Streaming is all the rage now. Why pay for cable when you can stream just about any movie through Netflix, or Crave, or Shomi, etc... for pennies on the dollar compared to a cable bill.
Music? Why buy that album when I can listen to it via Google Play Music.
Subscription based services have really risen lately.
Magazines, like most print media have long since adopted a digital platform as a means of securing future revenue. So you can go out and get a subscription to a publication online, or via a service like Google Play Books, etc...
Magzter... well, for lack of a better term has positioned itself as the "Netflix of Magazines". Pay one subscription fee to Magzter and you're covered for the breadth of the magazines/publications they have access to.
And, like Netflix you pay just $7.99 a month. Not bad.
Well, I say $8/month, but that's for their Gold program (unlimited reading of thousands of magazines), whereas for just $5/month you can limit yourself to just 5 magazines.
So, which magazines are applicable?
Check out: http://www.magzter.com/magztergold/magazines
They list about 3500+ magazines. You're bound to find a couple you'd like...
So, once you're signed in you are met with a pretty standard interface. You have articles (from magazines) that are pulled out specifically for you based on your interest. Scroll up or down between them, click on one and then you swipe left (or is it swipe right? I forget) to read the next sections.
The Magazines options you look through as well, click on a magazine you like and if it's a freebie, then you can do the same.
Now, what is kind of irksome is that they show you magazines, that even with the Gold package, you still would have to pay for (per issue or per subscription).
Personally, I would prefer to leave them all out of that option (I don't want to scroll through Netflix and see a movie I want and then be asked to pay for it).
The navigation option, as you scroll through a magazine is fairly ... 'archaic'. I guess after seeing what CAN be done with the apps like the Toronto Star's.
Scrolling around and having to zoom in and out feels a little 'old school'. Especially when there's a 2 page spread that you end up looking at each page separately.
You do have the option of sharing your articles/pages to friends and there is the option to send a cropped snippet of it out.
What was also neat was that you could tell it to only notify you of a new subscription edition or interesting article between specific times of the day. That's helpful.
There's also a family plan option, with Gold you get it for free, where you can share you subscription with up to 4 family members (saves having them having to know your password info).
I found the service to be very good. I'm not much of a magazine reader, but I found a few that I'd be interested in. If you find yourself reading even one magazine a month, it almost makes financial sense to just get the Gold program.
Give it a shot!
Source: Magzter.com
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