Digital magazines

I received my latest issue of Smithsonian magazine today, and it had an outer cover with the big label "Go green" to promote their new option to receive your subscription digitally. I'm all for saving a tree, so I thought I would investigate a little at http://www.smithsonian.com/godigital, where they have posted the August issue as a sample.

The service is provided through a company called Zinio, and let me start off with some positives: The quality is excellent. The text and the images are very clear, and presented just as the magazine is. I find it looks particularly nice on a good, big, widescreen monitor.

The ability to search is a very nice capability. I also like that they have linked the table of contents to go right to an article.

I won't get into some of the nitty picky points on the interface though, because there is a serious deal breaker for me when it comes to magazines: I don't read them at my desk.

I read magazines when I travel and don't want to turn on my laptop. I read magazines in bed before turning out the light. Yes, I read magazines in the bathroom. In none of these places do I have a computer. I might be inclined in some of these locations to read on my iPhone (or other type of electronic reader), but until they can get around the digital copy being read on other mediums, it is just going to have to be paper for me.

My apologies to the environment, but for now, make mine paper.