Have you made the leap to digital books? At our home, we are definitely starting to make the shift. In the last year or so, we've purchased more e-books than print, although we still have a weakness for big, beautiful decor books with lots of photos - those definitely have a place on the physical bookshelf. But what about magazines?
We haven't really explored subscribing to periodicals in their digital form, although more and more Home and Garden titles are now availble through different services, such as Zinio.
Subscriptions for digital issues are roughly comparable to print - Elle Decor is currently $8, Dwell is $19.95 and Chicago Home + Garden is $9.95, so its all about your personal preference and how you feel about having the physical copy in hand, sent to your home each month through the mail instead of over your wireless connection.
And then, just to make life interesting, along comes Lonny, which is skipping the print edition all together and publishing online only....without a subscription cost. So many choices - so little time!
Anyone out there giving these a try? For those who do subscribe to digital editions - which are your favorites? How does the format work for you? Let us know in the comments below...
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I subscribe to Selvedge online mainly because it is a)really expensive in print and b)it was becoming increasingly harder to find in the states. I do miss curling up in a chair with a nice magazine, but I'm beginning to see the light about not acquiring physical "things."
i do like digital previews of mags, so i might be more amenable to digital subscriptions than i thought.
No one can take my Martha's from me!
I do see the value of not accumulating things, but one of my life's pleasures is curling up with the magazine every month.
I'm trying to make the transition because of space and waste but I have to admit it'd hard t give up sitting on the couch with a bunch of mags spread out and flipping through them.
I like digital issues because usually if I buy a magazine I flip through it once and then forget about it. If it's a really great issue I maybe flip through it 3 times then forget about it. With digital issues (haven't bought a subscription before, just Lonny and a few trials) I can easily save pictures to my inspiration folders which I use regularly, instead of scanning magazines which I NEVER bother to do. The only print mags I won't give up is National Geographic, Paris Vogue and special fashion magazines that are more like collectibles or books (A magazine, encens, etc)
Digital shmidgital. No way.
paper for me, I like to tear sheets. I have a few digital subscriptions and I never look at them. Also they don't sell digital in the stores so a consumer would not find it as easy. Sometimes you just want a magazine, like at the airport, and you want to see what's out there. Why would I buy a digital version of the magazine when I can view most of it on the magazines website. Why would I buy a magazine when if I have a computer I can just surf. Digital ads might have point and click but it is not as good as having the ad in the users hand. In the users hand the ad is not as dismissible as the ads in the sidebars of websites. Sometimes you just want to give your eyes a rest from the screen burn and look at paper, as long as your eyes haven't strained out already. Sometimes some of us are at a computer all day and want less of that.
I'm all about having the real thing. Real books, real magazines. Doesn't anyone else get the pure tactile pleasure of handling paper? For goodness sake, I work at a computer all day- it's a pleasure just to stop when I get home.
Also, wasn't Martha just tweeting surveys about online magazines? I'm going to be optimistic and hope that she'll bring back Blueprint in online form (ha), but the suggestion that I could lose my Living mag makes me nervous!
I really like books the paper version. There is something satisfying about flipping through a book that no amount of screen time can replace.
Paying for digital would be really appealing if there wasn't the chance of losing your content at one time or another. That and SuzanneC has a great point. I love flipping pages! So, I think I'll stick to print for now.
I can understand the appeal of digital books, speaking as a person who has a house full of the analogue kind and doesn't really have room for more, okay, maybe ONE more.
But....what are you going to do when the e-reader you invest in with all its proprietary books goes obsolete? Replacing just a very few favorite films from VHS to DVD has been bad enough (don't say the word Blu-Ray around me), but the idea of not being surrounded by random books to flip through on a snowy day in my old age is just not acceptable to me.
I expect by the time the grandchildren have grandchildren that printed books will be entirely a thing of the past, and they'll be commuting by hydroplane to Greenland, but I'm glad I won't live to see it.