henke on 9/3/2011 at 17:55
I don't read newspapers but I do read magazines. 2010 I subscribed to Wired but now the subscription has run out and I'm trying to decide what to subscribe to next. Any suggestions? Another year of Wired looks like the best contender at the moment. They cover a wide range of topics and I didn't get bored of it like I thought I might, and to boot it's quite cheap, only (
http://www.lehtiapaja.fi/Ulkomaiset/Wired+USA/) 65€ for 12 months/issues. I see there's a UK version of Wired now as well, though that one is 80€ for a year. Does anyone know how the UK edition compares to the US one?
I also like movie and music mags like Empire and Mojo. Though I think a whole year with one of those might get boring. Gaming news I get online, mostly through RPS, so I'm not interested in gaming mags. I'd like something that's a bit diverse actually, something like AV Club.com, but in magazine form. Something that delivers movie-, music-, tech-, gaming-news and fascinating real life stories all in ONE, SINGLE, GLORIOUS PUBLICATION. Can anyone recommend something like that?
demagogue on 9/3/2011 at 19:14
I always got The Economist, but that's coming from a completely different thing I look for in getting a magazine.
What about Rolling Stone?
My brother got Maxim for a while, but it's just too inane.
Does Slate have a subscription magazine? That's the one that comes to mind for me in the same breath as Wired.
henke on 9/3/2011 at 21:52
Haven't actually read Rolling Stone, the price and the quite thin issues have put me off when I've been leafing through some issue in the newsstand. Of course it's not the size of the magazine but the quality of it's content. Do they really have that great writing, or are they just coasting by on the high-profile name?
Maxim, and Cafe and similar magazines do seem to have a wide variety of interesting topics but I'd prefeer a mag that doesn't always have skimpy-clad chicks on the cover as I want something I can bring to work and read during my lunch-breaks.
What about T3 and Technology Review, has anyone read those? Any good?
Renzatic on 9/3/2011 at 22:01
I hate to be the "olol print is so 20th century" guy, but seriously. With internet enabled tablets readily available, each having access to numerous magazine apps alongside their corresponding webpages, why not just go that route?
I mean they're small and light enough to read while taking a dump. Because of that, there's pretty much no reason to get magazines anymore.
Vivian on 9/3/2011 at 22:03
Renz is absolutely correct.
Aja on 9/3/2011 at 22:49
Rolling Stone is trash, I'd avoid it.
Stitch on 9/3/2011 at 23:26
Quote Posted by Renzatic
I hate to be the "olol print is so 20th century" guy, but seriously. With internet enabled tablets readily available, each having access to numerous magazine apps alongside their corresponding webpages, why not just go that route?
because internet enabled tablets cost more than $5 :confused:
I get your point but you might want to save it for when it actually makes sense.
So, magazines: fuck me, I really have no idea and am on a similar quest.
Rolling Stone is basically a coasting institution right now--their can actually get it up for the occasional good, penetrating legacy artist interview, but for the most part they're adrift and bereft of relevancy. Their political articles are a joke, their pop culture articles merely chase after the latest flash in the pan, and their musical articles betray a complete disconnection from anything relevant. Steer clear.
Wired can be kind of incredible, and often boasts articles of surprising depth. I'm not a big fan of their tendency to overestimate the future impact of whatever sexy tech is lurking on the horizon, but this is tempered somewhat by the fact that they're pretty thorough in retroactively calling out instances where it they were wrong. I do love how thorough
Wired can get when they decide to cover a topic, and there tends to be at least one non-tech article per issue that rocks my shit. If their writers branched off and created a news/pop culture/current events magazine I would snatch that shit up like you wouldn't believe, but until that day
Wired will have to do.
Up next:
Vice, perhaps? I'm not sure, but after circling their facebook feed for a good year or so I've finally signed up for a year's subscription.
demagogue on 10/3/2011 at 01:10
A Google search brought up this (
http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2010/12/the-20-best-magazines-of-2010.html) list.
Some of these I either didn't know or wouldn't have thought about but might give them another look ... Monocle, The Fader, The Atlantic, Mojo, Esquire. (My parents get Texas Monthly which reminds me that a very good regional rag can be good.)
But 1-2-3 are New York, The Economist, and Wired. So maybe you were right to stay with Wired.
gunsmoke on 10/3/2011 at 01:20
I am an Area Manager of a major media distribution company. I oversee 42 stores including Meijer, Kroger, Home Depot, and Party City. We service Magazines, Books, DVD/Blu-Ray, and CDs, and recently began greeting cards. We are not only in charge of shipping stock to the stores, but also have employees that stock the merchandise in the stores according to plan-o-grams.
Anyway...this is my life. Print media. I sometimes step in for a merchandiser who is off sick and stock magazines and/or books. What we do is come in and break down the incoming titles into piles according to title. Usually, I train my employees to stack them in 2 shopping carts. Well, we go down the aisles at the checkouts/main line magazine aisle and sweep the outdated titles into a large 48 cubic foot bin, and restock the new titles after. This bin typically gets filled to overflowing capacity twice a week (We service magazines on both Mon. and Thurs.).
THANKFULLY, these mags eventually end up at a recycling facility, but my point is this...we ship back between 66-75% of what we put out. Simply put, for every 10 new magazines I put out each day, I return 6-8. That is ridiculous and I don't know how they make money in such a wasteful environment.
At least the books get sent back to be re-distributed to discount book chains (and we have our own discount shelves before that happens) and DVDs get reshelved in the $4.99 aisle. Magazines are just a huge, bloated wasteful industry.
Oh, and one more point, there are way too many titles for each interest. I believe if they narrowed the field a bit, they might see more profits. It would require 1/2 the square footage of floor space in the retailer, plus the shopper wouldn;t get so overwhelmed by 400 titles in the main line smacking them in the face. For example: we have 19 different firearm-enthusiast magazines. Even I admit this is beyond saturation.
EDIT: As for content...you should see the number of magazines that have similar/overlapping cover stories and/or content on an issue-to-issue basis.
Tocky on 10/3/2011 at 02:45
But I simply must see the new Glock from every possible angle to know whether to penetrate it from the bore or the magazine chamber. It shoots bullets. It kills shit. Keep it clean. What the hell else is there to say? What kind of dullard can stand to read issue after issue about that? I bet if you got the subscribers lists and compared it to the tea party roles they would match up fairly well. The history of projectile weapons is interesting but I'll further bet my left nut they mention that interlekchul stuff only tangentialy.
The only mag I get lately is National Geographic and though it has some interesting articles I admit it is a very visually voyeristic mag and winds up near the crapper. No, not for the neked natives. This Wired mag looks like Omni grew up and got a real job. I may just subscribe.
