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These posts always fill me with strange mixed feelings. As someone who grew up in the country without even access to a library, the monthly computer mag was my
by weinzierl 1y ago
These posts always fill me with strange mixed feelings.
As someone who grew up in the country without even access to a library, the monthly computer mag was my only source of info and my escape from the world I was in. So there certainly is a good deal of positive nostalgia and sadness.
On the other hand it feels kind of outlandish that some of these magazines survived until this day.
The last time I bought a mag was probably more than a quarter of a century ago
- dcminter 1y ago> The last time I bought a mag was probably more than a quarter of a century ago There is some kind of vicious cycle going on I'm sure - where fewer people are buying magazines, so stores have less reason to stock them, so there are fewer opportunities to buy them, so fewer people buy magazines. Probably a few will survive as niche items at a higher price. I think I'll be ok with that. One would imagine that print-on-demand solutions will emerge for the remaining (or even emerging) niche titles. I'd be nervous to start something new on that basis though.
- weinzierl 1y agoMy point is that in my perception (and certainly for me personally) this cycle ran so fast that the last magazine should have died 30 years ago.
- dcminter 1y agoSure, and I agree except that I'd put the date a lot later; a lot of magazine reading was done on-the-go, so the point at which reading on the mobile phone was ubiquitous would be the delimiter for my expectations. Nobody was reading substantial content on a Nokia 6210. I don't think the mobile revolution really became overwhelming until around 2010. Perhaps the remnants hung on after that because it took people 15 years to get their cancellations accepted ;)
- weinzierl 1y agoI guess it is just me, because I spent the second half of the 90s in lecture halls at daytime and in the CIP pool at night;) The privilege of early access to fast Internet for the underprivileged kid spoiled me, but hell was immersing in the suddenly available ocean of information a fun ride.
- SirFatty 1y ago30 years ago is a bit strong... maybe 20-25. 1995 Computer Shopper was going strong, Wired had only been around for a couple years. Music and woodworking mags were still decent... no, I think the 90s was a great magazine time.
- KerrAvon 1y agoThe death of magazines has been coming for a while, but it’s definitely more recent than some think. I know people who bought iPads circa 2010-2012 to be able to read magazines more conveniently. Digital magazine subscriptions were a big thing at one point not that long ago.
- AdmiralAsshat 1y agoI was still reading it quite regularly up until recently via my library (or, more accurately, through the Libby app on my tablet).