I’ve always liked the idea of an eReader because they are thin and handy so you can read on-the-go. But back before there were eReaders, magazines filled that gap. Magazines were great because they were foldable, didn’t get your hands dirty like newspapers, weren’t collectible (like comics), had a lot of bite-sized reads and didn’t cost a lot (this was back when magazines were $3-$4 with occasional 99¢ special issues). You could just put it in your back pocket and then check it out when you’re done.

EReaders satisfy most of those criteria except that I tend to read books on them. There are ways to get shorter reads on your eReaders – I’ve tried exporting my instapaper backlog onto my Kindle, and there’s always Kindle Singles.

In reality, I don’t carry my eReader around that much, because my phone is a better alternative. Out of curiosity, I finally checked out Google Play Books & Magazines – the magazines part. I’ve seen magazines being sold through the Play store for a long time (they have 99¢ issues again! as long as you’re willing to buy back issues only) and have been curious to see how the interface is, but I’ve been too cheap to buy one to try it out.

After some searching, I found that there are a couple of free magazines you can subscribe to:

• AUX MAgazine is a music magazine from Canada. It’s actually a pretty good interface and fees like a small Android app. I’m not too interested in the content though because it mostly focuses on lesser-known, possibly up-and-coming Canadian artists.
• ShortList is a men’s general interest magazine from the UK (without the girls). I might read this occasionally just to see what sort of advertisement and materialistic goods they talk about across the pond.
• Stylist is a woman’s lifestyle magazine, but I didn’t download it because it didn’t seem very interesting to me as I was a guy

I also had a couple of freebie issues which I suppose I received when they launched the app. I also look at them but was disappointed that unlike AUX magazine, the magazines were basically scanned JPGs that you can zoom in to. I was hoping for a more interactive experience! Because of the size differences, I think I would rather read paper format magazines than reading them on a phone. I would probably pick paper over tablet too, because you can bend and fold the paper.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: android, google