm going as fully e-reader as I can, because (a) my bookshelves are overflowing, (b) there's no reoom in my house for more shelves, and (c) I'm probably going to have to move to a smaller place in a few years.
Buying more paper books will not solve this problem.
But I miss having recent magazines lying around the house, which I would randomly pick up and read. It's not the same with
Circuit Cellar (Score:2)
I still read this fine magazine: Circuit Cellar [circuitcellar.com]
It's worth it.
Read but not pay so much (Score:2)
This is the interesting trend. How many actually pay real money for magazines. There was a time when I would pay 20 bucks for a year. But now 30 bucks for architectural
Probably too many. (Score:2)
1) The Economist. Gotta read that each week because the news in the US is too US focused.
2) Playboy. Had a subscription since '89. Don't judge me.
3) Wired. It's a good read.
4) Fast Company. It was insanely cheap. Now I know why.
Mrs. Fool gets "Good Housekeeping" and "Midwest Living".
The little Fool gets "American Girl" and "National Geographic Kids".
Sure, lots of dead trees, but you can't spend 100% in front of a screen.
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High-resolution scans of all the photos or it didn't happen.
Re:Probably too many. (Score:4)
Playboy. Had a subscription since '89. Don't judge me.
In other words, many of the girls in there now were born after your subscription began?
Lapham's Quarterly (Score:2)
It only comes out 4 times a year, no ads whatsoever; each issue is filled with super interesting excepts from history alongside artwork regarding one subject. Lewis Lapham is a former editor for Harpers, which I would read on occasion. It's the only magazine that I buy regularly, and have for several years.
Nuts & Volts, primarily (Score:2)
Lots! (Score:3)
I still read lots of magazines. National Geographic, Smithsonian, several history magazines, Car and Driver, Outdoors, Discover, FlyPast, and so on. I prefer the print format for being easy on the eyes as well as lighter and easier to manipulate than any tablet. At this point I don't have even the slightest interest in digital subscriptions to magazines.
While on holiday (Score:3)
While on holiday recently (translation: that's "vacation" for all you Americans), my brother-in-law lent me his copy of T3 magazine.
T3 is a consumer-level technology magazine. A gadget mag for people who think they're a bit techie but are really just tech consumers.
I've not read T3 in years, and I wouldn't have actually bought a copy even then. But I actually found myself reading a lot of it. Not because it was talking about anything I didn't know about, but because it was presenting a significantly different perspective on things to the kind of web sites I normally visit. I was quite interesting to get a different perspective and see how the consumer market thinks about some of the devices on offer at the moment.
The reasons all this is relevant to this discussion are:
1. Asking about paper magazines to the Slashdot crowd is going to get a predictable response. But you'd be a fool if you think for a second that the Slashdot crowd is in any way representative of the wider public. Slashdot users do not read magazines any more, but other people do.
2. If my brother-in-law had been reading a T3 website instead of the magazine, it's virtually certain that I wouldn't have borrowed his copy; I'd have stuck with my own preferred sites. The internet is great at making all things available to all men... but most of us cocoon ourselves in our own little parts of the internet and very rarely venture out. We don't get that alternative perspective, and it leads to narrow mindedness and blinkered thinking.
not in years (Score:2)
Still a few Discover and Make magazine (Score:3)
Physics World (Score:2)
sadly many others I used to read are gone or just craptervising now.
pages (Score:2)
While I do read magazines on my Nexus 7 or my wife's iPad, I much prefer an actual physical copy. None of the magazine reader apps are as good as they need to be before I'll give up paper. For some reason, I find the ads much more obtrusive when reading a magazine on a tablet.
I still read (at least) the paper issues of the New Yorker (cover to cover, no exceptions), National Geographic (though not cover to cover) and half a dozen assorted journals. New York Review of Books. Um, there are probably lots m
Expensive when you're not in the USA... (Score:2)
Bathroom Reading (Score:2)
I get two magazines regularly:
National Geographic
Alert Diver
Alert Diver is the magazine that is included in my membership with Divers Alert Network, which I joined for their travel insurance for my scuba trips.
National Geographic is awesome. I don't care how much you paid for your monitor, the photos in that magazine will always look better on paper than they do online.
Popular Woodworking (Score:2)
Something to do with my hands after working with my brain all day.
Ironically (Score:2)
Ironically, considering their role in the early WWW, I still receive my University of Illinois Alumni magazines (the general one, the college of engineering one and the Electrical and Computer Engineering one) in print.
Not so ironically, I still receive National geographic in print.
Short list (Score:3)
It depends on the publication (Score:2)
Besides, it's hard to read a computer in bed.
Rolling Stone (Score:2)
None (Score:2)
I do -get- a couple magazines, that were touted as added bonuses for joining things that I joined for other reasons, but I don't really read the associated magazines.
That said, I keep meaning to look into resubscribing to Technology Review. I had at one point gotten it for free, and quite liked it. I haven't yet, though.
2600 & 3D World (Score:2)
iX (Score:2)
german magazine: iX, http://www.ix.de/ [www.ix.de]
Private Eye (Score:3)
The Planetary Report, and ... (Score:2)
Also I get a bi-monthly local from the NZ Skeptics society. Surprisingly good.
Occasionally an 'Astronomy' or a 'Southern Skies'. Maybe a 'History today', depends what they're covering.
'Private Eye' I used to get posted out here - but unless you know who's who in British bureaucracy, you can't follow it.
Radio Control Car Action. (Score:2)
I still read RCCA and some of the other AirAge hobby mags.
I don't really have the time to race my toy cars any more, but I still like reading the race coverage and reviews of new toys.
Panorama and Heavy Metal (Score:2)
Heavy Metal - The science fiction and fantasy graphic novel magazine
LWN (Score:2)
Pretty much just (Score:2)
American Rifleman
Well I definitely have a dominant subject (Score:2)
Scientific American
American Scientist
Nature
My odd choices (Score:2)
An odd collection, but ...
Wired
Vanity Fair
Rolling Stone
Sports & Exotic Cars
Thoroughbred & Classic Cars (and other UK collector car magazines)
Inc. and Popular Mechanics (Score:3)
I like Inc. - they've definitely done a good job of keeping the magazine fresh and unique. Popular Mechanics is also just wonderful. They cover not only automotive stuff but pretty much all kinds of DIY issues. They even pushed Linux as a good OS for a home entertainment system a few years ago. Lots of different topics in there, it's an interesting magazine.
I read... (Score:3)
Hardcopies: Wired [wired.com] and Entertainment Weekly [ew.com]
Digital: Better Software [stickyminds.com]
All are free due to coupons and work.
Hmm... (Score:3)
What magazines do I still regularly buy and read?
Cook's Illustrated, Saveur, Neo,Otaku USA, Shop Notes, Wood, Fine Woodworking, Popular Woodworking, Mother Earth News, Reader's Digest, National Geographic... These are just ones off of the top of my head, and in any given month somewhere between a third and half of them find their way into my shopping cart.
The 'net certainly provides a firehose from which to choose, but for the most part it serves up cold, stale Chicken McNuggets... while magazines still (for the most part) serve perfectly cooked Coq a Vin. Quantity isn't quality.
MaximumPC and Consumer Reports (Score:3)
Only two now: MaximumPC and Consumer Reports. MaxPC makes their back issues available for free and I also pay for access to CR's website, but I find the dead tree version works better on the throne, quite honestly. And I don't have time to sit and read anywhere else.
Why pay for these? Both mags offer content that I like and which is more or less difficult to obtain elsewhere, and it's in a format I like. For MaxPC, I am a long-time reader going back to when it launched as boot magazine, and I prepay for years in advance because I want the mag to stick around. CR I simply use as an info source and comparison tool when I need to buy something out of my usual areas of expertise. I pay them to offer advise on which paint or vacuum cleaner or laundry detergent to buy, because I have no idea myself and no time or money to just guess. It works well. Don't have to agree with their choices. As with MaxPC's reviews, having their opinion is useful even if I may not blindly follow it.
And I have tried the digital magazines. The tablet PDF version does not tolerate moisture well and requires things like a charged battery, some pre-planning to take the device along, etc. and you are stuck holding it and usually can't also use it for something else. The paper mags simply sit there waiting for someone to read. Doesn't care if I take a shower -there are no moisture sensors to trip. Does not matter if I drop it on the floor. It won't shatter into hundreds of dollars worth of parts or get flushed.
Total cost for the two mags is about $30 a year plus another $60 for the CR website. ... bleah actually that's a lot of money. Maybe I need to rethink CR.
Several (Score:4, Interesting)
The Atlantic
Lapham's Quarterly
Foreign Affairs (used to)
A few trade magazines
I read them in the hot tub, on travel, in bed.
No worries if they get wet, or lost, or if you fall asleep while reading them.
Most also come with full access to their web site, which often includes access to their entire back-catalog!
c't (German language) (Score:3)
The German magazine c't [heise.de] is the equivalent of the old Byte, as it existed 30 years ago in the US: Coverage of every techie hardware and software topic, written by people who actually know what they're talking about. Details, not just marketing fluff. For the the big company IT types, there's the sister publication i'X - not to my personal taste, but an equally good read for its target audience.
I don't know of any equally good magazines in the English-speaking world.
Re: (Score:3)
I second that one! Especially since I can pay cash anonymously and not end up on a "list" somewhere.
Look over there! See that camera? Heh, heh, heh.