It’s been so long since I purchased a magazine but back in the day I think it would have been $3-5 per issue, per month.
And, for a moment, to return to one of my original points and one of the prompts for starting my thread, it was MacStories/John Vorheese/AppStories post on Mastodon about today’s episode discussing a rumored Apple AR headset that does not yet exist as a product. And my initial response to them there just to point out that it would be helpful to see a review of an actual product, Affinity Publisher, that, by all accounts is pretty ground breaking for those that use iPads. The third such app that they’ve produced for the iPad. MacStories did do a story back in 2018 on Affinity Designer but I don’t think it was a full on review.
In any case, to your question about the cost of MacWorld, let’s say $5/month. To tie back into MacStories, they, like many other independents in recent years have a monthly membership ranging from $5 to $12. By all accounts they, like other recent publishers of podcasts/websites that sell ads and offer monthly memberships, are attempting to elevate their publishing status to something we might all call “professional”. Which is to say, not a hobby. I’ve been publishing to a blog, (2 actually) for most of the past 20 years. I do actually often write longer articles which are attempts at something more than just a casual throw away post. And I’ve never thought to put it behind a paywalll or sell an ad even because It’s a hobby and something I do for fun.
My point is that for the folks that have in recent years “gone independent” and who are now making a living from publishing, well, there’s an implied intent to offer something of value that’s not just off-the-cuff, informal and hobby level. Federico responded this morning that since none of them have used the Affinity apps they haven’t reviewed it. And yet they were going to spend an episode talking about an unreleased, rumored product. And I’m pointing out that so much of the Indy podcast/blogging Apple-sphere is echoing one another with the same stuff. In my response to Federico I suggested that they could interview someone from Affinity.
But really, the point here is that 20 years ago there were certain standards and there was a kind of content that we would call professional journalism. Most of those sites are long gone. I’m super happy for the folks that are making a go of being independent “content producers”, they’re following their dreams. But they’re also selling ads and memberships and this is a two way street. We listeners/readers, whether we jump into the extra paid memberships or just read/listen/watch, we’re an audience that is consuming ads and contributing our time and attention.
Given Federico’s previous attention to the iPad as a productivity device, given his focus on Apps, it would seem to me that DaVinci Resolve, Affinity Publisher, etc should get some focus from someone on their team or that they do some outreach for content as needed. That’s what paid, professional publishers do. Or, at least what I would hope they do.
Last, to emphasize, this isn’t to pick on MacStories or their team. It’s meant to be a general statement about Apple websites and podcasts that so completely echo the same content. It’s like clockwork and it’s increasingly of lower value. Some offer more value and quality than others. We can all decide that for ourselves. But in general I think the drop in quality is pretty obvious.
The more broadly focused „magazine“ style of publications have been and are declining. But I don‘t think that real reviews of real products are gone. They’ve just gone somewhere else, to smaller niches.
