PC Magazine is the latest publication to announce that after 27 years in print, it will move to online only in January 2009. In recent years, the print version of the magazine has become increasingly less popular as readers have shifted to the internet for comparative electronic reviews. Earlier this year, Ziff Davis Media, owner of the magazine, reduced the print version from biweekly to monthly and has now decided to focus efforts on PCMag.com and the electronic version of the magazine called PC Magazine Digital Edition.
In a letter to readers on PCMag’s website, Lance Ulanoff, Editor-in-Chief of PCMag Digital Network explains, “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.”
The magazine’s move to digital provides yet another example that electronic forms of reading are gaining popularity as readers shift away from traditional print for various reasons. As noted in a prior blog posting, Christian Science Monitor also recently announced the end of their print edition. What does this shift among magazines and newspapers mean for the future of other print forms, such as digital textbooks?
