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Should You Buy A Magazine Or Visit The Website? My ThoughtsApr 17 '02 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line If you don’t have the money for a subscription, many of the websites are excellent; perhaps not as comprehensive as the magazine itself. Use both. Although I have visited magazine websites before, www.muscleandfitness.com, being one with which I was very familiar, I have not thought about magazine subscriptions versus websites until I started reviewing magazines and went to their websites. In many cases I found some excellent material at the site but is the site better than the actual product? That is what this category is asking and about which I am writing. Certainly there are pros and cons. The pros with an * beside them were given to me by 4th graders. I took a poll while substitute teaching. The majority of children, if they got a magazine subscription, were boys and they got Sports Illustrated for Kids. Some of them had gone to the website, some had not. Most had some very good points about the benefits and problems with one of the choices I am reviewing. I am going to write this by listing and discussing each positive aspect of subscriptions and online magazine sites. Subscription Magazines: Why subscribe? 1. Many people are tactile meaning they like to touch something when using it. Some people may buy products because of the way they feel. Not only do they like the way it feels but it also makes the experience real. If you are one of these people, a subscription will be what you want. 2. Magazines are portable. Well, you say, so are laptop computers. Yes, laptops are portable, but they are heavier than magazines and as portable as they are, they aren’t as portable as a magazine. 3. Magazines can be read while you are on a plane reaching the altitude necessary to turn on your computer. 4. Oftentimes, and www.muscleand fitness.com is a good example, there are more articles in a magazine and they are the entire article not just a headline. 5. Some people like to look at advertisements. Magazines are full of them and people may get suggestions on products to buy just by looking at an ad. 6. A magazine can be put on a coffee table and some magazines are especially nice looking on a table. 7. You can read a magazine while you are waiting in a doctor’s office or any kind of waiting room. Usually magazines are on the tables. As of now, computers are not available in any waiting room in which I have been. 8. You can easily read a magazine during your lunch break at work if you go to the cafeteria or to a restaurant alone. If you don’t have a computer at your desk, you can glance through a magazine or read an article when you are bored, have nothing to do or the boss is not looking. 9. Not only is it portable but magazines are usually small enough to fit in your tote bag with your lunch and other material. That means you only have to use one hand and you are not bogged down with a computer bag on your shoulder. Some of mine even fit in my pocketbook. 10. * Some magazines, such as Sports Illustrated for Kids, offer posters and sports cards in the magazine. 11. Some magazines offer samples in the magazine. I have seen samples for makeup as well as the annoying perfume. 12. Magazines can be kept forever and perhaps some issues will be worth money. I have kept some old Newsweek’s and People magazine, especially the ones with John F. Kennedy Jr. on the cover and Princess Diana. 13. * Magazines don’t use up any electricity. 14. You can share magazines and magazine subscriptions with friends. I often will take one to the gym, leave it and borrow another, which I will then return the next day. 15. * You don’t have to worry about missing a phone call if you are reading a subscription magazine and your telephone line is tied up. 16. *If you have a magazine you have the benefit of all the color photos. Unless you have a color printer, you will be printing out a picture online in black and white and the quality may not be as good as the magazine. 17. * There are no safety issues with a subscription. No one will ask your name to read it; no one will be able to track you down. Usually the magazine is in a parent’s name. 18. *You need no permission to read a subscription magazine. Oftentimes both kids and adults have to ask permission to either go online or to have computer time! Online Magazines: Why Read Them? 1. Many people make money while surfing the WEB through various pay bars. You can have your surf program open while reading online thus making money while reading. Since this is a redo of an old editorial I will add that the pay bars are not as popular as they used to be. I do believe some are still in existence, although I don't use any of them. 2. Not only can you make money; online magazines don’t cost anything beyond what you are paying to be online for the most part. I have come across websites that do charge money. 3. You can usually do a search for a specific topic, either current or archived. That is a lot easier to do then search through dozens of magazines you may keep for reference. 4. You don’t need any space in your house to keep old magazines thus eliminating clutter. 5. You do not waste any paper, which is better for the environment and our rainforests. 6. Having ½ dozen magazines to read is very time consuming when you just want to read an article or two from that issue. You can do that online. Reading online can save you time. 7. You don’t have to be subjected to the smell of perfumes! 8. There are fewer ads. There will be some but you don’t have to flip through page after page of them. 9. Most sites have links to other sites making finding information very easy. For example, going to www. Musclefitness.com and clicking on Training, I find several articles including one on the best shoulder exercises. Some magazines, such as Sports Illustrated for Kids, ask the children to go to the website to find out answers to quizzes and enter contests. 10. Many magazine subscriptions or newsstand prices are very expensive and you can find similar information online. A good example of this is OG. (Organic Gardening, a magazine I recently reviewed and didn't recommend but did recommend using the website.) As you can see I have fewer reasons to read online magazines as I do to get subscriptions. Does that mean I don’t recommend them? Of course not. I like to subscribe to magazines for all the 18 reasons (or most of them) but I can’t subscribe to every one I like so the website gives me the advantage of getting information I would not be able to get unless I went to the library and searched through the stacks. Perhaps someday, this category will include online magazine websites but I certainly hope that nothing online is ever replaced with the human quality of interaction, touch and personal attention. The children overwhelmingly agreed they would rather have a subscription than rely on a website but that was certainly not a scientific survey. As it turns out, www.SIKids.com is an excellent site. My final thoughts on this subject Why does there have to be a good and a bad? Even though there are more pros for subscriptions, if weighed perhaps by importance, online sites might fare better. I won’t judge the two in that way. My feeling is that as long as we have the option for both, utilize both. If you don’t have the money for a subscription, many of the websites are excellent, though perhaps not as comprehensive as the magazine itself.  |
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