Does anybody still read magazines?
 

I have always loved magazines, and especially car magazines. At one time I subscribed to about seven of them. Things are changing, though.

Now I keep hearing that print is dead, and there's a lot of evidence that is true. For an evening of car related entertainment, I find myself going on line and watching a Petrlolicious video or scrolling through one of the great build threads here on Pelican instead of pulling out a magazine. Yes, the writing and photo quality of online stuff is perhaps lower (though surprisingly, not always), but you can take in so much more information so much more easily and thoroughly, and, often, even real-time interactively.

And yet. I still buy magazines. So I'm curious and interested to hear what others here do, although the sample may be skewed by the fact that people here have some facility with computers and online communities, and that facility perhaps exceeds that of core magazine readerships. But even so, if you've bothered to read this far, I'd be interested in hearing.

I'm slowly letting my car magazine subscriptions expire.

I used to have several subscriptions, but I have let them all expire. My problem was that I wanted to keep all of the magazines. They add up to take up a lot of space and weigh a ton after a while. I eventually started subscribing online and reading on my iPad. I got to the point though where I didn't have as much free time to devote to the reading and eventually stopped. Now if I find myself in an airport or maybe a Barnes and Noble, I will often pick up a couple.

My favorites are Octane and Motorsport. Others that I have either subscribed to or frequently bought Road and Track, Evo, Excellence, Vintage Motorsport, when I was younger, HotRod and Car Craft and also some of the other Porsche specific magazines and a few other British Classic Car type magazines. The PCA magazine is much better these days too.

How do people poop without magazines?

Exactly.

Seriously though. I still love magazines. Cars, boats, triathlon, woodwork, etc. I have never subscribed to magazines though. I like to go thumb through and buy what I like. Now I use them as internet research.

I still get Mother Earth News.
It is a rag about living and self-sustenance in nature.
Bereft of politics except perhaps for the various methods/products I suppose. Whatever.

Someday I will retire on 100,000 acres of prime farmland with freshwater lakes and ocean access in a place of always perfect weather and nothing changes except for the better.
There will be solar panels wind turbines gnome farts to power all pumps vehicles and equipment and houses.
Other completely honest and loyal peoples will live there and do all the work for me while increasing profit and purchasing adjoining plots to increase my fiefdom.
I will be addressed only as 'your majesty' with down-turned eyes by all, of course.
In the meantime I will travel every inch of the entire world on my own schedule and see everything.

But of course I will be 295+-years old when this becomes feasible and no longer able to wipe my own drool.

I've whittled my magazine intake down to these two ↓

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But who the heck is reading all these 'lifestyle' magazines? Print media isn't cheap, so they're apparently able to attract advertisers but I can't see how they manage to survive beyond a few issues :confused:

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I used to subscribe to a lot of them. Same problem as Steve, I'd save them. Wife started a campaign to rid me of the habit. I finally quit reading them when they all changed their ink to whatever it is that they use today. I almost instantly start sneezing and my nose runs as if I'm allergic to the print.
Happens with newspapers too so they don't last long around our house either. Now days it's a struggle to keep any printed matter around at all, 'cept for books.

I much prefer a magazine over online. I only subscribe to a couple now and the reason has to do with content that seems to just repeat itself every couple years, so I kind of outgrown a magazine and then just let the subscription expire.

I use to read a lot of magazines, now only on planes and doctor's waiting rooms.

I'm one of those old farts that still needs magazines to poop, and have NEVER taken my phone in the bathroom for any reason (no mirror selfies either).

I still enjoy opening up the local newspaper, and reading what I choose. It does help that for 9 years, I actually operated the newspaper press printing 27,000 copies a night, along with the BGSU university paper (another 6000), so I have an appreciation for hard print.

I've let all my magazine subscriptions run out. I'll buy one here and there occasionally. Someone would occasionally steal my magazines from my mailbox and it frustrated the hell out of me. Once in a few months, someone steals my newspaper still.

Don't let Excellence see this quote?

I still do, too many actually. I bought a tablet planning to stop the print subscriptions but it didnt workout. Now I lay on the couch and surf on the tablet and still get the magazine subscriptions.

Art magazines, yes. And I still vastly prefer the feel of a paper book. I'm not remotely anti-technology, thats simply my preference.

I love magazines. I rarely buy any. I usually visit the library or my local barbershop to read them.

I'm down to two, AOPA Pilot and the Hagerty magazine. I let the others all go. I was irritated when Autoweek went monthly or whatever it did.

Sunset.

Magazines have, in Gentile homes anyway, been largely relegated to stocking-stuffer status.

_

Only at the doctors, dentist and barber shop. If then.

I like art magazines like Hustler...i love the articles..so scintillating.

Subscriptions? No. However, I still occasionally buy a magazine from B&N. Usually it's AIRWAYS magazine.

Otherwise, I have a couple of digital subscriptions to FLYING and TOTAL 911.

I subscribe because I don't want to always be staring at a screen. I work in front of a computer most of my work day.

Also good to have something that doesn't run out of batteries, so I get to read when waiting for something or someone...

I have Men's Health, Excellence and Panorama, and someone gifted me Car and Driver.

Hagerty Magazine has turned out to be surprisingly good!

Yup. I have my own poop bathroom in the basement. The stacks of car magazines collected since decades are piling up all along the walls. I pick one random mag and go about my business. Most articles are read for the tenth time at least but its a routine I can not poop without. :)

As a magazine publisher it is heartening to read that some people here still like paper magazines. We saw a drop in interest about 8-10 years ago and it sent a scare through the industry. Publishers struggled to create a readable on-line "magazine" and most of them, including us, finally gave up. The paper magazine format just does not translate to digital consumption. Our on-line presence is a hodge-podge of blogs, and social media content that is designed to steer readers to our paper magazines. Our subscriptions are generally about 25% lower than they were in the halcyon days of the mid-2000s, but the paper magazine industry is sustainable.
Before I retired I used to get 20 or 30 magazines a month, all comps from other publishers. I could only read a few.
Weekly magazines, which are mainly conveyors of news, have really been hit hard. With cable TV and the internet any news they contain is stale by the time a paper magazine is produced and delivered. I used to look forward to Time, Newsweek, and the Cleveland Browns magazines showing up every Tuesday. I miss having something like that to look forward to. It helped define the week, and I don't think instant access to what is happening in the world is such a good thing. I think my general level of anxiety is higher because of it, but I can't stop. I just don't see myself watching the news on TV once a week.

I have a subscription of "Pastel Journal" for years. I save them too.

currently have subscriptions to:
Shooting Sportsman (good photography and some great short stories)
Bicycling (might let this one go but it helps with motivation)
Journal of Accountancy
Baseball America (gift to my 14yo)
couple others I can't think of at the moment

I gave up Playboy when they changed format. I still read Sky and Telescope.

I have over 1,000 magazines from the 1970s onwards, I even have the first journalism year when Jeremy Clarkson wrote for Performance Car. I converted one of my bedrooms to an office to show them off. I can't imagine how much I've spent over the years on magazines but back in the day it was part of being an auto enthusiast long and I'm having a tough time letting go of all that paper and just dumping them at the local Goodwill or even dumpster (like so many have).

I also have lots of cool old brochures when I went to Motor shows in England, Toronto and the US from the 1970s onwards . There is some attachment to all this stuff, when you're a 12 year old kid and you see a Lamborghini Countach grace the cover of CAR magazine, it is a image that stays with you forever.

I've tried digital magazines and dislike them, I don't think the format transfers well to a tablet. My only subscription is to Panorama but with my frequent flying I'm always up to date on car magazines. My go-to magazines from the airport store are Car&Driver, Road&Track, and Automobile. I'll also go for the more obscure or British mags like Octane, Evo, Car, Sports&Classics, etc when available.

still subscribed to GRM (grassroots motorsports)


used to be subscribed to 3-5 magazines at any given time. It was such a treat to open the mailbox to a good rag.

I've tried reading digital mags and just can't. I have food and travel mag subs.

As to the question of lifestyle magazines: Interestingly fashion mags used to have a huge Sept issue to coincide with NY Fashion week. They would sell huge ads and the issue would have 600+ pages. This year there are no special Sept issues. They say instagram fashion bloggers have taken all the advertising money. It is cheaper for a designer to send a free outfit to a big blogger than advertise in a magazine.

I think a lot of magazines that have been around decades will suffer a similar fate. It will be interesting to see how or if there is an adjustment to their business model.

I enjoy the magazines that come with membership to AOPA and EAA. Other subscriptions have expired.
FLYING magazine just sent me an offer for $10/year if I re-subscribe. Like AUTOMOBILE, they lost some of my favorite writers. Maybe....

I read yesterday (on the internet) that PB is going to publish quarterly starting next year.

I like magazines, and I still get a few delivered, but the automatic subscription model makes me angry. Inevitably, they charge your card months before the sub expires, without asking if it's something you want to continue.

Now get off my lawn, I have to go inside and button up my cardigan..

I switched over to Ipad editions, but on an Ipad Pro (the large one) ... Makes brit/french mags cheaper to get and store and the size is about perfect.

I've stopped many subs after my last move when I had to carry those thingsand realize the space and weight involved... Now I keep only 000 (because it's jewelry and quarterly) and Excellence (because I have them since #1 - but I suspect I'll divest of that too). Everything else, and I read one a day between car/science/F1 stuff, is digital. I really got used to that on the large Ipad.

My subscriptions are dwindling as well. Can't take a crap without something to read in front of me. I am down to Excellence, GRM, Panorama, a couple of golf mags, USAF organization mags, and Smithsonian which will expire soon. I don't write many checks but when I do it is for mags so they can't do the surprise billing thing.

And it disgusts me to pick up any mags in any waiting room. Ewww!

My wife doesn't read any of them and appreciates when I throw a pile out occasionally.

Bi-weekly and it's still good. I trade mags with others. I get C&D and R&T and trade them to someone (actually give) and hope to get what they read automotive wise.

I also take my own mags to the doctor and leave them for others.