Maghound - Time Inc.'s Netflix for Magazines
September 16, 2008
Michael Zampino in Maghound, THOUGHTS

From working in the publishing business, I hear stories about how print is dead, and publishing on the web is the new in. You can see arguments on this from both Bob Sacks www.bosacks.com, and from Samir Husni aka Mr. Magazine.

Today, to my surprise Time Inc., released their long delayed Maghound site. This is their attempt of bringing print magazines to the 21st century, but still in print form and not in digital form like Zinio. Maghound allows you to order, change, and manage all your magazines by paying a monthly fee on a tiered scale similar to Netflix, minus returning them.

Not a bad idea, but a little to late in the game for me. The other thing I can't figure out is when you order a magazine, it takes fulfillment anywhere from four to six weeks to process and send you the latest issue. Now maghound has way around this by telling you when your subscription will be delivered, but if you paid for it this month, and you get it six weeks later, you have to pay for the month in between. Which means, how do you order,  read, and then change magazines if you are stuck waiting and paying before it shows up. Hopefully the free 30 day trial makes up for it.

Oh, I forgot to mention... If it is a weekly title or is popular, you have to pay an additional premium for that title each month.

I'm going to sit back and watch what happens. I'll keep you posted.

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