Autosport magazine to stop printing magazines at the end of the year

[hoffman66]

People do it in bookshops all the time, they even have seats in there!

I guess we are all different eh

[S griffin]

By flicking through it, not buying it and putting it back, it means you can’t relook up something in there at home. Nothing much wrong with that

[Adam43]

There is a difference between flicking through to see if you want to buy it and actually reading part of it and putting it back. Or in the case of the bookshop example reading a few pages of a novel to judge it.

The point Peter is making is fair. For it to exist people have to pay for it. If you are reading it and not paying then those that read and pay are subsidising you. It’s like tax dodging. Or forgetting about VAT, I’m sure you think that cash in hand is fine, but it is subsided by those that pay properly.

As for the difference is you don’t have it as a reference? Really? It’s a magazine, even when it was good it was rarely used for that!

[S griffin]

The point is you pay to keep it. It's different for me as I have a subscription to the site, so I can read mine as easily as that

[Adam43]

I understood your point.

Is it OK to sneak into a concert because it’s not like keeping the CD?

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Adam43

There is a difference between flicking through to see if you want to buy it and actually reading part of it and putting it back. Or in the case of the bookshop example reading a few pages of a novel to judge it.

The point Peter is making is fair. For it to exist people have to pay for it. If you are reading it and not paying then those that read and pay are subsidising you. It’s like tax dodging. Or forgetting about VAT, I’m sure you think that cash in hand is fine, but it is subsided by those that pay properly.

Agreed. For a publication to be made, and then consumed, the costs have to be borne somewhere. This is usually a combination of advertising and cover price or subscription.
That is from the writer, through to printing, distribution and retail space.
If someone 'consumes' a publication without the consumption being paid for appropriately, then surely that is nothing but theft?

I don't see having an online subscription as an excuse either. That subscription is for consumption in digital format, and pays for the hosting services and other features. It does not cover printing, distribution and retail costs.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Adam43

I understood your point.

Is it OK to sneak into a concert because it’s not like keeping the CD?

I have a subscription to a music streaming service. Does that mean that if a piece of music appears from an artist, I am entitled to see them live for no cost?

[hoffman66]

Such a bizarre argument.

A musician makes money for several people when selling their music. Did they write it? The record company, the manager, the studios, the musicians possibly. All these costs are absorbed from either the record company initially as potential and later on by the artist if they make it and negotiate deals.

And gigging is their way to make some of that back a different way, it has little or nothing to do with sales of a download or a CD, it is a totally separate revenue stream!

[S griffin]

There have been music stores that allow you to listen before you buy. That’s a better comparison

[Adam43]

No, it’s not.

The reason they have these is so you can decide to buy or not. It isn’t as a replacement so you don’t have to ever buy anything.

[S griffin]

Who said anything about replacements? What has that got to do with anything?

[Adam43]

I did.

As said before, there is a difference between reviewing to decide to buy and reading in store so you don’t have to.

[P38 in workshop]

I don't know if its exactly the same in the magazine business,but I have a friend who worked in local newspapers for several years and he explained that the advertising generally pays for the paper and the cover price pays for the distribution.I think it would be informative to find how the advertisers reacted to the cover price increase as most of them are sufficiently specialised to lack sensible alternatives and the online readers may well run adblockers in any case.

[S griffin]

Let’s not make a big deal out of flicking through the magazines and get back on topic.

Clearly it seems Autosport’s idea to get more people to review content online. It had more to do with that than anything. Thankfully someone high up has seen sense and realised there is little point having extra for the magazine

[chillibowl]

interesting discussion which i am late to but have an opinion on!

while i might not call it stealing, i do think that once you open up a book, newspaper, magazine (whether it is to review or read) you irrevocably damage that product. if you open it and then dont buy it, it might actually be more akin to vandalism.

but then again i am that kind of person who feels something rewarding by opening up a newspaper or book for the very first time.

i very rarely buy physical copies of anything anymore, but for sure if i see a crease then i am 100% not going to buy that copy. its damaged goods!