We Want Media

Print magazines are going digital. Digital magazines are mimicking pint. The meeting ground isn't too far off.

The issue of magazine format is a common topic in our class. As Andrea wrote, Keith Blanchard explained Rolling Stone’s efforts to digitize its back issues. While flipping through an issue with a mouse won’t be the same as holding it, the digital versions make for easy reference, efficient distribution and preservation.

Blanchard also expressed interest in the potential for a new kind of format. Digital paper has been under development for some time but is not quite perfected yet. Nevertheless, reusable, updateable magazines of some kind seem to be on the horizon.

I would love to be able to read all 1,000-something issues, and tons of other magazines, wherever I went. iPods, MP3s and the like revolutionized the way music is consumed; digital paper could well do the same for the publishing industry.

Zoozoom, a digital lifestyle/fashion magazine (Honeyee, too), is working from the opposite direction towards the same goal. It combines the traditional print aesthetic with blogs, photo essays, streaming video, original editorial content and the like by binding everything together in easily navigable, glossy menus. There's an option to print any desired page, should the user want to assemble a more portable version.

Ads are integrated into the layout and are comparable to multi-page print layouts. There’re no popups or other annoying bombardments; ads follow up content and are dynamic, animated, and tweaked to fit the mood of the spread that preceded them.

Flipping through the pages is seamless and feels very much like a regular magazine, but with the added niceness of interactivity. The balance that print magazines have with advertising content is about the same as well. Ad spending is gearing up to focus on the Internet, says Dave Porter’s article.

If online content is soon offered on digital paper, or similar some similar media, Zoozoom and Rolling Stone could be on the same, what, rack? Who knows how they'll be sold, but digital subscriptions services (a la itunes, napster (flop?)) would be quite convenient.