# Magazines **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2014, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835 "2014-06-02T13:54:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/21 "2014-06-02T18:31:34Z")
I used to (ca. 2000) get about 30 mags per month. About 1/3 were free. I really enjoyed sitting down with a stack of mags, reading and “shredding” them, then tossing most into the discard pile. A few were culled, fewer still were saved. Now…nearly none. I let my paid subscriptions lapse (deliberately), ignored the pleadings of re-subscribers (Playboy for only a penny a year!), and many free mags converted to email versions. It’s the Internet, Baby. How times have changed. ---
**Author:** ![StayseaDee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@StayseaDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StayseaDee)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/22 "2014-06-02T18:54:31Z")
The only magazine I get for free is Redbook. The only magazine I pay for a few times a year is Star. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/23 "2014-06-02T20:23:15Z")
I read _Octane_ (British vintage car mag) and _Evo_ (British performance car mag) regularly. I pick up the odd motorcycle magazine if there’s a model featured that I’m interested in. The death of car/bike mags is frequently blamed on the internet making so much info available, but the real issue is the lowering standards of readers - most car and bike blogs/vlogs suck, but people don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/24 "2014-06-02T20:39:11Z")
Scientific American. National Geographic. The Skeptical Inquirer. And a handful of special subscription magazines that come with various memberships. Westways magazine comes with the Automobile Association, and “Full and By” from the San Diego Maritime Museum. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/25 "2014-06-02T20:49:59Z")
Count me in as a magazine lover. I currently receive: The New Yorker National Geographic Entertainment Weekly Reader’s Digest Past subscriptions: Family Handyman Newsweek TV Guide Playboy Consumer’s Report Stereo Review Rolling Stone The Utne Reader Model Car Science Psychology Today Premier Sports Illustrated mmm ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/26 "2014-06-02T21:13:14Z")
The overlap between The New Yorker and Reader’s Digest subscribers must be pretty minuscule! It’s an interesting demographic, anyway ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/27 "2014-06-02T21:22:02Z")
Seriously, man? The overlap between the New Yorker and Reader’s Digest is HUGE. Old white people love 'em both. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/28 "2014-06-03T00:46:09Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Seriously, man? The overlap between the New Yorker and Reader’s Digest is HUGE. Old white people love 'em both. 🙂 Reader’s Digest may not be high level of reading but it is still a fine magazine in my view. There is no higher level of bathroom reading material in my view. The New Yorker never did anything for me personally although I know it is a quality publication in general. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/29 "2014-06-03T00:52:08Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > When I’m on my computer I’ve got other things to do besides read. I don’t have a tablet, and I’m not interested in reading on my phone. > > The ones I get are > … > Analog. Look for my story “Ulenge Prime” there early next year.🆒 I don’t buy from newsstands, but subscribe to The New Yorker Consumer Reports The Atlantic Time F&SF ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/30 "2014-06-03T00:56:15Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I am a master of getting free magazine subscriptions so I tend to have a lot going at any given time. Right now, I have active subscriptions to: > > National Geographic > Smithsonian > Flying > Plane and Pilot > Men’s Journal > Playboy > Wired > Money > Fortune > Country > Yatching > Coastal Living > Southern Living > Car and Driver > GQ > Esquire > > I am probably forgetting a few more. I did not pay a penny for any of mine. I looked at my current subscriptions when I got back home. In addition to the above, I also have subscriptions to: Outdoor Life Field and Stream Massachusetts Wildlife MIT Technology Review a whole bunch of tech journals I am a magazine addict and I read them all from cover to cover. I think my postal carrier hates me. The weird thing is that I do not pay a single penny for any magazine subscriptions as a matter of principle. [Magazines.com](http://Magazines.com) gives me most of them because they are convinced I am one of their top customers even though they don’t realize that I never gave them any money. It all comes from gift cards that they send me constantly for being such a good ‘customer’ combined with their $10 sales. The rest I got through work or by taking part in surveys. For example, I got a subscription to Playboy just by filling out a 2 minute survey on my ice cream preferences. Many people don’t want glossy paper magazine subscriptions these days because they think they can get the same thing on their computer. It isn’t true. I save up bundles of them and use them on everything from airplane rides to any event where I would get bored otherwise. Magazines are my constant companions and I hope they never go away in paper form. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/31 "2014-06-03T02:59:42Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever had more than 2 magazine subscriptions at once (_Dragon_ and _Games_). For the few years between when I moved to the big city and when I got married, I used to head to the library on the weekend and read The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, Esquire, Discover, and Scientific American. The most unusual magazine I ever followed was probably _Mickey Parade_, a Disney comics magazine from France. Nowadays I almost never read magazines except for the rare copy of Games/Games World of Puzzles. ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/32 "2014-06-03T03:53:36Z")
I’ve subscribed to The New Yorker for 20+ years, the only other one I currently get on paper is Saveur…at peak I maybe subscribed to a half dozen total. ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/33 "2014-06-03T03:57:26Z")
By the way, how does one go about getting all those free magazines? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/34 "2014-06-03T04:53:40Z")
> [@batsto](#): > > I only read one magazine faithfully—I’ve been subscribing to Mad since 1987. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one still reading it. Never subscribed to Mad, but I’ll pick it up if I see it on the newsstand. It’s not what it once was, but it still makes me laugh. Currently, I subscribe to Time, and a few locally-published magazines. In the past, I’ve had subscriptions to National Geographic, Maclean’s (a Canadian newsmagazine), and Sports Illustrated. ---
**Author:** ![danhanegan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb9ed0/32.png) [@danhanegan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danhanegan)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/35 "2014-06-03T05:31:05Z")
Scientific American and Analog. But I will probably let them lapse soon. I am finding the text harder and harder to read, my eyesight is getting poor as I age. I have been using a kindle for about a year, and the one feature I find most useful is the ability to adjust the print size, which I did not actually anticipate when I bought the thing. I may switch to some electronic form of the two magazines eventually. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/36 "2014-06-03T05:48:54Z")
Let’s see… currently I get _Model Railroader Trains The New Yorker National Geographic Smithsonian_ I subscribe to all but _Trains_. I got _Newsweek_ until they stopped doing a dead tree format. Quit getting _Rolling Stone_ when I felt the music it highlighted no longer interested me. So it’s been about 20 years 🙂 ---
**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:** [June 3, 2014, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/37 "2014-06-03T06:12:06Z")
Entertainment Weekly. I was subscribed to Time because I got a good deal on it, but the renewal cost too much so I didn’t re-subscribe. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2014, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/38 "2014-06-03T13:46:44Z")
Who here initially browses them from back to front? ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/39 "2014-06-03T14:19:10Z")
Used to get: Newsweek. And browsed it from back to front. Now get: Cook’s Illustrated Southern Living ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835/40 "2014-06-03T14:30:45Z")
I subscribe to: _ **Entertainment Weekly** _ - the tablet version (free with a print subscription) is great! I leave the print copy in my bathroom and read it off my iPad everywhere else. _ **The Family Handyman** _ - just started getting this but haven’t had time to look through them much. I save up my household projects for the summer, though, so hopefully I’ll find something useful in them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazines/689835.md?page=3)