Digital Magazines: Prototypes, Questions, and Realities

By Harry McCracken | Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 10:24 am

On Monday, I was at South by Southwest in Austin, where I attended a panel in which representatives from Wired magazine and Adobe discussed their prototype of a digital-magazine version of Wired. Then on Tuesday, I attended the Future of Publishing Summit in New York, where the Wired prototype was once again the subject of a session.

The NYC digital Wired walkthough was cooler, because we got a demo on a humongous rotating touchscreen:

Wired’s demo is slick indeed: It’s got the beautiful design and typography of the publication’s dead-tree incarnation, but you can swoop through it with your fingertip, watch embedded videos, and (surprise!) interact with fancy ads. But it leaves me with as many questions as answers:

Aside from the iPad, are there going to be many tablets that are outstanding digital reading devices rather than sad iPad clones?
Can Wired publisher Condé Nast (or, for that matter, any publisher) produce an e-magazine as slick as this one on a monthly basis, if its goal is to make money rather than lose it?
What happens to the wealth of original material on Wired.com–good stuff which, in volume, dwarfs the contents of the print magazine?
How about reader comments and other interactive features?
Do readers like the idea of a publication that comes out once a month, or is it actually just an artifact of the impossibility of releasing a magazine that evolves continuously, as Web sites do?
How many people will (A) buy a device optimized for reading magazines, and (B) pay for magazines to read on it–especially when magazine Web sites are deeper, more interactive…and free?

Prototypes like the Wired one can only tell us so much about how magazines might evolve for the digital era. Real people reading real magazines on real devices will tell us a lot more. And with the iPad arriving in a couple of weeks and digital-magazine launches imminent, we shouldn’t have to wait too long for answers. (TIME magazine’s Josh Quittner and Sports Illustrated’s Terry McDonell were at the New York publishing event; both said that true digital versions of their publications are coming along very shortly.)

Of course, as a guy who spent twenty years in the magazine business and who still runs an (itty bitty) media company, I may not be in the best position to judge digital magazines through the eyes of a consumer. What’s your take? Can you see yourself reading them? Paying for them?

15 Comments

Read more: Conferences, Digital Magazines, Tablets, Wired

5 Comments For This Post

Max Says:
March 17th, 2010 at 12:41 pm

I personally don’t see the value of shoehorning the monthly/whatever-interval magazine into the world of the web, when the web’s own ‘evolution’ has provided a far more (IMO) useful means of spreading information.

I often find myself getting more out of the linked sources/references or user comments than I do stories themselves.

Then there are sites such as this that are primarily ‘value added’ news disseminators, who serve to provide relevant information for their target audience. Adding insight and context to an issue/story is surely a large part of the value of the ‘linked’ nature of the web.

I can see why traditional publishers try to make closed-in ecosystems with such benefits, but personally I prefer the open approach. Then again I oppose the principal of Apple’s vertically integrated marketplace, yet it is a huge success.

Unfortunately as the web is further and further ‘monetised’ by bigger corporations, it seems less ‘tech savy’ (I don’t mean to sound condescending) users are often pushed towards ‘the big guy(s)’.
Even this is still more open and interesting than the traditional media, but it is till a step back from the true ‘read many opinions, make up your own mind’ beauty of the internet.

Vulpine Says:
March 17th, 2010 at 2:13 pm

I have to counter some of the points in the article, starting with the statement that magazine website content is free. In some cases, at least, it’s not–unless you are a subscriber to the magazine itself. In such cases, the web content is not identical to the magazine, but rather in addition to the magazine content, which is then accessible online some time later, but still only for subscribers.

Of course, this isn’t true for all magazines, and for some, like Popular Science, their entire archive is available online for free, though personally I don’t like their particular format.

I would expect, though I don’t know, that Wired and its sister publications will go the first way, including subscription-only content that can be enhanced even farther online should you decide to go there.

Zatz Says:
March 17th, 2010 at 3:45 pm

I love magazines. But I hate paper. Can’t wait until something better than Zinio comes along.

Mike J B Says:
March 17th, 2010 at 4:31 pm

@ Vulpine: The term is “paywall” and it’s becoming increasingly common for magazines and newspapers, especially for archival content.

Wall Street Journal is especially annoying with its paywall because it comes up all the time on Google News, I click on it, can’t view it, and have to go to another site.

Digital Magazines Says:
August 3rd, 2010 at 2:25 pm

I think the key point raised here is whether any publishers will, in reality, be able to produce such an involved and impressive digital issue each month. It’s easy enough to chuck resources and time at the first issue as you can spend four or five months perfecting this, but to have to produce this every month and potentially tie the content in with the content being featured in the print version will surely be impossible or at the very least hugely expensive and time consuming.

I think the only titles that will be able to do this and remain profitable will be the digital only magazines who can focus purely on the digital version and not have to work alongside a print version.

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March 17th, 2010 at 1:47 pm

[…] Digital Magazines: Prototypes, Questions, and Realities Published: March 17, 2010 Source: Technologizer On Monday, I was at South by Southwest in Austin, where I attended a panel in which representatives from Wired magazine and Adobe discussed their prototype of a digital-magazine version of Wired. Then on Tuesda… […]

where can i get some free car magazines? | Free Car Magazines Says:
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