My Thoughts on “Next Issue”, The Startup Seeking to be the Netflix For Magazines
by James • July 11, 2012 • Info, News, Opinion
- Next Issue – All-you-can-read for 14.99 magazine app-startup
A new contender has emerged in the ditch-the-box ring of the content-delivery war. New app-startup “Next Issue” seeks to sell you unlimited magazine subscriptions for $9.99 $14.99 a month. Does this sound like a good deal to you? Do people even read hard-copy anything anymore? Only time will tell, but if the success of Netflix and HULU+ are any indicator, this startup will have zero issues (haha, get it? issues) demonstrating profitability.
The current state of content distribution is sad. With the news today about Viacom dropping all of their channels from DirectTV in some kind of whiny-protest, it leaves us wondering exactly how much these big media corporations have our wants and needs in mind.
Here are the requirements to get Next Issue in your home: Currently available for the iPad® or any Android™ (3.0 or greater) tablets with a screen resolution of either 1024×600 or 1280×800 pixels. Basic or Premium subscription, at $9.99 and $14.99 Respectively.
<rant>
To get a bit biased for a second, and you may skip this if you like, I really can’t fucking fathom how some of these businesses still keep their doors open. They give us shows that are great, knowing they are available elsewhere to be gotten illegally, yet they still have the balls to charge more and more every month, and show us more and more commercials. To me, viewing a commercial is still PAYING for the stuff you are showing me. In exchange for your time in delivering this show to me, I will allow you to attempt to indoctrinate (or deafen) me briefly. That’s fair enough but to send me a bill at the end of the month for 120$ is absurd, and you should be ashamed for attempting it.
</rant>
Now that we have our free trial membership, let’s take a look at the selection, shall we? After all unlimited magazine reading can still suck if it is just Marie Claire or Tiger Beat or whatever the superficial elite are reading these days.
* PREMIUM ONLY
- Allure
- Bon Appétit
- Brides
- Condé Nast Traveler
- Glamour
- Golf Digest
- GQ
- The New Yorker*
- Self
- Vanity Fair
- Vogue
- Wired
- Car and Driver
- Elle
- Esquire
- Popular Mechanics
- Better Homes and Gardens
- Fitness
- Parents
- All You
- Coastal Living
- Cooking Light
- Entertainment Weekly
- Essence
- Fortune
- Golf
- Health
- InStyle
- Money
- People*
- People en Español
- People StyleWatch
- Real Simple
- Southern Living
- Sports Illustrated*
- Sports Illustrated Kids
- Sunset
- This Old House
- Time*
So by the look of the website, this is what they have to offer. 39 magazines.I looked through the list, and figured I’d end up reading 6/39 of the magazines offered. For those of you that are wondering.. 12,19,27,28,36,39
Assuming I go for the Premium Membership, which is 14.99 a month, I’d reach a point of cost-effectiveness by reading 3-4 magazines. Even my Computer Music Magazine or Future Music Magazine both cost roughly in the neighborhood of 10-15$ depending when and where you get it.
Let me say this.. This seems like a great service and they will succeed, I’m quite sure. However, beyond a trial-run I cannot see myself joining this type of service with only 39 titles, most of which are geared toward feminine qualities. My main reason is this; I wake up in the morning, and the first thing I do is check all of my usual sources, Reddit, Twitter, not FB, and then last, my Google News feed.
Why is this? I like reading about things as they happen. This means I don’t want to wait for it to be spun and editorialized before it reaches me. When I read a magazine, I want to learn some cool niche info, or be entertained somehow. This is why I chose mainly magazines that include some type of learning element. My demographic is sadly neglected at the moment, so for now, the web fills the void that will be left when my trial membership runs out.
Here are some titles I’d like to see: Popular Science,PC Mag, Bloomberg Businessweek, VICE, Maxim, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, Reader’s Digest, Consumer Reports, Linux Magazine, Smithsonian, Men’s Health, and I’m sure I’m still missing a few.