Natalie Barletta – Opinions Editor
I am a huge fan of magazines. Every month, I always make a point to get my copy of Cosmo, Seventeen, and any magazine that has a celebrity that I like on the cover. However, with the rise of e-readers, you can begin a more paperless approach to getting all of your magazines. You no longer have to go to the drugstore to pick up your copy of People.
You can just go to your tablet and click download. In just seconds, you have a magazine at your fingertips. Although it’s easier to get your magazine on your tablet or computer, is it honestly better?
There’s a debate about whether or not the pros can outweigh the cons when it comes to e-readers versus actual books. The same argument applies to magazines. I myself am on the fence about whether or not magazines are better in print than in magazines.
Let’s look at the benefits of magazines on a tablet. For starters, you can get them instantly. No more trips to the drugstore or bookstore to get your magazine fix. You can just go to your tablet, and press download.
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Another benefit is that you can keep all of your magazines in one neat place. I have a ton of magazines, as you can imagine, that’s waiting for me to read them. After I read them, I often discard them into a huge pile. With an e-reader, you don’t have that problem. You can have an archive in one small device, which can fit into your bag or backpack really well. It sure beats having to search piles and piles of magazine for your favorite one. This also helps you save paper, which without a doubt is a win-win situation.
Additionally, having magazines on an e-reader can sometimes be cheaper than getting them in print. Barnes and Noble offers magazines that are normally $3.99-$4.99 and an e-reader offers you two dollars for a monthly subscription. That is a lot cheaper, honestly.
However, with that being said, do the benefits truly outweigh having the traditional paperback magazine? In my opinion, they do not.
Whenever I read magazines, I tend to read them backwards instead of front to back. Whenever I would get magazines on my e-reader, I would often have to start from the beginning, which is something that I am not used to.
When reading magazines, you can also flip to an article that is of interest to you. Doing that on e-reader is almost impossible, because it’s hard to find articles that you want without going through the entire thing.
I also discovered that while reading something online, I tend to read it faster than if I read it in the paper form. I would like to get the most out of what I pay for, so by getting it in paper form insures that I soak up as much as I could of what I buy.
There’s something about having the physical book, or magazine in your hand. Many people constantly debate about whether or not having the physical magazine is better than just getting it on my e-reader. I think that in the case of magazines, having it on in the physical form is just better. It’s something that has done the job for the many generations before us, and is something that will work long after e-readers go out of style.
Print magazines, however, are something that has stood the test through time, through whatever trend has come and whatever trend has gone. However, how you get it is up to you. Whether it’s in print, or in digital form, getting the magazine how you want it is up to you.
Photo Credit: Hideya Hamano
