Cognitive dissonance. Photo by me.
I’m not sure I’m completely ready for this, but I’m going to try it anyway.
I’ve been slowly making a significant transition in my life: I let each of my print magazine subscriptions expire, one by one. Only two have a couple of issues remaining, as best I can tell from those obfuscatory subscription reminders and mailing labels. Print editions have nearly stopped arriving in my mailbox, and a few more trees have kept on breathing.
I’m making the switch to digital magazines. All of them. Starting now.
I subscribe(d) to quite a few magazines: at least 14 within the last year. I have found it increasingly difficult to keep up with the flow of paper magazines, finding that they pile up in a basket in my study at home far too quickly. I also increasingly dislike tossing most of them into the recycle bin immediately after finishing them.
Part of my dissatisfaction with print has to do with the lack of enduring, lasting content in most magazines today, or at least in those I’ve patronized. There’s just no reason for me to keep paper copies. Even my fiber arts magazines (about knitting and weaving, for example, including patterns and references) rarely feature articles that I wouldn’t be just as happy to have in digital form — or would indeed prefer in that searchable format.
Part of it is my changed reading habits, which have more and more focused around the iPad and Kindle, with which I can comfortably delve into numerous blogs, Twitter, e-books, and a constantly refreshed Instapaper collection of long-form journalism. The capacity to instantly share and bookmark material is also something I now crave when I’m reading print. (Not every digital magazine will offer those features, but some do.)
I have been frustrated by the difficulty of switching print to digital subscriptions — so much so that I even wrote an article about it for PBS MediaShift. I understand now why the process has been difficult for publishers and their customer service providers. However, it seemed easier to wait for my print subscriptions to end and then re-evaluate my commitment to each one and the best digital format for obtaining it.
Some of the magazines are available as replica editions, some as standalone apps, some through Apple’s Newsstand for the iPad. I’m more inclined to get magazines on the iPad than on my black-and-white Kindle Touch because I love magazines’ color and photography.
However, given my budget, some of my format decisions (and, actually, whether I renew at all in some cases) will be determined by price. For example, Runner’s World is available as a replica from Zinio for $25/year; a one-year subscription through the magazine’s own app is $14.99, and apparently offers added features. It’s $1/month for Kindle, as it is in print. I think I’ll go for the iPad edition.
I think I’ll be OK with this transition. But perhaps I’ll miss stuffing a magazine into my purse on the way out the door to an appointment, or will find reading on the iPad less enjoyable in the long run. I’ll report back and let you know how it goes!
