The last print edition of PC Magazine will be the January 2009 issue. All subscribers will be moved to the digital edition. I’ve been a subscriber for the last decade and have watched them make several changes in the last few years that haven’t worked.
The first nail was the new redesign that only gave a cursory review and prompted you to go online for the full version: if I wanted to read a review online I wouldn’t buy a magazine. Next they dropped the twice monthly print and went to monthly. This move extended my paid subscription to 2014: will I get a refund on my remaining five years?
I enjoyed some of the new concepts, like the bold colours and how to articles. For me a print tech magazine has to fulfil two rolls: update me on new products via reviews and show me how to do things. Regurgitating press releases is useless and news is now for the web. I want to read solid reviews of new products so I can make informed purchases and I want to see how to use or better use items I already have.
The best examples of tech magazines for me are both English: PC Pro and Custom PC. Luckily I can get them in Southern Ontario. PC Pro does what I want and goes far beyond: they actually have a business section that reviews business hardware and software, plus have a slew of articles from a variety of tech writers each month. Custom PC is like the old Boot magazine before it became Maximum PC and lost it’s edge and tech savvy: lots of great reviews, how-to’s and in depth tech articles.