Snowboard Magazines - Print v. Digital

It's clear that future of media lies in the digitalization of content. While many will claim environmental inspiration, the truth is that many snowboard magazines are adapting to declining print subscriptions by offering their content digitally on-demand, but are digital subscriptions even worth it?

So what are the benefits to snowboard magazines offering their issues digitally? Put simply, the option saves a lot of green. Digital subscriptions are not only cheaper (for instance it is $16.97 for a 9 issue print subscription to TWSNOW compared to $6.97 for the digital subscription), but drastically decrease paper consumption. Another obvious plus: no more "missing" magazines from the sketchy post-office since issues are available instantly once released. Digital downloads also let you access all issues during your subscription and save them for future reference; no more giant crates of old magazines, every issue fits nicely in your flash drive. In terms of shareability, your computers screen capture makes it easy to grab a shot of that new board coming out and email it to all of your friends.

But print isn't completely without perks. From a green perspective, many magazines are eco-concious and use some form of recycled paper to eliminate unnecessary deforestation. Though more expensive than digital subscriptions, print subscriptions are reasonably priced for a tangible product that you can transport and read easily. Also, not all magazines have the resources, or the desire, to expand into the digital realm. Snowboard Mag offers their back issues for free online, but to get the goods on the new stuff you have to maintain your print subscription; other high-end magazines like Frequency: The Snowboard Journal, offer print subscriptions only.

Both print and digital have their strong points and whichever you choose, obviously you still get the exact same magazine. I personally remain subscribed to the print versions of my favorite snowboard magazines. If I ever need to reference an article, show a friend a photo; if I'm bored on a plane or if I'm just on the toilet and looking to kill some time, being able to pick up a magazine and flip to a page is just easier than adding one more open window to your screen or lugging your laptop everywhere with you (especially the bathroom). Sure, you can print out the digital magazines but that is likely going to be much harder on the environment, not to mention your wallet--printer ink isn't cheap--than the issues the publisher produces from recycled paper.

Now the iPhone and iPod Touch have broken the barriers of portable accessibility, and I'm sure someday soon you will be able to read your digital subscriptions anywhere and anytime on those devices if you aren't able to already... but even then, who wants to try to read that many words on such a tiny little screen? At any rate you've heard the pros, you've heard the cons, and hopefully this makes it easier to decide which subscription is right for you.