[Update November 27, 2008. -- Linux Magazine has stopped producing a print version as well: http://www.linux-mag.com/magazine.]
The last print edition of PC Magazine will be the January 2009 edition : http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2335009,00.asp . I am not surprised as we have seen the magazine get thiner over the years. I wonder if this is a taste of what is to come for other publications? It is more than just economic factors. Sure prices of magazines could be relative in price to what they were twenty years ago. But at $7.00 plus for almost any magazine today, that is hovering around the $100.00 mark per publication per year. That can be a day's pay for many of us.
Then there is the environmental issue. I use to work in an academic library in the shelving department. I use to put books and bound journals back on the shelf. Before most of the journals went online I use to lose about ten pounds every year between September to April. That is covering the time of year when most of us put a few pounds on due to Thanksgiving, Christmas and more inactivity. That is how much energy I consumed moving all that paper around.
Now take a look at any piece of paper on your desk. How did it get there? Start with somebody tavelling to the woods to cut down the tree that the paper is made of. Think of the entire route that the paper in a magazine takes to get to your mailbox or store. The amount of energy consumed moving paper is huge. And then, thousands of copies of magazines have to be transported to a recycling centre because they were not sold.
This is not economically or environmentally sustainable. I enjoy my copy of the Linux Journal when it comes to my house. But just as I no longer subscribe to a newspaper I realize that this luxury may not last. Soon, any print versions of a publication will have to be pre-paid. Or everything goes digital.
I suspect that the magazine
I suspect that the magazine will not last much past the transition. Most people need the feel of paper and reading it on your computer is just not the same.
re: Last print PC Magazine
Hello John,
Thanks for the post. Disclaimer: I haven't looked at PC Magazine in probably two, maybe three years. That said, I also subscribed for many years, many moons ago. Obvious biases aside, it had become too much of a Microsoft-centric magazine for me to care, so I stopped subscribing (I remember when PC Magazine really covered the personal computer space, in all its aspects. Or maybe that was Byte [ insert appropriate smiley here ].
All kidding aside, I find it sad to see it go. I still love to thumb through a paper magazine, curled up in a big chair. Netbooks and eBook readers just aren't there yet. Not for me anyhow. And keep in mind that I spend a lot of time online, reading electronic material. Still, I do find myself wondering whether this truly is the future. Perhaps it is. But I'm not ready yet. Not by a long shot.
--Marcel
re: Last print PC Magazine
Hi Marcel
Your welcome. I am with you, there is nothing like paper!. What is really scary is that in 15 years the bookstore could be a thing of the past. It makes me sad to think of a world without Chapters or the Bookshelf in Guelph. But if the Kindle improves and the price of them come down, retailers will be in a bind if the "Brick" stores can't break even due to high electronic sales.
I am not ready for that either. Ah Saturday morning, with a fresh cup of coffe and the Globe & Mail, perhaps I should get back in that habit.
Cheers!
John