# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/101 "2019-11-08T15:45:00Z")
I subscribed to a number of magazines over the years, but since a lot of them were gifts/those fundraising things I’m not sure how much they count. They ran from Sports Illustrated to the Smithsonian. Most unlikely was World Press Review, a compilation of foreign papers and magazines, which I actually subscribed to at 8. Mom entered a Publishers Clearing House contest, thought you had to subscribe to a a magazine to win, and gave us any choice of magazine to pick. The only other mag I subscribed to was Blender, a very fun music magazine that closed up shop in 2009. Most of my single issue buys were to be honest motivated by attractive female celebrities on the cover. The only magazines I buy these days are vintage issues off Ebay or in thift stores. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/102 "2019-11-08T16:39:54Z")
I subscribed to _Newsweek_ and _Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine_ when I was a teen. I have subscribed to _Consumer Reports_, _Automobile_, _Maxim_(the first year), and _Starlog_ in the past. I currently subscribe to _Skeptic_, _Car And Driver_ and _MaximumPC_. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/103 "2019-11-08T17:35:42Z")
Interesting, just got a notification in the mail that National Geographic traveler is ceasing publication. They’re going to send me the regular National Geographic instead. That’s fine, the travel magazine was definitely just bathroom browsing ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/104 "2019-11-08T17:39:33Z")
I’ve never purchased magazines very often, but I usually buy 1 per year (the Better Homes and Gardens Christmas edition). ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/105 "2019-11-09T06:40:14Z")
> [@Cazzle](#): > > I’ve never purchased magazines very often, but I usually buy 1 per year (the Better Homes and Gardens Christmas edition). That reminds me that I buy the “Forbes 400” edition of Forbes every year. It list the 400 richest Americans. (No I am **not** on it.) ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/106 "2019-11-09T16:38:00Z")
1. I have a subscription to **Referee** through my membership in a sports officiating organization. My wife has a music education magazine through one of her professional orgs. I currently have a free subscription to **Popular Science** (Mechanics?) that I got free from signing up to something. I occasionally do a subscription to something whenever American Airlines tells me my frequent flyer miles will expire if I don’t do something with them - normally the fewest miles that gets something not horrible. Most recently it was **Red Bull** , which had some pretty cool action and nature photography, much better than I expected; just not good enough to actually spend real money on. I have a paid subscription to a state wide political magazine/monthly newpaper/letter thing. I like the idea of supporting the reporting, but haven’t read much. May not resubscribe. And I’m a sucker for the magazine stands at airports. There’s a 50/50 shot I’ll buy one and then leave it for someone else to read later. ---
**Author:** ![Beesnest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@Beesnest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beesnest)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2019, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/107 "2019-11-10T00:40:36Z")
When I was young and poor I used to get my magazines from the lending box at our small town post office. Lots of old Prevention magazine and Good Housekeeping. Then I subscribed to a news magazine and Sunset . Sometime in the mid nineties the per issue price of magazines jumped to double the price. But subscriptions were still reasonable. The last few magazines dropped me before I dropped them. They quit their print edition and went just online. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2019, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/108 "2019-11-10T14:12:13Z")
Lets see, at one time or another: National Geographic Popular Science Science Digest Omni Starlog Sci-Fi Universe Newsweek Aviation week & space technology Proceedings Skeptical Inquirer Skeptic Air & Space Reminisce The only one I still buy is Air & Space and it is a pale shadow of former glory.☹ ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2019, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/109 "2019-11-10T15:35:58Z")
I once bought a house from a guy who subsequently murdered his wife and was sent away for life. I’d get his Independent Trucker magazines, but I thought forwarding them to him would be adding insult to injury. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2019, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/110 "2019-11-10T17:50:51Z")
I’m in my mid-40s and I used to have subscription to (in order of my age at the time) Chickadee, Owl, Dragon and Games. When I was in my mid-20s and I didn’t have cable TV, I used to go to the library and read various magazines like Harper’s, New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Esquire; I would even buy an issue every now and then. I don’t think I’ve bought a magazine in almost a decade (probably an issue of Games World of Puzzles). I stopped because of (a) price and (b) the easy availability of stuff online. My wife gets an alumni magazine, a professional association magazine and the CAA magazine; my instant reaction is to throw them in the recycling, but she gives the old “I may read it later” excuse. The local library system has (had?) an app to read magazines online (Zinio); I thought I would get a lot of use out of it, but it turns out I have only a limited interest in reading PDFs. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2019, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/111 "2019-11-10T19:51:33Z")
Hmmm… Nowadays subscriptions as such only _Smithsonian_ (comes with the membership). I do pick up _Illustration_, _Skeptical Inquirer_ and _Skeptic_ if/when I run into them and something in the contents catches my eye (been reading Skeptical Inquirer since the time it was a digest-journal format in the 80s). Noticed that ever since Borders closed I rarely see a place that has all three at the same time. Used to be big fan of the print version of _Mental Floss_. I also take advantage that my office gets the \*Atlantic, New Yorker \*and _Economist_ so if I see they have something interesting I can always pick it up over the break time. If I know I’m gonna spend a lot of time inflight and in connections I will pick up a \*Wired \*and _New York_, maybe a travel mag or even a \*Maxim \*at the Airport newsstand At various points in the past was a regular of\* Heavy Metal, Omni, \* and subscriber of _Consumer Reports_, \*Time \*and _Playboy_. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014/112 "2019-11-10T20:23:04Z")
Oddly enough, I saw High Times at 7/11 today. Don’t think I’ve seen it since college. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-magazines-did-you-ever/843014.md?page=5)