I have been a longtime PopSci reader, and I must say that I still love the magazine. You have done a wonderful job, for the thirty years I have been reading it and I plan to read it till I die. Popular Mechanics too!
However, I recently stopped subscribing because I had a business that was failing and just didn't have the time. The magazines kept pilling up.
I recently purchased an iPad from Apple and love the new iPad app - it took me a while to figure it out, but I've got it now, and it's great.
Btw-I paid my brother-in-law who I owed for working at my store by giving him my much older laptop-and used the money to buy the iPad for me as a replacement.
But, my old subscriptions were about $12 per year or less, which was a great deal by the way. So, I must say that when I get a job (business died) I will have to go back to purchasing the paper product. I really don't want to, because I like the idea of the iPad digital version that I can search, copy and paste from, tweet about, etc. But, I just can't afford $4.95 an issue. You have no printing costs, and I have been twenty years in the publishing business so I know that the printing cost (which the digital version has none) is the most expensive cost. Or, at least it was in my yellow page and magazine business. I just can't understand (except that you must think iPad users are rich so why not steal from them) why you would make the digital version so much more expensive then the paper version. It's just wrong.
I will change my mind, if you reduce the cost to more like $10-15 per year, but until then I guess it's just paper for me.
By the way, I don't think you really even put the ability for me to search, copy and paste, and tweet about articles, but you should have because beyond the environmental savings and the ability to keep past issues forever (with out taking up shelf space), I cant' see any real improvement yet in the digital product over the paper one.
A+ for effort, but D- for execution.
Stop the greed, and feed my mind, and i'll feed your wallet.
Thanks. - Life time (x)subscriber (at the moment) - Michael A Fuselier
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