It is the end of an era. PC Magazine was founded in 1982. It brought the then brand new world of PC enthusiasm to the masses. A lot of computer users subscribed to the magazine, including myself. I am still a print subscriber to the magazine and enjoy it.
Well, all good things come to and end. PC Magazine will be printing it’s last print version of the magazine in January. Thereafter, it will remain only as an online publication. RIP.
While I hate to see this, it makes enormous sense for the company. Print magazines are very expensive to print and maintain. Ziff Davis is just coming out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy and, like all companies reorganizing, they need to focus on what works and drop the rest. Well, the PCMag.com website and the digital edition of the magazine are doing very well. It apparently runs very profitably. The magazine, though, is dead weight.
Additionally, as Alley Insider observes, gadget and PC shoppers stay online now. They use websites much more than print. When you want to shop, do you wait for your next magazine to come in the mail? Or do you head over to PC World, CNET, Engadget, etc? Yeah, exactly. And Ziff Davis knows this and that’s why the online version makes so much more sense.
So, as Labol says, you might want to grab some print copies of PC Magazine for historic value. Because we’re quickly approaching your last chance to do so.
David Risley is the founder of PCMech.com. He is the brains, the thinker, the writer, the nerd.
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I would like to read the charter issue, if it was still around. That Neanderthal PC, eh, I can do without seeing it.
ORIGINAL CHARTER ISSUE. I have an original charter issue (Volume 1 Number 1) of the magazine in excellent condition. Does anyone know if there’s a market for these things?
Oh, man! My constant geek companion well into the ’90s, even if I so detested those mind-numbing blow-in cards…
It served well, and despite the times I felt they were biased against: OS/2; Linux; BeOS… They angered but rarely bored.
RIP, indeed.
[...] I reported here on PCMech that PC Magazine was ending it’s print publication. Not long after I published that, I got an email about a really cool initiative online which would [...]
Disappointing to see these long-time mag companions disappear. I guess no one reads anything but online now, which is sad really. Sometimes it’s nice just to sit somewhere and read a magazine made of real, tangible materials.
So long, and thanks for all the info over the years!