How are we going to be able to recruit new comers into becoming electronic engineers when there are no magazines available (at least to my knowledge) there doesn't seem to be any. Years ago I can remember Practical Electronics as one such magazine.
I have been scouring the magazine racks in the largest newsagent in my City and drew a complete blank, plenty for modelling, boating, biking, Arduino, Raspberry Pie etc but zero in straight forward pure electronics.
Does anyone know of anything thats is available here in the UK and are my findings typical in other countries?
Here we have Nuts and Volts, and Servo, but they're hard to find unless you go to a very large book store. You really need to subscribe if you have any interest. I think Circuit Cellar is still around also.
This one seems to still exist:
http://www.epemag.com/
The internet happened. Traditional newspapers and magazines all have a hard time.
And here in Australia we have Silicon Chip (which just celebrated its 30's anniversary) and the newcomer Diyode.
Having two newsagent magazines brings us back to the 1970s - 1990s era levels.
In Germany, there are Funkamateur and Elektor
In Uruguay all Electronics Magazines are dead.
The beloved "Corriente Alterna" was published from 1926 up to the 80s
Not long ago, Elektor had a free offer which was discussed here, and I took them up on it, and thought it was pretty good.
But when the three month trial subscription ended, I didn't renew it because it was too expensive.
I thought that if they didn't print the magazine, and simply had PDFs, and it was cheaper, I likely would have subscribed.
Oh yes, likewise. That was a good free offer (is there any other kind?
), it gave full access to all of the back issue PDFs too.
It was a one day offer on Boxing Day as I remember, probably worth keeping an eye out this year!
Prices? $10-12 per issue here for EPE or Elektor, full of ads.
Had a subscription to Silicon Chip Magazine, loved it but extra international shipping. Spilt milk on an issue eatin' breakfast, and found out I would have to pay TWICE for the same content if I wanted the electronic version of the same issue. Couldn't buy A4-sized binders. Adobe Flash on-line viewing only; can't read on an airplane. It was just too much hassle, sorry Leo.
The internet happened. Traditional newspapers and magazines all have a hard time.
The internet did happen, but all too often we hear the blame for failing business passing onto the internet. Surely any good business embraces the internet, or takes it on and really don't think that sticking prices up to the point where people decide enough is enough and walk away from buying magazines. These days in the UK it is possible to pick some newspapers for free in supermarkets because the advertisers cover the cost. Lets face it from what I remember of the electronics magazines, almost half of the content was adverts and while the adverts are useful, I for one object to paying a royally handsome fee for adverts to be almost 50% of the content, plus year on year the pages got less.
I really cannot see how these days with modern computers and the printing is contracted out to printers who are running their presses 24/7 that cost to the consumer should be rising for minimalist real content.
There are three still available in the UK...
EPE - A fusion of what used to be Practical Electronic and Everyday Electronics - it seems to take a lot of its projects from its Australian counterpart these days.
http://www.epemag.com/
Elektor - much as it always was, based in the Netherlands
https://www.elektor.com/magazines/single-issues-print
Practical Wireless - Pretty much unchanged by the ravages of time!
If you want a bit of Nostalgia, you can find many of the back issues, together with titles like ETI at.. http://www.americanradiohistory.com/
Having now been to these sites, I'm surprised at the cost of the subscriptions, especially for PDFs that you have to download (if you can) and printout, its stupidly high, given that there are now no typesetters etc that they used to have to pay for before, no printing presses because its just a PDF file, something that they have to produce or something very similar to be emailed to printer if it was a printed mag anyway and to boot they are asking for a minimum of 6 months subscription, why not have a non printable version that is browsable on line that a customer could have look through to see if they were happy with the content of the mag.
With a printed copy, this you could do in a newsagents to help make up your mind, many magazines are impulse purchases, coloured by an article within the magazine itself.
In real terms I would have thought that the cost of producing an online magazine should be far lower and need far less staff, smaller premises etc, in other words the overheads should be dramatically reduced but the costs of a years subscription does not seem to reflect that at all.
I think I'll look out to see if they have any special deals / offers on as said in your later post before committing to a subscription.
I think the decline started well before the internet. short wave magazine and radio constructor are two titles I can think of that vanished well before the advent of the internet. From a publishing point of view who's going to buy that crap anyway, it's all down to sales. It's a very small minority market and getting smaller, the same probably applies to companies like Maplin who used to sell to a small minority market and who are trying to change things around to attract more customers. Edit: Missed Daves post about DIYODE magazine, good luck guys
I liked the old Wireless World mag, especially the discussion in the "letters" section.
I particularly remember, one occasion when letters discussing an article by Ivor Katt were penned by folk adopting silly nom-de- plumes, such as:-
Ouida Dogg & Weaver-Mowse.
Very erudite people, but hilarious with it.
Of course, forums ( fora?) like this one have taken the place of the old "letters" section, but with virtually instant access.
[/quote]
With instant access you forgo the erudition.
[/quote]
And the politeness and the ability to have a decent discussion.
Although in its day there were some heated exchanges on the “letters to the editor “ section, no profane insults or ad hominem attacks would be allowed by the magazine editor.
The internet happened. Traditional newspapers and magazines all have a hard time.
Seriously. He asked this question on an internet forum? REALLY?
The internet happened. Traditional newspapers and magazines all have a hard time.
Seriously. He asked this question on an internet forum? REALLY?
No he didn't ask that question, he made that statement to a question I posed regarding magazines. Its easier to read something on paper then it is on a screen, you can read it anywhere without the sun washing out the screen, battery going flat or losing internet connection and you can build up a library and can even read then in the dunny or as many do, in the bath etc.
The internet did happen, but all too often we hear the blame for failing business passing onto the internet. Surely any good business embraces the internet, or takes it on and really don't think that sticking prices up to the point where people decide enough is enough and walk away from buying magazines. These days in the UK it is possible to pick some newspapers for free in supermarkets because the advertisers cover the cost. Lets face it from what I remember of the electronics magazines, almost half of the content was adverts and while the adverts are useful, I for one object to paying a royally handsome fee for adverts to be almost 50% of the content, plus year on year the pages got less.
I really cannot see how these days with modern computers and the printing is contracted out to printers who are running their presses 24/7 that cost to the consumer should be rising for minimalist real content.
Sure, but you can't deny that traditional magazines and newspapers have had a rough time all across the board, in nations all over the globe, ranging from small time outfits to huge multibillion companies. That indicates that there has been a real change, rather than a few people who failed and blamed the internet.
Of course, there are new opportunities to be had, but often the problem is that the one with an already existing and now obsolete infrastructure is disadvantaged compared to a new outfit.
The internet did happen, but all too often we hear the blame for failing business passing onto the internet. Surely any good business embraces the internet, or takes it on and really don't think that sticking prices up to the point where people decide enough is enough and walk away from buying magazines. These days in the UK it is possible to pick some newspapers for free in supermarkets because the advertisers cover the cost. Lets face it from what I remember of the electronics magazines, almost half of the content was adverts and while the adverts are useful, I for one object to paying a royally handsome fee for adverts to be almost 50% of the content, plus year on year the pages got less.
I really cannot see how these days with modern computers and the printing is contracted out to printers who are running their presses 24/7 that cost to the consumer should be rising for minimalist real content.
Sure, but you can't deny that traditional magazines and newspapers have had a rough time all across the board, in nations all over the globe, ranging from small time outfits to huge multibillion companies. That indicates that there has been a real change, rather than a few people who failed and blamed the internet.
Of course, there are new opportunities to be had, but often the problem is that the one with an already existing and now obsolete infrastructure is disadvantaged compared to a new outfit.
Hence "embrace" the Internet, adapt the business model to incorporate the Internet as part of the core operations and then they run the real risk of becoming truly international. The printing and distribution headaches become a thing of the past.
Hence "embrace" the Internet, adapt the business model to incorporate the Internet as part of the core operations and then they run the real risk of becoming truly international. The printing and distribution headaches become a thing of the past.
Sure, but as we've already established, it's often easier to start from scratch than it is to reconstruct your existing business, with all sorts of investments and liabilities attached.
Hence "embrace" the Internet, adapt the business model to incorporate the Internet as part of the core operations and then they run the real risk of becoming truly international. The printing and distribution headaches become a thing of the past.
Sure, but as we've already established, it's often easier to start from scratch than it is to reconstruct your existing business, with all sorts of investments and liabilities attached.
I don't see how difficult it is to do, sell the printing side as company in its own right. Distribution was via wholesalers the rest of the business remains the same BUT instead of having it printed, you turn it into a pdf, one computer is all is required to do that and it gets emailed via automated system to subscribers.
I don't see how difficult it is to do, sell the printing side as company in its own right. Distribution was via wholesalers the rest of the business remains the same BUT instead of having it printed, you turn it into a pdf, one computer is all is required to do that and it gets emailed via automated system to subscribers.
Considering how many magazines and publishers went out of business, it's apparently not that easy. Who's going to buy a printing press location without customers and in a steadily declining market? Printers all over the world are struggling to survive. Even if you do sell it, it's probably going to fetch a fairly measly amount of money. That means writing off a lot of capital, which could lead to bankruptcy in itself, especially if there's loans against the property. That's the kind of strings attached I was referring to before. Traditional companies have made investments and committed to various things and you can't just back out and forget about it without taking a financial hit. That's often not feasible for an already struggling company.
Selling digital editions just like you used to sell them physically isn't going to work either. A lot of companies tried and failed. The internet provides news for free and does it quicker than any newspaper ever could. Why would people pay? Only now the public is starting to realize that the fast and quick news of the internet doesn't always have the same quality newspapers used to have, but it's taken a while.
It's fairly typical, though. Again and again you see the same thing happening in declining industries. It's not always an advantage to be a big player in a dying market.
BUT instead of having it printed, you turn it into a pdf, one computer is all is required to do that and it gets emailed via automated system to subscribers.
And the pdf copy gets put on bit torrent, or passed to friends, etc.
BUT instead of having it printed, you turn it into a pdf, one computer is all is required to do that and it gets emailed via automated system to subscribers.
And the pdf copy gets put on bit torrent, or passed to friends, etc.
How do other magazines get around this then, there are loads of the glossy monthlies now distributed electronically as per this site,
https://gb.zinio.com/ so there has to be a suitable solution.
I have been inside many companies where they buy a single copy of a magazine and then it goes onto a circulation list and works its way throughout the company being passed on from person to person, how does that differ from a PDF being passed on, which in my experience tends to happen more the expensive ones. People like to collect sets of the magazines and then pop them into binders and use them as reference books in the future etc.