Subscribe?! I can’t even remember the last time I read a print magazine!
There’s simply no reason to be wasting trees and energy like that.
Ask HN: Do you subscribe to print magazines anymore?
21–30 of 56 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do you subscribe to print magazines anymore?
#22I end up going to the library to read them once in a while, and for a change of scenery. (Fortunately, there is a beautiful library in my area.)
Re: Ask HN: Do you subscribe to print magazines anymore?
#23I subscribe to The Wire[0]. I want to encourage the review and curation of the sort of off-mainstream music that it highlights. [0] https://www.thewire.co.uk/home/
I used to subscribe to The Wire but as much as I enjoy it, I always had an unread backlog. Now I just buy new and used editions at Amoeba Music occasionally. It's a surprisingly satisfying experience particularly compared to other magazines I still subscribe to that have become more of a slog to work though as good as they may be. I hated The Wire online version when I tried that, with access to all back issues making it seem endless.
Re: Ask HN: Do you subscribe to print magazines anymore?
#24Yes. If I was to really think about it and summarise my reasons:
Curation - yes, I could probably find similar stories on the web and read them, but a print magazine does the discovery and brings them all together for me in a way that a search engine or news aggregator doesn't/chooses not to. When browsing news sites, I find myself only selecting/reading articles based on their title and slug-line (which is the entire purpose of click-bait titles) whereas with a magazine/print publication, I'll read it cover-to-cover, exposing me to stories and points of view that I would otherwise miss. I've also found that good long-form journalism appears to be a dying art in the online world, but maybe that's on me for the sites I visit.
Focus - A magazine doesn't try and grab my attention with animation, video and other distractions. Yes they run ads, but (in the periodicals I read) they are generally full page and not halfway through the sentence you are reading. Print ads are expensive, so in my experience generally only promote high-end or luxury products targeting a perception of the magazine reader, rather than the last thing the reader searched for/emailed/said out aloud in front of their home speaker. I can also read through an article end-to-end without being pulled down a rabbit hole of links and references. Reading once again becomes a purposeful activity, without sitting in front of a machine that could easily switch from a book to a TV, to a video game in seconds.
Texture - there is something about picking up a book or magazine (especially higher end publications that print on quality paper stock) that I don't think will ever be emulated by a tablet or an e-reader. I'm sure I read somewhere that the touch and even smell of paper in your subconscious helps your brain store information longer term. Also, I love great typesetting and layout, things that online ads pretty much ruin for most sites.
Monocle Magazine - https://monocle.com/magazine/
Hey Gents (Now Softer Volumes) - https://softervolumes.com
The Smith Journal - (sadly now out of print)
Re: Ask HN: Do you subscribe to print magazines anymore?
#25On and off, but yes. I do this namely because I: enjoy collecting them, prefer reading them physically, and like to appreciate the design elements found in a good magazine layout. IMO the "reading experience delta" for physical vs digital is significantly greater for magazines than books.
Though, the only one I actively subscribe to right now is a famous Russian magazine[1] that's analogous to NatGeo
Re: Ask HN: Do you subscribe to print magazines anymore?
#26I enjoy reading the physical magazine without having to be at my desk or the distraction that comes along with staring at a screen. Reading physical media is also a nice break/escape from reading academic papers and other stuff online.
My print subscriptions: Foreign Affairs, New Yorker, New York Review of Books.
Re: Ask HN: Do you subscribe to print magazines anymore?
#27I love magazines. Apart from the New Yorker and Harpers, my current recommendations:
Boardgames - https://senetmagazine.com/ Psychedelics - https://doubleblindmag.com/ Cooking - https://www.americastestkitchen.com/cooksillustrated Puzzles - https://gamesmagazine-online.com/ World transformations - https://www.noemamag.com/
Re: Ask HN: Do you subscribe to print magazines anymore?
#28for decor, for tactile fee. at ~$10/yr for 12 issues, not a bad deal.
AD, Vogue, The New Yorker as of now for me.
Re: Ask HN: Do you subscribe to print magazines anymore?
#29I enjoy having something tangibly physical that isn't on a screen with a coffee and no distractions. I would suggest the Atlantic, slow journalism. Books I'm ok with using a small eInk device due to the convenience but no nice form factor for magazines.
For professional reading its probably a different use case than most here but I subscribe to NEJM, a nature reviews journal and another medical journal in my specialty and find it much easier selectively and focus on browsing through abstracts and articles this way. If am taking notes I prefer digital to take screenshots.
I stayed at a German guest house where I was the youngest person there at dinner time by at least 30 years once. Interesting experience. One thing I really liked was they slipped a sheet with headlines, local weather under your door every morning. I've contemplated recreating that and having my printer it every morning...
Re: Ask HN: Do you subscribe to print magazines anymore?
#30I eat breakfast and sip my coffee with The Economist in print. I think it's a good balance between timeliness and thoughtfulness, I'm interested in most of the articles I can get through until the next one comes, I have a longer attention span for the same content in print (reading on tablet I get distracted), and it's nice to start the day with a screen-free ritual.