Poll: Paper magazines; who else bothers with them?

[Cowabungaa]

I just subscribed to the paper version of The Atlantic, an awesomely insightful political/cultural magazine, and I'm thinking of getting a subscription to National Geographic and Times Magazine somewhere down the line when I can afford it. Thing is though, even though my sub gives me a digital magazine on an app, I don't really want to read that. I catch some of the smaller articles on their website, but for the big stuff I rather wait for my paper version to arrive.

But it made me think, do people still bother with paper magazines? As in my personal environment, people don't really seem to care much about them. Especially in my age group, people in their early/mid-20's, people either read some light stuff on phone apps or the internet. God forbid, they do it through Facebook.

So do you guys still read paper magazines? Got a favourite? Any actual subscriptions? Recommendations maybe?

 

[SmallHatLogan]

If I'm travelling I sometimes buy a New Scientist, Mad Magazine, or Rolling Stone from the airport/train station. Apart from that I don't read magazines. I used to buy video game magazines when I was younger, but not any more. I've never had a magazine subscription in my life. Also I'm 28 years old, just for your reference.

 

[Silvanus]

I only ever buy paper copies of magazines when I'm travelling. Lately, it's usually Private Eye.


Never newspapers, though.

 

[Queen Michael]

I don't buy them, but I read every issue of Swedish gaming magazine Level.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I don't buy them, but I read every issue of Swedish gaming magazine Level.

I haven't read a paper gaming magazine in about a decade, so I wonder; what kind of content does something like Level have to keep itself relevant? Reviews, sure, but I doubt it could survive on that. Are there op-eds? Analyses or something?

 

[HybridChangeling]

I don't buy them. Not even Game Informer, because at times I feel it might be biased. I used to be big into National Geographic but they got some fearmongering and bias issues of their own at times. If I want to read, I will read a book.

 

[nightowlc]

I'm 41. And I have bunches of paper magazine subscriptions. Fortean Times is my favorite, also some crafting/art magazines like Drawing and Lapidary Journal. Cooking magazines, Cooks Country and Americas Test Kitchen are both fantastic, think I'm going to let Bon Appetit subscription expire this year. And recently some longer essay magazines, like The American Interest and I need to renew my City Journal subscription. I don't currently have any science magazine subscriptions since my dad subscribes to print versions of New Scientist, Science News, Discover, and Scientific American, so I just get his copies after he's read them.

Recommendations:
- At least one art/hobby/crafting/cooking magazine; I regularly read all types of current events articles online and in print, as well as science and technology articles, and I'd suggest occasionally taking a break from all that to read about and see pictures of something really awesome and beautiful that someone poured their heart into making.
- And I'd really recommend some type of odd-events magazine like The Fortean Times; life is a lot stranger than most people realize and I find it refreshing to be reminded of just how non-deterministic the world can be.

 

[Queen Michael]

I don't buy them, but I read every issue of Swedish gaming magazine Level.

I haven't read a paper gaming magazine in about a decade, so I wonder; what kind of content does something like Level have to keep itself relevant? Reviews, sure, but I doubt it could survive on that. Are there op-eds? Analyses or something?

Apart from gmaing news and game reviews they've got a few other things.

* First there's the retro specials. Every issue of the magazine can be flipped 180 degrees, revealing that half of the magazine is printed upside down. So on the back, they don't have any ads, there's a second cover. Every issue has a new subject for their in-depth retro special: One issue had Street Fighter, another had the SNES, and so on. The latest issue made a fake "best-of-1995" thing: They pretended it was 1995, and wrote the entire thing from the point of view of somebody in '95. They gushed about how gorgeous the graphics in Donkey Kong Country 2[/] were, and looked forward to Ultra 64.

* Then there's the columns.
One is by Oskar Skog, who writes about gaming with his son. He writes about trying to explain the strip club from GTA that the son got an accidental look at. About his irrational anger that his son loves Sonic the hedgehog--a character Oskar himself detests. About finding a balance between always losing intentionally and never letting his son win. About wondering if always having the latest console and games will give his son lots of fake friends, or genuine friends that first got to know him because they came over to play. It's definitely the best part of the magazine.
The other is by a guy whose name I can't remember, who lives in Tokyo. He ells lots of interesting things about how things are there. How quiet everybody is in the nerd stores in Akihabara, and how the real reason to go to Tokyo is because it's the perfect place to find a caf? and have a cup of coffee.

 

[Artina89]

I have never had a subscription, and nowadays I tend to only buy a magazine if I am traveling long distances and I have finished the book I happen to have with me and I want something new to read. I find that magazines are rather on the expensive side, so I will only buy one if I am incredibly bored. The rare times I do buy a magazine, it tends to be either New scientist or Private eye

 

[Zombie_Fish]

I mostly read articles online, but that's more to save money than out of preference. I prefer paper books than online versions, and I read the paper version of my alma mater's alumni magazine, which I currently get for free.

 

[Cycloptomese]

I don't even get Game Informer anymore and it's free. I opened one up on the toilet one day and realized that I'd already read about everything in the magazine one month before on the internet and that was that.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Technically I did used to buy magazines (game, films and anime mags) on a monthly basis but I did not subscribe to them (yes I know I would had saved alot) but obviously I realise overtime I can just read them online.

Ok fair do, I did missed the letter pages of those mags and this film mag of an "abridge" take on a film.

 

[lechat]

I don't think newspapers really count since I get 2 of those a day and am not even subscribed.

I have a sub to strings magazine. I can technically get all the info from their website and to be fair I've usually seen half of it on facebook by the time my magazine travels half way round the world but it's cheap and handy for when I go somewhere sans phone and need something to read.

 

[fenrizz]

I dont' subscribe to any magazines, but I buy a few on a regular basis.

Retro Gamer Magazine
Illustrated Science
Illustrated Science History

I actually much prefer sitting in my couch on a saturday/sunday morning with a nice cup of coffee and a physical magazine.