RIP ESPN The Magazine

They are idiots for making the vault free.

I subscribe to the print version of the New York Times Book Review and receive it by Wednesday in the mail each week, at least three days before I could get it in a weekend Times. I enjoy reading such things in print. Same with New York Review of Books. They don’t give that shit away for free online — not all of it, anyway. And they certainly don’t give free access to its archives. Neither does The New Yorker. It’s like some places have no sense of what their content is worth...

 

My father had that happen with SI. He kept getting two copies a week, then when his subscription ran out, he kept getting the copies for another month or so for free.

 

I looked it up and saw I paid $7.97 for a two-year subscription in August 2017, so it will take me to the end.

 

I still enjoy the Sunday NYT book review and cultures sections -- and sports features --, in print, so I don't have to stare at a damn screen for all my reading.

 

Independent bookstores have grown over the last decade after being pronounced dead.

Vinyl was once placed on life support.
I saw a story last week that audiocassettes are making a comeback.
What is old is or will become new again, as there seems to be an agreement in the collective consciousness that things used to be better.
The digital age has not taken the culture to a good place, I would think that's plain to see.

 

I just restarted mine... and now I'm going to cancel it. I pay for the gluttonous paper.

That said, I have no idea how long ago my subscription ran out. All my magazines seem to have vanished simultaneously.

What will I read on the elliptical?

 

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To be clear about the paywalls etc. - newspapers and magazines; primary source of revenue has always been designed to be advertising. High readership led to more advertising which led to more money. Readership had been declining pre-internet. So it really wasn't giving away the content "for free" that killed print - but the loss of market penetration which led to lower advertising - advertisers found better products to reach the customers they wanted. The same thing that killed Sears (trying to be everything for everyone) was what killed print.

 

I prefer magazines in print and newspapers online.

 

I remember reading a feature about a Penn female athlete (I think) on ESPN.com that killed herself. Jumped off a building or something. Absolutely one of the worst written stories I have read in a decade or so. Gave no insight or resolution. Just kind of a shock piece to try and grab you with its unusual topic, but it failed miserably. I have zero interest for ESPN.com or its magazine for features.

 

Who reads on the elliptical? That's time to listen to some good tunes!