I was jabbering on about my personal reading habits back a week and a half ago. I mentioned the magazine called the Smithsonian in that blog post. Well, it might have been the reminiscing that led me to purchase my very first digital subscription to it. I downloaded the Zinio Digital Magazine app for my tablet. Reading its traditional magazine format is quite easy on the 10.1" screen.
There's something to love about the old-school format of a glossy magazine. Internet news sites don't feel the same way. Clicking one or two pages at a time and pinching to zoom seems second nature after a bit. A master copy of all purchased issues is kept on the company's servers and can be read across devices and platforms. That makes it seem as though one is actually buying something real and tangible. (With the added plus of it not physically taking up space on the coffee table.) I wonder if this phenomenon of digital sharing is just a stop-gap measure for older folks who spent many of their early years reading paper-based periodicals. For me at least, the experience differs from usual web browsing for information. I feel much more focused and have noticed I can read longer, uninterrupted articles on my tablet.
Long live magazines. It's nice to meet them again.