Digital magazines

[KentState]

Does anyone subscribe to digital magazines? How are they to read on a phone or tablet? The cost isn't a real concern, but more of the quality.

 

[sygyzy]

Have you tried getting a sample page or trial subscription to try it out?

 

[KentState]

Is that offered on the Google Play store? I will have to check that out.

 

[zerocool84]

I have from Amazon. The official Kindle app on the Fire was real good quality which made it great to read magazines on, the Kindle app for Android wasn't as good but still did the job fine. I haven't tried any from Google Play store yet.

 

[lopri]

They are OK-ish on big tablets but many magazines try to be cute with overlays which affects performance negatively. (example: GameQ it's a very well designed magazine, though) But the worst offense when it comes to digital magazines is ads. Unlike printed copies, you can't flip pass through quickly so you have to deal with all the advertisement which affects performance (again) and waste bandwidth.

Personally I tried a couple and decided they're not worth the hassle. The trade-off (entertainment/information v. resource/performance) is net negative, IMO.

 

[annomander]

I get sfx monthly, it doesnt match upto a real magazine but save storage space and money, its okay on the ipad 3, ocassionally a bit of zooming

 

[shortylickens]

Yeah I tried one. Too many bullshit things in layers, hard to enjoy.

 

[HeXen]

i got Zinio...it's awesome. subscribe to many mags like PCgamer...etc. I read them on my ipad. great quality, not a lot different than the real thing other than no large stack of mags clogging up the closet.

 

[HeXen]

i got Zinio...it's awesome. subscribe to many mags like PCgamer...etc. I read them on my ipad. great quality, not a lot different than the real thing other than no large stack of mags clogging up the closet.

) But the worst offense when it comes to digital magazines is ads. Unlike printed copies, you can't flip pass through quickly so you have to deal with all the advertisement which affects performance (again) and waste bandwidth.

what did you use? on Zinio,the ad pages flip just like any other page, even with the flip effect on. I actually like Magazine Ads, their relevant and often times see something i never heard of and later inquire further. Some Ads like for video games become classic flyers.

 

[bassoprofundo]

With my proclivity for all-things-digital, I never thought I'd say this, but I find myself reverting to dead-tree magazines. I read a LOT in e-formats, but something about the magazine medium in general doesn't do it for me electronically. I do like them, but I'm finding it much easier to forget them and never actually read an edition cover-to-cover. I think it's the A.D.D.-ish side of me that finds it hard to stay focused on the material with the bings/bongs/popups/etc. that come with tablet reading. Plus, it's nice to be able to take the paper copy to the breakfast table and not worry about a spastic child dumping his drink on my $700 toy.

 

[bigrash]

I tried a few on my Kindle Fire and the magazines were awesome on it. Not as good as print, but still good.

Unfortunately I hate the Google magazine app on my Nexus 7.

 

[lopri]

@bassoprofundo: That's the thing. I don't remember when the last time I read a magazine from cover to cover. I usually would flip them around to find something interesting (including ads) for quick consumption - which can't really be done on a tablet. There will have to be some sort of breakthrough in design/hardware for magazines to become more appealing in digital forms.

Newspapers found its niche using reader style interface, and I think they're decent on tablets. I will have to wait and see what happens to magazines in the future.

 

[KentState]

To follow-up, I did trial about 5-6 magazines and I did enjoy some of them. Wired had some good articles and enough content to keep me interested as well as Game Informer and PC Gamer. I'm on the fence with Automobile and Car and Driver. I really think they could sell a ton more if the pricing was more in line with the print copies. I will probably pick a couple and try them out for a year before expanding.

 

[HeXen]

the auto mags aren't really worth a monthly sub imo. i usually only find one or two a year that i'm interested in and they tend to focus too much on cars i could never afford anyway, but suppose it depends on how big of a car guy you are.
i do like PS&A though, mostly for the auto mobile and audio gear.