Opinions on magazines

We got to chatting the other day about the future of the printed page and magazines, in particular. So, where better to find instant opinions than HERE?!?

We'd like to take the temperature of the magazine and on-line crowds – do you love print magazines? Want to see them replaced by online versions altogether? Do you love print enough to reserve some cash for them each month? Would you pay the same or more for online versions only? Let's start with the basics, though and choose one of these:

1. I'll always buy printed magazines. I like their portability, collectibility and the whole experience of paging through them exactly how and when I want to.

2. I don't need magazines anymore. The web and forums like the HAMB have replaced printed magazines for me.

This is really valuable information for us and I know this board is full of folks passionate about magazines--good, bad or ugly. I'd love to hear your opinions, so thanks in advance for taking a minute to reply...

STONER

 

1. Yep.

As much as I love the HAMB, I will continue to buy TRJ, Garage, Hop Up, TRK, R&C, Hot Rod, Street Rodder, the GG Gazette and occaisionally OSR and CKD. It's the designer in me. I have to hold it in my hand. My wife hates the stacks of mags around though. I cut out what I want to keep and recycle the rest.

 

I'll go with 1. Magazines still work during a power outage.

 

#1 all the way. Digital is just not the same.

 

1.

Until I get a laptop and can enjoy a website on the can... I'll buy the paper version.

Do I think the time will come that printed magazines will disappear? No. I think there will always be a need for a tangible publication... even if its a niche market. I do see the vast majority going to electronic media down the road.

 

1. I was a kid in the '60's and loved the newsstand in the drug stores.The cool hotrod and model mags kept me busy on many an afternoon. The web is cool but it can't take the place of the printed page,imo.By the way, Stoner, I think your publication is tops.

 

Uno. Magazines es mucho bueno!!!

 

i will always want to buy a printed magazine over an online version if given the option

 

#1 No doubt. I ALWAYS flippin' through a mag when on the couch 'watchin' some T.V.......

hehe...yeah, mine too.

I'd NEVER pay for an online mag......esp. since I don't pay to be online.

 

No.1 for sure. Portable, and after about 10 years smell great!

 

love the hot rod mags. i don't buy the picture mags much anymore. mostly the "how to" mags like Hot Rod Builder and Truck Builder. never to old to learn something new.

 

One more for #1 all the good reasons are stated above.
Oh, and btw...your latest kept me awake reading it till 1am last night thanks alot

 

There's something about being "in print" that you can't duplicate on the internet.

maybe it's because anyone can put their crap on the web....

 

No.1 Would Probable Read More If I Could Get Them

 

I don't know how many times I have gone digging through boxes of old magazines looking for an old article or feature.

Ditto on not having a 'puter in the can. lol

So #1 for sure.

GV

 

#1 also. Credibility and aesthetics.

 

#1
Cant use the computer in the shit house.

 

I use to subscribe to them all. I've got boxes and boxes in the basement but over the last few years I found I wasn't reading them cover to cover like I use to so I quit subscribing and now just purchase them singlely on the newsstand if one of my pals or myself is in the issue.

I prefer the interaction of gathering the information on line and with my laptop and wireless in the house I can surf ANYWHERE

Here is a post on the RRT kinda on the same subject. Might give you a lurkers view from more of a "streetrod guy's" perspective.
http://www.roddingroundtable.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7910

 

It is the nature of hotrodders to have a magazine in their hands, reading, learning, laughing. You can't share an e-zine with your son or daughter or grandson or granddaughter.

The 'net has a more personal touch in Forums but as a magazine format, it is a dead horse.

 

As a Magazine Journalism student I have to pick the first one. I'd never be able to get a job without guys like you! I actually just did a 5 page story for my journalism class about print vs. digital media and the future of print journalism, interesting stuff.

Anyhow, I do like having them around. Portability, collectability, and just the plain tradition of magazines--car publications in particular--makes me really like having a print source. Digital requires electricity, a computer, and all that stuff while a print source just requires a magazine and the ability to read (or at least look at pictures). Magazines also seem to have less bias and more credibility than digital stuff.

 

No offense to the Deadend guys 'cause I love their publication, but there's nothing like print.

One of my first articles was published online and at the time, the consensus was that print was dead...this was '99. I still hear that theory and I still don't buy it. Yes, the internet has added a medium, but I don't think it's ever going to replace one...many successful publications have figured out a way to utilize both, for the reasons stated by most of the members above.

Bryan

 

I would say number 1, I LOVE magazines. I always have, BUT I used to get like 4 or 5 subscriptions and now I don't get any and rarely buy magazines... so I guess truthfully I have to go with #2.

 

1. I wish I had the cash to buy all the ones I like. I rarely go all the way through an "online magazine."

 

#1 of coarse....
There is something about the excitement of seeing the newest issue of Garage in the mail box.
As I anticipate when I can steal those small breaks in everyday life. Diving into the crux of those writen words that tell the visions of the people and experiences of those in the lifestyle I enjoy so much.
Times such as during lunch in work, kicking back, feet up on the desk sipping a cup of coffee, chowing down on a P+J sandwich... it don't get any better than that!

 

no 1, I subscribe to nine or ten magazines, I have them going back to 1953, some are in bad shape from being read over and over. I'm glad Mom didn't clean out my closet when I grew up.

 

Call me a traditionalist, but BigUns.com ain't the same without the staples.

Viva Paper!

 

1

For sure much easier to haul about, plus reading on a screen is not very easy.
I think that there is a place for the internet forums though, especially ones like this. Magazines tend to be general, while the HAMB is very specific. Both have their place.

Also, for my profession, I hope they don't go anywhere. I really don't enjoy designing web sites and the like very much.

 

I say #1. Look at some of the mags like R&C, Street Rodder etc. they use both, you can't get everything in the mag, so they have expanded coverage on line. I dig that option of wanting to see more if its something of interest.

 

1.) The excitement of a new mag in your mailbox. Plus a lot of forums/websites piss me off. I use a ford truck forum occasionally, and there's always some dipwad on there with piecemeal 460/C6 crap, a bunch of typos, and not a goddamned clue about anything.

I'll take a little credibility

 

I'll have to go with numero uno, I love magazines...........maybe a little too much, 1000+ and counting.