Does anyone read ac...
 

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[Closed] Does anyone read actual magazines anymore?

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I know that we hash and re-hash what constitutes the best in mountain bike magazines on here, but with the plethora of 'publications' available online, do you actually buy (or subscribe to) hard copies of magazines anymore?

Personally, I hate reading most things online, and while I do it, there just isn't the same the pleasure to be had in it as buying a magazine and perusing it over the course of, say, a week or so, before getting the next edition. I imagine, if I had the time to read more extensively on a daily basis, I would say the same about newspapers.

In the meantime, I buy Cycling Weekly pretty regularly from my local newsagent. I love the fact that it feels like it is almost ad-free, covers all the week's cycling news, gives coverage to local clubs, and makes real connections across the different levels of cycling. And I normally end up getting through one issue the day before the next one is due out. 8)

Do you still read one or more magazines? If so, which one(s)?


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 11:54 am
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No, and to be honest I hope the whole industry (including newspapers) dies off ASAP because of the massive amount of waste involved and the fact that there's a much more environmentally friendly option available (i.e. online)

Having said that, I did read/subscribe to quite a few magazines in years gone by & know what you mean about the "feel" etc of a printed mag. That will just be another relic for c-list celebs to discuss on cheap TV nostalgia shows in a few years though.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 11:59 am
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I buy a couple of mag's regularly : Airgun World and ClassicsMonthly plus the occasional Rail magazine

Zilog - you are a miserable git.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:06 pm
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Online magazines? No. STW by the bog, yes, when I was a subscriber. These days, in a cost-cutting drive, I'm mostly reading my back catalogue of Pete Loveday's comics. If you haven't heard of them, you have now 🙂


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:07 pm
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Zilog - you are a miserable git.
Yeah, it's been said 🙂

Just to clarify, I don't want publications, etc to go out of business & everyone lose their jobs, etc. Just for everything to move online. I think it will be more sustainable in the long run once everyone gets used to reading stuff off tablets, etc.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:09 pm
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Yes I still read magazines.
you might want to read this zilog6128 https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/digital-really-greener-paper-marketing


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:12 pm
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Classic Bike, cover to cover and I even allow myself a fantasy bike per page in the classifieds.
Then I pass it on.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:13 pm
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I've subscribed to SFX for years. I used to buy other mags occasionally but these days that's really only if I'm going on holiday or something.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:17 pm
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Pretty much never, maybe 1 or 2 a year. Why would you in an age of the internet and Youtube. Take the GCN 'How to fix' vids, far more useful than any magazine article.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:18 pm
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you might want to read this zilog6128
print industry lobby group claims print is greener? 😆
You'd probably be interested in this lovely bridge I have for sale...

Also, why didn't you post me a copy of the Guardian rather than put up a link, you earth-raping bastard? 🙂


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:18 pm
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Pretty much never, maybe 1 or 2 a year. Why would you in an age of the internet and Youtube. Take the GCN 'How to fix' vids, far more useful than any magazine article.

I love GCN, but you can hardly suggest that sitting down with a tablet or laptop to watch GCN is relaxing in the same way that sitting down at the kitchen table with a brew and a magazine is!

I think this is attested to when Cougar says that he mostly buys magazines when he is going on holiday. Why would that be?


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:29 pm
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Judging by how the chocolate:magazine ratio in WHSmiths has changed over the years, I'd say not many people are reading magazines anymore.

Or maybe people eat more chocolate.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:31 pm
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Yep- there's no such thing as an online magazine, just weirdly formatted websites. The format changes everything


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:31 pm
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practical classics for when im traveling.

never bother when im at home.

quite like the variation of vehicles and tech articles.

avoided MOST bike mags for some time as usually the news is outdated and the articles are just thinly veiled adverts for what ever specialised is selling this year.

obviously some exceptions !


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:33 pm
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I love GCN, but you can hardly suggest that sitting down with a tablet or laptop to watch GCN is relaxing in the same way that sitting down at the kitchen table with a brew and a magazine is!

I watch it on the living room tv with a brew. So for me at least, yes it is as relaxing.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:34 pm
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I only read magazines in the flesh, can't stand reading them online...


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:40 pm
 NJA
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STW and Cyclist magazines - both essential reading in the bath. Not such a disaster when you drop them, unlike a Kindle 😳


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:45 pm
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I think this is attested to when Cougar says that he mostly buys magazines when he is going on holiday. Why would that be?
Because he goes on holiday to really boring places (which is a choice he is allowed to make, obviously 🙂 ) Or selfishly chooses to fly, etc, rather than holiday more locally? (Again his prerogative, etc)


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:45 pm
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Empire mostly, Net is on subscription

I have to say there are a few really expensive magazines out there printed on lovely paper with beautiful photos and hardly any ads

[url= http://fueltank.cc/fuel/ ]Fuel Magazine[/url]

[url= http://www.waxpoetics.com/ ]Wax Poetics[/url]

But these are really a 1 time a year splurge


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:47 pm
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I sometimes pick up the odd one at the airport when travelling for work (I get up to £10 per day for 'sundries' when travelling abroad) but other than that - no.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:47 pm
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Readly's been great for our family - £8/month for 5 people to read all the mags they can download.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:51 pm
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"zilog6128 - Member", whats another word for member ?


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:52 pm
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Subscribe to Gardeners World and STW.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:58 pm
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Yep, Motorcycle News most weeks and Bike Magazine every month, pass onto my neighbour, so gets reused. Sometimes Ride or Practical Sportsbike, depends what's in. Still read paperbacks as well, love to read in bed every night. Say NO to screens!!


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 12:59 pm
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I guess that was a rhetorical question in the title, as print is still a way off being dead. Even if it's not very profitable anymore.

I subscribe to Private Eye, MBUK and Procycling personally and read them all. I have a "P" on here but never read the online ST mags.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 1:01 pm
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My wife just got me a sub to Private Eye, makes me look serious and political on the tram every morning when really I'm just looking at the cartoons and just skim reading the complicated stuff 8)

Wouldn't be the same on a kindle or whatever the equivalent to dead trees is.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 1:03 pm
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"zilog6128 - Member", whats another word for member ?
I thought reading was supposed to increase one's intelligence? Obviously not in your case, if you can't even have a debate (or recognise a joke 🙂 ) without just resorting to insults rather than making a case.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 1:07 pm
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I buy cyclist cos it's good with being too pretentious like Rouler. Used to buy dirt but Steve Jones writing style wasn't for me. I also struggle to read any bike review done by that fat bloke in Cycling Plus and MBR is just bobbins unless Muldoon is reviewing - is he still there?


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 1:15 pm
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Nope, I used to buy maybe half a dozen or more every month but it gradually tailed off and I've not bought a magazine of any sort for around 4 years. Can't remember the last time I went into WH Smiths.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 1:20 pm
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Readly's been great for our family - £8/month for 5 people to read all the mags they can download.

I've just been looking at that, is that legit?


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 1:41 pm
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It must be, sure I've seen adverts on the telly for it. Just had a quick look at the website, tons of mags including 7 or 8 cycling ones. Probably none of them optimised for tablet, etc (i.e. would be just like using a PDF viewer or similar) but for the money seems like cracking value.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 1:46 pm
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[i]Probably none of them optimised for tablet[/i]

The reader's really good, zoom, search etc. Links all open in a browser.

All the bike mags I used to buy (including Rouleur) are on there bar Cranked and STW. The car magazine content is huge.

Yes, I know it's not the same and especially Rouleur is better as a paper item.

Plus you get all the back issues for all the mags to read.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 1:51 pm
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Signed up after spotting about 10 mags i've bought at varying times. 2 weeks free so i'll see what it's like


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 2:06 pm
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Have a print sub for ST and cranked. Only recently cancelled an mbuk sub, as the articles seem a lot lighter of late


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 2:06 pm
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I used to be your classic male, avid magazine reader of [insert any number of hobbies] over the years.

Let's see, what's on the current list:

[b]Rouleur[/b] (subscription)

TBH I seem to have stopped opening them, let alone reading them.

The problem is that I have a complete set (from issue 1) and it's worth rather a lot of money (esp issue 1), so I sort of feel the need to continue with the collection.

[b]Singletrack [/b] (subscription)

Arrives and is never read. Feel bad for using this site without a sub, and just never get round to cancelling it.

[b]Modern Classics[/b] (subscription)

Sub bought for me by my sister. Arrives on a rather ad hoc basis (can see it folding). Flick through but prob don't read it cover to cover. I've got Pistonheads for cars.

[b]Monocle[/b]

Buy a couple of times a year. Flick through but barely touch it. Some nice stuff in there, but I'm not sufficiently jet set to appreciate it.

[b]Esquire[/b]

Buy when going on hols. Usually find it quite diverting, then remember that there's a reason I never buy these vanity magazines: I'm an overweight forty year old with the income but not the physique for the nice clothes.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 2:23 pm
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Do you still read one or more magazines? If so, which one(s)?

Up until recently I had subscriptions for Cyclist, Cycling Plus and Rouleur and before that Singletrak. Stopped them all last year. Cycling Plus was the same stuff every single year, Rouleur got dull, Cyclist just wasn't floating my boat and Singletrack had way too much flowery **** content.

If I'm going on holiday I'll occasionally but a magazine but that's it.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 2:24 pm
 mt
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i do, prefer mags to screens.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 2:25 pm
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I think this is attested to when Cougar says that he mostly buys magazines when he is going on holiday. Why would that be?

Internet roaming is expensive abroad so magazines provide required fappage material obvs


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 2:49 pm
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You can download all the mags on Readly, btw, so you can read with no data connection.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 2:49 pm
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I regularly buy Outdoor Fitness (or whatever it's now called) to read on the train when I have to go to the London office. As others, I prefer a magazine to reading a screen, but also find that a magazine rarely dies when I forget to charge the battery!


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 2:58 pm
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Not read one for years. Just seems an obsolete form, really.
You could take every article in the current STW magazine, for example, and post the titles up here as separate threads, and the discussion generated would be more interesting / informative / thought-provoking / funny to read than the magazine piece.

I'm the opposite with books, which are never to be read online. But a magazine is a different story.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 3:04 pm
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Online is a horrible form as websites are just getting worse. As you scroll down stuff jumps all over the place, even with very fast connections and even faster machines. Pisses me off

I quite like the downloadable tablet formats though so might give readly a try

Mags still rock though. Only get a couple but still prefer it

edit: just got logged out of here and forgot what a horrible site it is when logged out :(. That's why


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 3:13 pm
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I subscribe to Evo magazine.. saved up 4 editions for me holidays and I've nearly read them all cover to cover after 8 days.. gonna have to start talking to my lass shortly!

If you're a petrolhead it's a brilliantly written car mag. I also play the classifieds game at the back of the magazine..


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 3:28 pm
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"zilog6128 - Member", whats another word for member ?
I thought reading was supposed to increase one's intelligence? Obviously not in your case, if you can't even have a debate (or recognise a joke ) without just resorting to insults rather than making a case."
Sorry too busy living in the real world to spend much time replying to trolls who waste their time trying to get people to bite on public forums 🙂
Have a good weekend


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 3:45 pm
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At airports now and again. And it generally reminds me why they are a waste of money.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 3:47 pm
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Im a great consumer of the classic scandi multi pack niche info type


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 3:55 pm
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Theirs a niche magazine shop in Brighton I pop into sometimes and looks at ones like Sidetracked, they are great looking things on high quality paper and interesting content but can't bring myself to pay £10 a pop


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 4:13 pm
 xico
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Still subscribing to Private Eye, if that can count as a magazine!


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 4:38 pm
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fantasy bike per page

Used to do a similar thing with the Freeman's catalogue 🙂


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 4:49 pm
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Personally, I hate reading most things online, and while I do it, there just isn't the same the pleasure to be had in it as buying a magazine and perusing it over the course of, say, a week or so, before getting the next edition

Why?

If you have a reader app and a nice big tablet (such as the OP's Surface) what's the difference?

Think of all the carbon needlessly wasted for the benefit of nice 'feel'... And yes I know computers use a lot of resources, but you only need one and it can do a hundred jobs all together.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 4:53 pm
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Yeah I do here, Singletrack ( Obs) and few of the other Bike mags depending on what's in them, I like STW for a proper feet up telly off read, the Other mags are good for a flick through while on the loo, the less intense articles are good for a quick five min read, update on a bit of kit. Ike etc! I find Spend too long looking at a screen to want to relax by looking at one.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 5:02 pm
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If you have a reader app and a nice big tablet (such as the OP's Surface) what's the difference?

It seems to be well-established that using devices in the hour before bed makes it harder to get to sleep.

In contrast a book or magazine (no, not that sort of magazine) makes me feel all relaxed and ready to nod off.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 5:06 pm
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Cancelled my subscription to Evo recently, not reading it often enough. It's a fantastic petrolhead magazine, the best IMHO (I've had subscriptions to most over the years, been an Evo subscriber for about 8 years)

Have subscriptions to T3 and Time Out (though given as presents), was on STW but changed that to online.

Then random stuff acquired as and when

Fancy another motorbike subscription, just because


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 5:11 pm
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Buy maybe 1 MTB magazine a year and within 5 minutes of flicking through the pages I always regret it. All very same-ey and offer nothing I can't read/see online.

Performance VW gets bought every month and VWt/VW Bus pretty regularly although those too offer nothing I can't see online. I don't know why but bike magazines just seem to be full of articles written by people who've been on creative writing courses (or want to). I can't be doing with that rubbish.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 9:32 pm
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It's good to put the screen down at times that's the difference.

It's why i have paper books for reading pre bed.....


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 9:37 pm
 Kuco
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Nope, stopped buying mags a while ago. For the price of two mags I can get Readly and get all the mags I need including a lot off American mags. Reading on the ipad doesn't bother me and most also have back issues available.

But I still read actual books from time to time.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 9:43 pm
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I used to buy magazines but haven't for years. Same as I almost never print anything off on the computer. Far more eco friendly to do it online.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 9:45 pm
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Love to sit down with a magazine once in a while. Especially in the summer, sat out in the garden after a hard ride.

The sad fact is though that their importance is reduced these days with everything inside freely available on line and I would almost certainly have one or two subscriptions at least if it wasn't for that.

Bought myself a copy of Cyclist today, which is a decent mag. Sometimes pick up Cycling Weekly who are pretty good at keeping up with the latest stuff and have actually been around since the beginning of time itself. Cycling Plus is an occasional guilty pleasure, but to be honest it's rarely that pleasurable and full of the same product reviews year after year. Arrivee from Audax UK is a strangely quaint, but heart-warming experience.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 9:49 pm
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Cranked and STW here, Dirt20 and Hurly Burly were great one offs, hopefully they become annual events. Graphotism is a mag I miss, but I only bought it occasionally so I suppose didn't help it. Web stuff great for upto date race info and advertorials, but crap for relaxing with. I too save a stockpile of mags for holiday, looking forward to reading Cranked at the end of a practice run of the mega outside the tent in allemont again this year.


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 10:04 pm
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Singletrack.

That's it. I browse through the trail running mags that the mrs buys to keep up to date with whatever she is on about and to suggest places for her to go race and for me to find a microbrewery (coniston was excellent).

I use screens all day and hate using a tablet when commuting, books on the train, Singletrack in the khazi


 
Posted : 31/03/2017 10:21 pm

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