Should You Suscribe to Your Favourite Magazine in Print or Online?

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December 28, 2012 by Guest Author

Magazines are dynamic and fun, and they’ve had a long tradition of appealing to just about everyone. Magazines provide us with current, thought-provoking, fun, trendy, and informational content. With the rise of the Internet, magazine subscriptions are threatened by the availability of similar content online for free, just like newspapers. But people still love magazines, and rather than stop subscribing altogether, people are faced with a new dilemma: online or in print?

The Physical Appeal

Something that online magazines will never offer is the gratification of holding them in-hand and turning their glossy pages. For some, the physical appeal of a print magazine is what keeps them from switching to online-only magazine reading. When you receive a magazine in your mailbox, it’s much more exciting and rewarding than receiving an email in your inbox. Print magazines can travel with you anywhere. Their pages can be dog-eared, torn out, or made into collages in a unique way that online magazines can’t offer.

Advantages of Online

There are some advantages to online magazines. One of the great things about online magazines is the ability to search them to find the content you want instantly, without flipping through pages. All of your magazines will be available in one place, where you can bookmark, add notes, and collect the issues without taking up any extra room on your bookshelf. When you spend a lot of time on the computer, it may be more appealing for you to access your favorite magazine’s content online, such as on your tablet or ereader while on-the-go. Oftentimes magazines offer exclusive content that’s only available online.

Community Interaction

One of the cool things about online magazines is they often offer you the ability to connect with other readers from all over the world. There may be forums and comment sections that allow you to share your thoughts, ask questions, and engage with other people who have similar interests. This type of community interaction can also help you discover other great online content that relates to the specific niche you’re reading about. In this way online magazines can help you forge new friendships or engage in some healthy debate, too.

The Best of Both Worlds

Most mainstream magazines offer free online subscriptions to their print subscribers. If you prefer print magazines, you can still access online versions whenever digital reading is more convenient. Access to online versions is a great perk for print subscribers. Sometimes magazines offer online editions for free for everyone. Other times magazines offer online subscriptions at a discounted price, which can help make magazine subscription possible for many people who may not have previously had room in their budgets for a print edition.

If you have to choose between print or online, it will depend on your lifestyle and personal preferences. For some people, nothing can replace the physical appeal of a magazine. For others, online editions are more convenient. And if you can’t choose, you can always check out both!

Lucy Chang is a writer of short articles currently using wordpress magazine style themes to provide the best user experience in all her websites.