What I’m wondering

Now that school is back in session, I’m spending a little bit of time sitting in my car… in carpool, waiting for dance class, etc. And that time is usually spent catching up on reading. Reading my current book of choice or reading one of the magazines I subscribe to.

I love magazines. I love the glossy, sleek pages. I love the streamlined design, the catchy fonts and colorful titles and the glorious photography. The latent graphic designer in me is in heaven when I find a well laid-out magazine.

Some of my current favorites are Family Circle, Real Simple and Taste of Home. They give me ideas for taking care of my family and usually provide some general entertainment when I’m stuck in car rider line. My guilty pleasure that I read when I travel is Vanity Fair. I like the fact that the articles are long (and interesting) and get me through long flights when I can’t read on my e-reader.

But one of my pet peeves, since I have an e-reader, is that, should I want to read my magazine on my e-reader, I’d have to pay for a completely different subscription in addition to my paper magazine subscription. Way back when I used to subscribe to the Martha Stewart family of magazines, I got access to the electronic magazine included in my paper subscription. It was a great perk that spoiled me utterly.

I admit, I love, love, love reading a paper magazine. More so than the electronic version. I love sliding those glossy pages along each other as I peruse the pages and read the articles. I love being able to read them in carpool line or at the pool without worry of wear and tear and water damage. I love being able to tear out the one page with a recipe, or an article, that I want to share or save, without having to keep the whole darn thing when I’m finished.

What I don’t love is that they are big and bulky to carry around… which leads me to wishing I could read them on an e-reader. I have tried. Lord knows, I’ve tried. For several magazines I tried electronic versions, thinking I would drop the paper completely and read them only on the e-reader. But it just wasn’t the same. It seems sterile. And I don’t get the same “feel” as I’m flipping through the pages. Some of them are hard to read because the font size is so small – or you have to use the “article view” which totally ruins the “read the words and look at the picture at the same time” vibe you get with a paper magazine.

But it is nice having six months of magazines on my e-reader to peruse or review a recipe at will. And that is why I wish I had access to all my magazine subscriptions on my e-reader… AND my paper magazines, too.

What?

I can’t have it all?

Apparently not.

While some magazines, like Martha Stewart, offer complimentary access to their electronic version of their magazines to subscribers, most I’ve found do not. And this is really too bad. The way I see it, I’ve already paid the premium for them to print and ship the magazine to me. (paper subscriptions are a lot more than e-versions) I don’t think it costs them any more effort, hassle or money to provide me access to download the e-version to the same issue.

What do you think?

Are you an e-reader gal? Or are you paper only?

Do you do like me and waffle between the two?

I guess, at some point, I’ll make the cut over to electronic-only. But I am not sure when. Even though I have an e-reader (multiple, actually) I still love holding a real BOOK in my hands. Even though I use an electronic calendar, I still love writing things down in my PLANNER. There is just something about the tactile sensation of these activities.

I’m in a quandary – and the publishers would make my life so much easier if they’d just let me have my cake and eat it too, so to speak.

What do you think?