iPad for Magazines

Last month, several of the IT magazines ceased publishing paper copies of their publications and moved to digital only copies.  I now have the ability to read these publications and others on my iPad and have been doing so for a few months now.  There are both positive and negative factors in this reading experience.

First, the positive.  The most obvious benefit is the ability to carry around all of my magazines with me on the iPad I already have in my bag.  This also enables me to hold onto older issues without additional physical weight or space (until I run out of storage space on my iPad).  I also like the option some of the publishers provide where I can select a a magazine view or a text view of each article.  However, one of the biggest benefits is the ability to search the content either within an issue or across issues.

Next, the negative.  I still miss the feel of paper but not the physical space it takes up.  I am also limited in my ability to simply give the magazine to a student or colleague when I'm finished with it.  The biggest drawback I have experienced so far is the lack of visibility of the magazine in my workflow.  In the old days (last year) I would have a stack of publications I'm reading through and when I get a new publication I add it to the pile.  Now with the digital only versions, they are not visible in my pile and I have to remember to go to my iPad and find the magazine.

There are both benefits and challenges to this new delivery method for the publishers.  I don't have any real complaints but this is something that may take awhile to get used to.  Will it continue or is the "magazine" concept becoming old fashioned?