Remember…magazines? Read or subscribe to any?

F

Fyrefox

Well-known Member
I think of magazines when I remember artifacts from an earlier time now relatively rare, much less common in physical form now than they were decades ago. In our age of electronic everything, magazines have almost become quaint dinosaurs, doomed to extinction by their own costliness.

It wasn’t always so. My parents embellished their coffee table with magazine issues, titles like Life and Look magazines. My father subscribed to National Geographic, and they’d be kept until their accumulation demanded removal. A typical magazine back in the day might have cost perhaps $ .35, and they were substantial. People read magazines then, and they chronicled our society and existence. While they still exist, surviving magazines have gravitated towards specialty audiences, and many exist only on line.

Did you commonly read or subscribe to any magazines, and do you still do so? 🤔

IMG_2204.jpeg
 

I no longer read magazines, which have been come ads with a few articles in them. It's so much easier to just access them online. A long time ago I subscribed to Ebony, Jet, T.V. Guide, Money, Kiplinger's and Essence magazines. They pile up and become clutter. A few years ago I took advantage of a free subscription offer for a year and I chose Architectural Design. I gave most of those to my sister.

I also started receiving magazines I didn't subscribe to per se, but were sent to me because I paid for membership (eg: a travel magazines because I joined Interval International, a timeshare exchange company) and AARP, which I no longer am a member of. Then I started getting Us, a health magazine from a hospital I've never been in! Why I do not know. :unsure:
 
I subscribed to a bunch of magazines when I was younger. I also frequented bookstores where I would buy a bunch of them. I remember a guy scoffing at me about how much money I wasted on them. But I still have that magazine, and I haven't seen him in years. I still have some sewing and knitting magazines from years ago.

Now I read those magazines at my online library. It's not the same though. The glossy pages that I can tear out when I see something I like. I miss that.
 

My one and only. :)

91jonuMsExL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg
 
I used to get Time or Newsweek at special student rates while in college, less than 35 cents an issue as I recall. There were no personal computers then, television was available in student lounges only, and newspapers required a walk to town. The magazines came weekly, and kept me up to date with the world, plus furnished commentary and some small measure of entertainment. National Lampoon was sold in the student bookstore and could be wickedly funny and satirical, but was more expensive.

Magazines, often catered to specialty tastes, continue to be displayed at supermarket checkouts, but are costly. A “special issue” of something can run you about $10, far more than I want to spend.

Even the price of newspapers (which my father bought for 6 or 8 cents) has gotten so costly that I pass on them, even at increasingly rare outlets where you can find paper copies…

IMG_2206.jpeg
 
I used to be the "magazine queen" as my 1st husband called me. I would buy all those magazines at the check-out counter in the grocery store. Plus subscribed to many more. Later on since about 1999, I subscribed to homesteading magazines such as Countryside, Mother Earth, Backwoods Home and Taste of Home (recipes). And horse magazines such as Small Farmers' Journal, Western Horsemen, some others I can't remember. Now not even one. I won't even take a free one from anyone. Like Diva said, too much clutter and full of ads.
 
I used to regularly buy magazines but stopped when the content became more advertising than actual articles. Hobby magazines in particular are expensive and much of the content you can find online anyways. I will occasionally buy a magazine if I am travelling but, I am more likely to take a book.
 
I agree about how they become clutter but I still subscribe to hard copies of Analog Science Fiction, Asimov's Science Fiction, and Fantasy and Science Fiction magazines and Lightspeed magazine digitally. When I'm done with the hardcopy ones, I donate them to the Library and they seem to sell pretty good at their booksales.
 
I recall my husband had gotten Motor Trend and I think Car and Drive (is that one?). I stopped getting magazines long ago but I did enjoy reading People in the doctor's office while waiting. I think the last magazine I bought was something on home decor or Bon Appetit.
 
I used to subscribe to U.S. News and World Report, but the rest I can't even recall anymore. Oh, one was a general "men's magazine" but when it ceased publication they substituted Stuff which was sort of the same but featured more models. I asked for a substitute and got Maxim, which had even less general content and more skin. Not full-on Playboy but bordering on that. That subscription ran out in a few months though.
 
I rarely ever buy magazines... If I do it's usually some political satire type mag..

I literally have just cancelled the only magazine subscription that I've had for many years. The Oldies, magazine..

It started off as a gift subscription from a family member.. since then the Editor died and been replaced , and the guest contributors have bland editorial pieces unlike when I first took the magazine.. so with a heavy heart I cancelled it..
 
I was doing some cleaning out in the garage and found a box with some Popular Electronics magazines that I subscribed to back in 1959. It was fun going through them and reading articles like "Will color TV catch on?" and "Stereo Records: fad or fulfillment?' And they are filled with ads for electronics correspondence courses and companies selling kits and parts. In those days, I read them cover to cover and looked forward to every one. That's why I saved them.

There is an online archive of Popular Electronics where I could read these same issues. But, it's not the same as holding the original. It's kind of ironic that the technology that these magazines espoused has made them redundant.

I'm still getting the Saturday Evening Post because my wife bought a subscription. I don't know how long it will last, but I won't re-subscribe. It's a shadow of its former self. You can tell by the ads and content that it is now targeted at older people. It's surviving on nostalgia.

The internet has changed many things. I have a list of bookmarks for online magazines and I scan them. How many of them will be archived to be enjoyed 60 years from now? How many of them are worth archiving?
 
I researched & wrote articles for magazines over a span of about 25 years. Started with books reviews, progressed to brief "articles", then to features. Topics in the areas of community, rural living, forestry, environment, eco-conscious lifestyling, co-ops. I liked doing stories on creative people working in those sorts of areas... the personal dimension was a way into the broader topic, too.

Now I mainly help other writers get published (people I've met in person), or write in conjunction with my volunteer work in my region.

The thing I learned from being in the magazine business is that newsstand sales plus subscriptions typically pay for the printing & distribution of the magazine. It's advertising that pays for the writer's fees and the magazine-staff's salaries. So much of the content that used to be found in various magazines has moved to the internet. And that is what explains why we see so much advertising now on online sites. The whole shebang that allows these things to exist and fulfill their role still needs to be paid for. With most internet sites, you either subscribe & pay, or you pretty well always see a lot of adds.
 
Last edited:
It used to be fun to stand in the lineup at the grocery store and read the covers. No way would I touch the National Enquirer, but I could peek. The one store had a whole side of one aisle dedicated to magazines. Now if they have any magazines, I haven’t seen them.
 
Marie5656 said:
The only print magazine I subscribe to/read is Readers Digest. Have since I was a kid as my dad always read it.

View attachment 335078
Click to expand...
This is quite interesting. My mother always read the German edition of "Reader's Digest" as I was a child. I used to read some of the stories too. As an adult I subscribed several magazines on geography, photography, computers and hiking. I quit more than two decades ago.
 
Growing up, our usuals were-
Life, Look, Collier's, Saturday Evening Post, Reader's Digest, House Beautiful, Good Housekeeping, TV Guide, Jack and Jill, Seventeen, Mad.

Later, I enjoyed-
National Geographic, Mother Earth News, National Lampoon, Time

Like everyone else, I never buy them anymore.
It's like the Internet is one huge magazine in itself.
 
I always make sure I have a magazine or book in my bag when I go out for a Coffee or shopping. Couldn't stand looking at my phone like everybody else does. Woolworths and Coles supermarkets every month brings out a new magazine with handy recipes and good ideas for the garden, and it's free.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top