# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/81 "2019-11-06T13:26:04Z")
As a youngster I subscribed to a few nature magazines, in my teens none. As a young married adult 1970’s and 80’s we usually had at least 1,2 dozen magazines coming to the house. From the 1990’s to about 2010 I think I had two. Since then I buy an occasional magazine maybe average 1 per year if that. ---
**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, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/82 "2019-11-06T13:36:41Z")
I know I’ve missed quite a few – I by science fiction magazines (and subscribed to _F&SF_ and _Analog_). As a Boy Scout I had a subscription to _Boy’s Life_. As a kid I bought (and preserved) several comics. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/83 "2019-11-06T14:29:29Z")
I’m over 50. In the past I had subscriptions to Pop Science, Sports Illustrated, Playboy (2 years in my 18-22 year old range), Scientific America for about 10 years total, Nat Geo for Kids for our kids. With memberships I also had Greenpeace, Sierra Club & Chess Federation. I’m not sure if Baseball Weekly counts as a Mag or a Newspaper. This was pre-internet days; early/mid 90s. I’m missing a few more I think and have on rare occasions bought issues of the rack. I haven’t bought a magazine since 2010 I believe. There was another Science Mag in the 80s I got for a year or 2, it is defunct and I can’t recall its name. I forgot, I got the White Dwarf for a year in High School & PC Mag for many years. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/84 "2019-11-06T14:38:57Z")
Thanks to **Kenobi 65** , a few more: Rolling Stone, Omni (the Science one I couldn’t recall). **Off the shelf but regularly** : The Dragon & Mad, I use to find Mad for a steep discount at a flea market, the issues were typically 2-3 months old. ---
**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, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/85 "2019-11-06T14:56:27Z")
Also **Famous Monsters of Filmland, The Monster Times**. I “inherited” a huge stack of old _Science Digests_ from my uncle, and devoured them. I still get \*\*Technology Review Physics Today Photonics Spectra Biophotonics Optics and Photonics News\*\*. I used to get **Optics Letters** , but let it lapse. I used to get **The Spectrograph** , but it died. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/86 "2019-11-06T16:25:08Z")
We’ve gotten some freebie subs in recent years. _Wired_ was just craptastic. _New York Magazine_ was interesting at times, #SAD at times, and worthless at times (too NYC oriented). Has a little too simple crossword. Got **Mrs. FtG** some subs for food/health mags which she likes, but not enough to pay for. We had a free sub for _Money Magazine_ and it was ridiculously unhelpful. They should have an issue where Money Saving Tip #1 is don’t subscribe to _Money Magazine_ and close down. There are several ways to get free trial subs. Airline points and all that. One I’ve used is [RewardSurvey](https://rewardsurvey.com/). Do a survey, earn points, get a sub. But they have far fewer than they used to and some require a token payment. (Beware auto renewal.) It’s good for stuff like _People_ and _Variety_. Not exactly my cup of tea. Mercury magazines is always running promos. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2019, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/87 "2019-11-06T17:42:44Z")
> [@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. I don’t even know what’s going on with the New Republic these days. I had a class in college where we had to read an article in the New Republic (left) and National Review (right) and write a short essay. I don’t think I’ve seen the New Republic anywhere since the Bill Clinton era. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/88 "2019-11-07T03:38:53Z")
Subscriptions over the years: The Atlantic Car Model Consumer Reports The Economist Entertainment Weekly Hockey Illustrated Model Car Science Money National Geographic National Lampoon The New Yorker Newsweek Playboy Popular Science Premiere Psychology Today Reader’s Digest Rolling Stone Sports Illustrated Stereo Review Time TV Guide ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/89 "2019-11-07T03:40:00Z")
I subscribe to Entertainment Weekly. That’s my only magazine. We don’t even subscribe to the local paper any more, it’s just too expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/90 "2019-11-07T04:21:47Z")
I found an old email (1998) where I list the magazines I subscribed to at the time: Utne Reader Time US News Mother Jones National Review The Economist Bon Appetit And from my employer: Fortune CFO I haven’t subscribed to a magazine in at least ten years, unless you count High Five and Highlights! which I got for the kid. I got married in 1999 and my wife killed most of the subscriptions and also introduced cable TV into my life. The last to go was The Economist around 2010. But for the last few years I only read that on planes. If I ever buy a magazine now it’s at the airport, and it was usually The Economist. Last time I saw it was $12 and just walked away. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/91 "2019-11-07T13:05:14Z")
**Do you buy magazines? On a frequent basis? Occasionally? Rarely? Never?** Not currently. Probably never again. **Have you bought magazines in the past?** I used to buy computer magazines, and occasionally entertainment (movie, TV, sci-fi) magazines. Oh, and porn, of course. **Are there specific situations when you buy a magazine; like when you’re going on a flight?** No. **Do you subscribe to any magazines? Have you subscribed to any magazines in the past?** The only thing I have ever officially subscribed to was Cinefex magazine, which is sort of different to the kind typically imagined. **What’s your age?** 50 Generally any information and entertainment value I got out of a magazine I can get tenfold from the internet now. Also the magazines we got down here in the southern hemisphere needed to be shipped (literally by boat) which means they were months out of date by the time they arrived. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/92 "2019-11-07T13:10:11Z")
Back in the day I had subscriptions to: _Popular Mechanics_ _Popular Science_ _Scientific American_ _Discover_ PM and PS were mere shadows of what they once had been–in college I remember often sitting in the library between classes and flipping through bound archives of PM from the 1950s and earlier–magazines that were hundreds of pages thick with less advertising and lots of real content. For several years I had a subscription to a super awesome magazine: _Invention & Technology_ That magazine was chock full of deep stories on industrial and engineering history, such as the story behind the development and production of the first transistor radio, the first computer mouse, or the story behind the introduction of tetraethyl lead in our cars. The magazine died many years ago, but their archives have been available for free off and on over the years. Look them up, you might enjoy their content. Finally, a couple of years ago I tried: _The Home Shop Machinist_ _Machinist’s Workshop_ I realized that, like woodworking magazines, most articles are “look at this super intense complex project that none of you will ever build” and not enough were “here are some solid techniques to up your game” Once I found that I can get more from machining videos on YouTube, I let the subscriptions lapse. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/93 "2019-11-07T18:20:25Z")
I love magazines. I have a couple of subscriptions to things like, “Health” or some food magazine, but I often buy them at the bookstore or, ideally, check them out at the library. They’re usually things like Psychology Today or Scientific American. If I’m traveling I might also grab a copy of Us or People or some other trash celebrity mag that’s fun to read. I can get all the information I find in a magazine online (whether in the e-version of that magazine or just random articles), but I get more engaged when I’m reading a hard copy and I love feeling completely absorbed. It’s like reading a book but lower commitment - sorta the difference between a coffee date vs. dinner & a movie. Good god, I’m old. I’m a 43 year old woman for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/94 "2019-11-07T18:40:58Z")
Oops - this is why I shouldn’t hit refresh. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/95 "2019-11-07T20:13:02Z")
I am 58. Growing up, we subscribed to National Geographic, Reader’s Digest,Time and /or Newsweek, and TV Guide. Occasionally Life, Smithsonian, etc. Starting in the mid 1980s, I subscribed to Discover, Natural History, American Heritage, and a few others. I would buy Fortean Times, Femme Fatales, and various sci-fi-oriented magazines like Starlog and Cinefantastique at the local comic book store. And I would often consult the Economist in the library where I worked. I haven’t subscribed to anything since about 2008. I rarely buy magazines nowadays. I work at an academic / university library (Vanderbilt), so anytime I want, I can peruse mags and journals in the Periodicals Reading Room. Or just look things up online. ---
**Author:** ![BlueInfinity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BlueInfinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueInfinity)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/96 "2019-11-07T21:41:37Z")
Do magazines that are part of a club membership count? I was part of the LEGO Club for a few years as a child. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/97 "2019-11-08T02:12:28Z")
I still buy magazines for recipes. Also ‘Make’ and various woodworking magazines for projects and techniques. No current subscriptions, but I expect that to change when I eventually retire and have more time to spend in the wood shop. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/98 "2019-11-08T03:20:26Z")
> [@BlueInfinity](#): > > Do magazines that are part of a club membership count? I was part of the LEGO Club for a few years as a child. I remember wishing that I had a subscription to _Dynamite_ as a kid. It was a very cool magazine for an 10-year-old, and was a special treat if I stumbled upon a copy among the _Highlights_ magazines at the doctor’s office. They had a club, and I remember this secret challenge/response from them: Kid 1: “Eat my din” Kid 2: “Many diet” Kid 1: “And my tie” Kid 2: “It may end” Both: “Dynamite!” Those strange phrases are all anagrams of the word dynamite. ---
**Author:** ![MeanJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanjoe/32/5693_2.png) [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/99 "2019-11-08T13:47:50Z")
I continued to maintain a yearly subscription to two snowboarding magazines until they went full digital/social media presence only. To be honest, the last few years they were more ‘coffee table’ magazines and I didn’t spend much time actually reading them. I have never bought a magazine from a newsstand or grocery store. Recently a friend’s daughter was doing a fundraiser for a school trip and as with most of my friends I will usually buy something to help support them. Unfortunately in this situation the only thing was magazine subscriptions. _sigh_ I did purchase a subscription to National Geographic. None of the other magazines remotely interested me. So yeah, I guess I buy magazines now… or again. Haha ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/100 "2019-11-08T14:42:51Z")
I’m in my early 50s. I rarely bought individual issues of magazines, even when I was younger. If I was interested in a magazine, I usually subscribed to it. The only magazine subscription I still maintain today is **Consumer Reports**. I did have a subscription to Turner Classic Movies’ **Now Playing** magazine, but they cancelled the print magazine and went all-digital earlier this year. I also get a couple of professional journals as a result of my membership in professional organizations. I’m also a member of AAA, so I get their magazine, which in my neck of the woods is called **Crossroads**. In the old days, I subscribed to **Newsweek** for my current events. I was a subscriber to **TV Guide** for years (it used to be a jolly useful resource, in the days before on-screen program guides). I also took **Writer’s Digest** , back in the days when I used to kid myself that I would one day be a famous novelist. For awhile, I subscribed to **Discover** and **Omni**. I don’t fly very often, but when I do, I don’t usually buy magazines for the flight. I will either bring a book, or more often use the Kindle app on my phone. My wife still subscribes to **Vogue** , if you would like to count her as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014.md?page=6)