What – if any – physical print media do you buy?

Hayburner. Occasionally pickup a model railway magazine. Not bought a biking magazine for years and years – none of them did anything for me. I simply ride my full suspension bike on trails that make me happy. I have zero interest in: racing, bike packing, gravel, entry level bikes, group tests about rear mechs, biased reviews, articles about riding in weird places etc.

When Saturday Comes – I’m no longer a huge football fan but I love the quality of writing in it. Few things more relaxing for me than reading that with a pint in a quiet pub.

Athletics Weekly – Not every issue but from time to time, I read it religiously as a kid and not find myself back in that scene and it’s a good read.

And that’s it.

Books from my local 2nd hand bookstore.

Private Eye.  Don’t read all of it, and some weeks it’s just the cartoons.

When Saturday Comes. I don’t really do football but the writing is excellent and has some thought-provoking articles.

Both get passed onto neighbours when I am done

Books

I get various outdoor brands shoving paper mags/advertorials in my direction but I refuse as I don’t see the point.

Various books on occasion.
The only thing I have subscribed to is ‘The Week’ as it is a great summary of the news

Subscription to Red magazine for the Mrs, and I get Car Mechanics mag as she set me up a subscription but I pretty much never read it

Otherwise books- last couple were:

Eject Eject, John Nichol

They All Love Jack, Bruce Robinson

next to read

The Fire of Joy, Clive James

East West Street (second copy after last one was accidentally given to charity shop)

Bicycle Quarterly and Rough Stuff Fellowship magazines, recently resubscribed to STW to help support it, occasionally will buy Black and White photography magazine and The Wire, still much prefer paper books and have an ever increasing pile of those.

Cranked till Seb called it a day. FWIW the articles won’t age much and Misspent Summers are selling the remainder of the back issues.

Shredder but missed a few issues.

Private Eye when I’m on a work trip.

2000ad digital subscriber which suits my reading habits.

None.

I read various magazines (Trail, Country walking, various photography magazines etc) for free as part of my library membership.

Books I get for free as part of my library membership. Includes Audio books and ebooks as well. If there’s a book I want to read and the library doesn’t have it, I ask them nicely and they buy it in.

I’m genuinely confused as to why more people don’t use libraries.

Top Gear Magazine Subscription for toilet duties.
Articles are just the right length for a fully engaged evacuation ,
Usually lasts the whole month reading it so 😁

[Top Gear Magazine Subscription for toilet duties.]

I find top gear a bit too shiny for toilet duties, but the matt finish of private eye is adequate. The graun is just too thin…

But I’m almost completely digital these days. Occasional copy of cyclist if travelling on business, have harvard business review on a business sub, but mostly use online.

STW is a digital download, but only seem to read on holiday

Have just started a new scientist sub to encourage the boy to go beyond insta and snap for info.

Do free local magazines through the letterbox count?

Bought a few books over the past couple of years to try and get back into reading long-form stuff like I used to. Finished some of them, not started others.

His room at home is just full of books.

Kindle (other choices exist…) does have a definite advantage there. Would need to either carry out regular prunings or would run into the catch 22 of needing a rather bigger house to store them at which point the mortgage would prevent me adding anymore.

For me:

Occasional books where its image/maps heavy and so dont work well on kindle.

Private eye, economist and single track on subscription.

Books lots of books!

STW subscription

Occasionally buy New Scientist, Autosport and Delicious if there looks to be any good recipes in it.

Used to really like Wired and like New Scientist had a subscription but from it’s early days I just don’t enjoy it anywhere nearly as much anymore

I’m genuinely confused as to why more people don’t use libraries.

I like owning physical things. My bookshelves would be empty if I used a library.

Positive News

As per the title really. Lots of interesting articles about actual positive things that are happening in the world.

Other than that, the only magazines we have are ones my wife has fished out of our neighbours’ bins 😁

Singletrack and MBUK, Practical Classics and Classic Retro Modern for cars, and PC Gamer and White Dwarf because I am a nerd.

TBH I mostly stay subbed to MBUK and Classic Retro Modern just because I love print magazines, websites etc are no substitute at all, they’re just a different thing (and “online magazines” are just badly formatted websites). When Practical Performance Car went down the tubes I figured I’d be a wee bit more generous about deciding whether a mag was worth subbing.

Singletrack, Practical Classics and Land Rover Monthly (or Owner, can’t remember which one is still going this far into a night!😂)

Whilst all of my book reading is via Kindle and most stuff is available online I do enjoy sitting with a brew and a paper magazine.

I was going to cancel my STW magazine and just go digital, as much to stop stockpiling as finding it less relevant as I’ve gotten into my senior years 😔

STW and MBUK. I don’t read much of the latter but subscribed last year because I thought that UK mountain biking without Mint Sauce would be a poorer place.

Several magazines, loads of books and the occasional Sunday newspaper. I find reading via  an actual physical item far more satisfying than reading on a tablet or phone.

Proper books and magazines also hold my attention far more than online articles do.

I still buy lots of books,CBA with Kindle.

Old Bike Mart

The Guardian on most Thursday and Fridays.

Occasionally the Observer, but its often disappointing.

Private Eye ,Classic Bike and the New Scientist if passing through an airport or station.

Singletrack, obvs.

I have a Guardian digital subscription, but at the weekend I do like getting a physical printed copy. Guardian on a Saturday, Observer on a Sunday.

It’s part of the weekend ritual. Getting buttery fingerprints on it while eating toast and flicking through the foody section of recipes I’ll never cook

Books. I’m reading Bob Mortimers biography at the moment. It’s very good

Just Singletrack now
And books occasionally at Christmas (mostly maths/sciencey type). Can’t beat the feel of them, and the smell.

Did have a sub to another mag that started out as a Kickstarter by guys that quit Future/Dennis, but now that’s sold on to a big publishing house, I let it lapse.

Have considered some e-Subs (eg some kind of maker “magazine” for inspiration) but whenever I’ve looked at electronic versions before, everything just goes in to the big “must get around to it” inbox, and never comes out. At least Singletrack paper copy I can read 1 story each time I go for a dump.

STW is the only mag I subscribe to now.

Throughout the ’80s and ’90s it was

Scootering/Scooter Scene

Custom Car/Street Machine

Used to be an avid book reader but now it’s more Netflix and beer in the evenings

Switched back to paper with books and magazines.

Just feels better. You can lose yourself and are not distracted in the same way.

Currently reading Dissolution by CJ Sansom. I’m hooked. Several other books lined up.

Subscribe to When Saturday Comes. Still a football fan. Love their take on football at all levels.

Love Groundtastic ( Football Grounds)- an anoraks delight…. I won’t deny it. Will buy when doing a groundhop weekend. I’ve done 357 grounds. Sofar.

Ocassionally read The Economist, Private Eye and the New Statesman.

Subscribe to the Cyclist and Singletrack (Sentimental reasons mainly) . Some of my best times have been mountain biking.

Very rarely buy a physical paper now.

I’m reading Bob Mortimers biography at the moment. It’s very good

So am I! And yes it is.

Read the The Satsuma Complex first, and then moved on to this.

Viz and the Road Rat.

Eyesight becoming an issue for viz…

Tend to subscribe to one physical mag a year -especially if they have a nice freebie on offer – this year its Guitarist as they had a qood quality Ernie Ball strap which was basically worth 2/3 or the sub price. Last year it was PC Pro with a free pair of excellent Austrian Audio headphones which were worth more than the sub price and I was going to buy anyway!

After a year of a magazine it gets a bit samey.

The mag I’ve bought more than any other is probably STW unsurprisingly, either as a sub or single issues but I’ve just got bored with it now – I’m not really into the gear anymore as its all stupid money now, just happy with what I have and there is only so much I want to read about other people riding bikes…..

I buy A LOT of books – both new and used. Hate using a kindle though my wife swears by it. I tried and really didn’t like it.

But then I tend to listen to vinyl and CDs as well over streaming – I just feel you concentrate more on what you are doing when using physical media over digital content of any description.

Ah yes, memberships, I’d forgotten about the Cycling UK magazine, whatever it’s called. I wish they wouldn’t produce it, I never read it.

Forgot about this one too! Also the BMC one and we get the odd National Trust thing through. As above they either get skimmed or straight in the recycling. The main entertainment from the Cycling UK one is in wondering how they consistently manage to make it so uninteresting.

Singletrack!

Wired (USA)

PsittaScene [sic]

occasional copies of Private Eye

loads of comics including 2000AD & Judge Dredd Megazine [sic]

like a few folks already, lots of physical books

SO gets gardener’s world, BBC history

Edit – I forgot the National Trust magazine

otherwise I read film magazines (total film, empire, SFX) and others online through the city library’s subscription on BorrowBox.

I’ve got subscriptions to Singletrack and The Week.  I occasionally buy Private Eye.

Books from my local 2nd hand bookstore

Same. Very rarely do I buy new.

Geographical magazine.

Mum gets my kids Phoenix magazine and they get heaps of 4×4, Mx and mtb mags from the local library.

None. Have a copy of Bike mag that I bought around eight years back on an airport, not had a book or paper since. Books only on Kindle. Pretty much ditched all TV/radio for streaming too.

Only other magazines are those that come with a membership to something else. I read physical books but we still have an old fashioned thing in town called a “library” so I tend to get them from there.

I’ve subscribed to SFX for a decade or more.  I should probably cancel it, but then I installed a magazine rack next to the bog a couple of weeks back so…

I do have a Kindle. I’m considering upgrading to a Paperwhite so I can read in bed

The regular Kindle has a lit display now.  You don’t need a Paperwhite, just one that was made in the last few years.  I have I think a 6th gen Paperwhite, my partner a 9th or 10th gen Kindle, they’re virtually identical.

Cyclist mag. Bought number one and subscribed. Got them all.  Apart from the odd bit of STW and CUK it is the only media I look at. Apart from non fiction book that is.

Got years of cycling mags in the attics, literally a 12 foot high stack of Land Rover mags, nearly a complete set of Mountain, over a complete set of On the Edge and all the little TBM mags. Can’t bring myself to bin them although the LR ones could go.

A screen is not the same and doesn’t lend itself to casual browsing or reading in the garden.

The regular Kindle has a lit display now.  You don’t need a Paperwhite, just one that was made in the last few years

Good to know, thanks.