Lance Ulanoff over at PC Magazine has announced that the January 2009 edition will be the last printed edition of the 27-year old publication:
While we are energized by the endless possibilities of the digital format, I assure you that the decision to stop producing a hard-bound copy was not an easy one. But the reality is that the ever-growing expense of print and delivery was turning the creation of a physical product into an untenable business proposition.
I’m not surprised. I think more and more magazines will slowly adopt the web-only model, with special content available for “subscribers.”The most obvious problem with this model is keeping subscribers. If they can get most of the content without paying (and now don’t get a physical copy), what is to keep them writing those checks each year? Another problem is magazine rack sales. After January, no one will be able to buy PC Magazine in a bookstore or airport. That will hurt sales, but maybe the reduced cost (no paper, no ink, no shipping, etc) will make up for this loss.
I think this will creep into all genre of magazines at some point, but it makes sense for tech publications to make the jump first. But it’s still sad. There’s something nice about having something to stack up in the bathroom, you know?