# Do you buy magazines? Did you ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 5, 2019, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014 "2019-11-05T04:27:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/61 "2019-11-05T21:44:58Z")
I like magazines, so I keep subscribing to keep them going that last extra bit until they die. My wife and I subscribe to most of the science and archaeology magazines that haven’t descended into pictures and captions (Discover, BBC Science). Others were offered for virtually nothing, like Entertainment Weekly, which is now a monthly and mostly useless. Bloomberg Businessweek came that way and has more of interest. Harper’s too. No news magazines, since none can say anything on the news that isn’t old news. We get bunches of magazines from the library, too. I just prefer reading print for long-form works. Computers are mostly uncomfortable for anything longer than a post. Funny Times is a fun oddity, a newsprint magazine that reprints cartoons and humorous articles. It’s wildly liberal and still has the whiff of hippie sensibility it’s had for decades. Find it. Support it. Enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/62 "2019-11-05T22:01:13Z")
I’m 67 and used to buy magazines a lot as my magazine tastes are usually about cars. virtually every bit of information is now available on line so about the only time I buy a magazine is if I have a flight somewhere and the internet connection on the plane isn’t free. (yes, I’m still scottish) :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/63 "2019-11-05T22:07:36Z")
I’m 68. I subscribe to _Scientific American_ and _National Geographic_, which I’ve done for around 30-40 years. I find I don’t have time to keep up reading them. I used to catch up on long-distance flights but now with seat back entertainment I often find it more painless to just veg out. it I used to subscribe to _Natural History_, but let it lapse. It’s been years since I bought a magazine off a rack. When I was a kid I used to get _Mad_, and later _National Lampoon_. I used to read _Time_ and _Newsweek_, and later _The Economist._ ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/64 "2019-11-05T22:11:12Z")
I used to subscribe to _Reader’s Digest_ so I’d have something to read while commuting. Let my subscription lapse when I started working from home. Subscribed to _MAD_ and _Boy’s Life_ during my teen years. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/65 "2019-11-05T22:18:05Z")
Never had a subscription to a magazine, but during the 70’s and 80’s bought every edition of two ‘alternative lifestyle’ mags published here in Australia. Have never bought a magazine since app 1989, I’m 59 now. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/66 "2019-11-05T22:34:32Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I’ve also got a cheap subscription to the New Yorker because I was reading some of their more serious journalism online, and figured they deserved some support. Getting a magazine from them weekly is WAY too much reading material; I’m gonna cancel. If they sold an ‘online subscription’ for cheap, I’d have bought that instead, but didn’t see one. You should have tried it in the '80s, when every issue was 3 times bigger than the ones now. I used to read every word, then work and kids made me get behind - a year behind. Now I just read the interesting stuff. I did cancel for a while when _that woman_ was editor. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/67 "2019-11-05T22:54:08Z")
Boy’s Life. Years ago. Archie Comics Digests. Currently. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/68 "2019-11-05T23:02:18Z")
Yes, many subscriptions (some are profession-related). And I buy single issues occasionally, usually cooking quarterlies. I’m old, man. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/69 "2019-11-05T23:18:42Z")
I love magazines and currently have about 20 subscriptions. However, I don’t pay for them myself. I get them free through e-mail offers and by taking short surveys. I buy individual issues every now and then too. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/70 "2019-11-06T00:06:00Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Do you buy magazines? On a frequent basis? Occasionally? Rarely? Never? > > Have you bought magazines in the past? > > Are there specific situations when you buy a magazine; like when you’re going on a flight? > > Do you subscribe to any magazines? Have you subscribed to any magazines in the past? > > What’s your age? I get several with memberships to things; AARP and HOG for example. Other than that I am subscribed to Living Lutheran, Smoke and Fire News (re-enacting), and Pennsylvania Magazine. In addition there are a couple shooting ones I will sometimes grab at a news-stand if they look interesting. Go back 10 years and I was subscribed to maybe 12-15 magazines and monthly/weekly delivered-by-mail newspapers and tended to hit the stands more often. I cut back mostly because too many became all ads (like most of the internet has become) and some just priced themselves beyond my value for them. Situational purchases? Not really. I always have a book handy or at least a couple to-be-reads in the car so the boredom factor of travel or hospitals is covered in advance. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/71 "2019-11-06T00:19:34Z")
I have a subscription to _The Economist_. You don’t have to be an economist to understand most of it, and I am definitely not an economist. But I feel like economics is a very good lens for consuming current events, and I feel like The Economist is the closest thing out there to a nonbiased news outlet. There’s also a ton of subtle humor and warmth woven through it if you’re alert. The covers alone are fantastic. As far as the last magazine I bought off the rack… I think it was _Harper’s_, about 3 years ago. I actually had a subscription and used to enjoy it, but not any more. As a hysterical effete liberal, it’s too hysterically liberal and effete even for me. ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/72 "2019-11-06T00:23:48Z")
I’m 57. I subscribe to (and have for decades): Playboy Sports Illustrated And I have the Sunday newspaper delivered. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/73 "2019-11-06T00:39:41Z")
> [@Staggerlee](#): > > My favourite Xmas present every year is a subscription to Private Eye (British poltical satire magazine) - it’s a great antidote to hysterical internet nonsense, so its paper format just helps with that (I’m 42). I’ve had a Private Eye sub for a few decades now (gifted, mostly. A fave birthday present!). They do put some stuff online, but it’s pretty perfunctory, so the fortnightly delivery is it. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/74 "2019-11-06T01:09:45Z")
I have subscribed to Scientific American for about 55 years; it has gone sadly downhill. To American Scientist for 18 years To New Yorker since I got married, 55 years To NY Review of Books for at least 50 years I used to subscribe to Astounding/Analog but let it lapse maybe 20 years ago when I realized I wasn’t reading them (still read a lot of sci-fi books though) Have subscribed on and off to Consumer Reports I subscribed to Byte, to Dr. Dobbs, to PC Mag, to Creative Computing, Science 80, all of whom have gone belly up I cannot recall the last time I bought a magazine over a counter. I’m 82. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/75 "2019-11-06T01:35:14Z")
Until a couple of years ago, I had a subscription to _Entertainment Weekly._ I kinda dropped off from it after I was laid off at Blockbuster. My pastor now brings me new issues of EW and _Rolling Stone,_ which his late son had subscribed to. (His son lived with him until he died.) I don’t really read Rolling Stone very much, but I do still enjoy EW. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/76 "2019-11-06T02:24:45Z")
I am 44 years old. I am currently only subscribed to _TV Guide_; I must say I really miss its digest format with localized listings. Most of my favorite magazines have stopped publishing print editions or stopped publishing altogether: _PC World PC Magazine Computer Shopper Wizard: The Guide to Comics Toyfare Backwoods Home George LIFE Omni Weekly World News_ (OK technically not a magazine but I sure miss its wackiness) Other magazines I have subscribed to in the past: _Popular Mechanics_, _Popular Science_(for 25+ years before i stopped around 2005), \*TIME \*, _Newsweek_, _US News & World Report_, _National Geographic_, _Reader’s Digest_, _Taste of Home_, _Entertainment Weekly_, _Consumer Reports_, _Yankee Magazine_, \*New Hampshire \* . Also when I was kid my parents got us: _Ranger Rick_, _Highlights_. As a kid, I also used to read _Pro Wrestling Illustrated_, _The Wrestler_, \*Inside Wrestling \*,_MAD_, and _Cracked_ regularly but I never had a subscription to any of them. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/77 "2019-11-06T02:31:47Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > As far as the last magazine I bought off the rack… I think it was _Harper’s_, about 3 years ago. I actually had a subscription and used to enjoy it, but not any more. As a hysterical effete liberal, it’s too hysterically liberal and effete even for me. Maybe it’s changed over that time but I’m finding it more and more conservative. Compare it to New Republic, say, and there won’t be a page of overlap in view. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/78 "2019-11-06T02:35:41Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Maybe it’s changed over that time but I’m finding it more and more conservative. > > Compare it to New Republic, say, and there won’t be a page of overlap in view. Huh. Maybe it was the post-election hysteria. I’ll always love the Harper’s Index, though. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/79 "2019-11-06T12:59:32Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Funny Times is a fun oddity, a newsprint magazine that reprints cartoons and humorous articles. It’s wildly liberal and still has the whiff of hippie sensibility it’s had for decades. Find it. Support it. Enjoy it. I’ll have to look this up. Here in Boston we had the _Boston Comic News_ (AKA _Editorial Humor_) for several years until it died shortly after 2000. I’ve missed it ever since. Among other things, it’s the only venue I’d ever seen that ran Craig Swanson’s _Perspicuity_, a nerdy single-panel comic that came with a lengthy commentary. I bought several T-shirts that had his cartoons on it. [https://www.perspicuity.com/](https://www.perspicuity.com/) “My heart skipped a beat when I first saw her descending the staircase in her Slinky dress.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Maple\_Leaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a8b319/32.png) [@The\_Maple\_Leaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Maple_Leaf)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/80 "2019-11-06T13:19:53Z")
I definitely did as a pre-teen/teenager in the 90s. Examples: Simpsons Illustrated, MAD, at one point I had a subscription for Popular Mechanics…Even a few years ago, I was still buying one magazine called History Revue, which I would read while riding public transportation. I even once sent in a query about an obscure historical point, which they attempted to answer. I stopped buying it when I got a smartphone and got to spend time on the Internet instead. Since then, I have bought said magazine maybe once or twice. From time to time, I am still tempted to buy a magazine, but honestly, now I don’t have enough time to read them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014.md?page=5)