Where magazines and digital meet
and have a fun time together.
This article was posted on June 19, 2012 under the category Reviews, and covers the following topics: App, Conde Nast, Entertainment Weekly, iPad, Time, Time Inc., WoodWing.
Have something to add?
Feel free to leave feedback through Twitter, Facebook, or by email. The Magaziner is also open to sponsorship enquiries -- do get in touch if you'd like to partner with us.
So what’s the deal?
Time on iPad is not new, but what is new is that as of last week, all of the Time Inc. titles are finally offering digital subscriptions, which to me means it’s finally worth picking up.
Who made it?
The production is done in-house, and as far as I know, the magazine is still being produced using the WoodWing publishing tools.
Why would I want to get this?
First off, because they finally offer decent pricing — monthly subscriptions at $3 and one year for $30, instead of $5 per issue which was previously the only option. Also, as far as newsweeklies go, it’s still the most popular title out there, and some would say the most authoritative. Personally, it’s the one magazine that we always had a subscription to growing up, and I still enjoy its voice.
What am I going to find inside?
The full issue, which usually includes digital bonuses. It also includes a nicely formatted page near the front that updates with new stories from the website.
So how do you read this thing, anyway?
I’ve had problems in the past with the way it uses a lot of “window scrolls,” something that tends to annoy me — it usually means you can’t comfortably scroll pages with your thumbs, because the “touch area” is centered on the page. I’ve gone through the latest two issues (before that I’d only experienced its “Person of the Year” issues), and although it still uses it, it doesn’t bother me as much, which is not to say I would prefer proper page scrolls.s
What were they thinking?
The biggest shock to me was that it still doesn’t support retina displays — I got a new iPad a few weeks ago, and this is the first magazine I read on it that hasn’t been upgraded for retina, and it really looked awful (and it appears to be the same for all their titles, as I experienced the same thing with Entertainment Weekly). I assume it’s just a matter of time before they do update — and that time can’t come soon enough.
Bottom line, should I buy this?
If you like Time magazine, than absolutely. The price is certainly right, and I’m still a fan of their sections and their general coverage. If you have a new iPad with retina screen, it’s certainly an eye sore compared to what you get with most other magazines out there (at least all of the Conde Nast titles), but let’s assume this will get fixed soon-ish.