Magazine Selections in Train Stations

In my youth I could've sworn there were more magazines available for sale in train stations. And the range ran the gamut from the topical and salacious to the cerebral and pithy; you could have gotten a copy of the New York Review of Books in a New York train station. I could've sworn you could buy a copy of Foreign Affairs or Foreign Policy in a New York train station. And without doubt the New Yorker and New York Magazine were commonly found. Now it seems to be limited to magazines about criminals, and women with big beautiful bottoms.

Why did this happen? No doubt online access to information has limited demand for magazines, but does anyone know if this has been written about, or discussed somewhere else?

I recall seeing Soldier of Fortune magazine in train stations. You could pick up a copy and read firsthand accounts of mercenary activity in god-forsaken parts of the world. It was cool because the New York Times would give you their version of reality, and then some amoral uber-killer would matter-of-factly tell you what he did, where he did it, and why he did it. Does anyone recall buying Cracked magazine in the train station?

Anyway, just wondering if anyone remembers these magazines and has a theory to their absence.

not a theory, they been dying for a long time when the net become available to the general public. why read about some info that was mostly out of date by print time. blogs and message boards and other sites killed the print industry.

they should of just went to the free model.

So the same could be said about all the booty magazines that are prevalent, no? One can look at that online too.

they literally give away these type of mags these days, like either its free or pay 5 bucks for the whole years subscription. I used to order magazines for my tenants to read in the laundry area, nobody ever reads them. i stop doing it.

MHA wrote: So the same could be said about all the booty magazines that are prevalent, no? One can look at that online too.

they are dying too.

Dude, you can't even get Time, Newsweek or the Economist in the train station anymore! How about the Financial Times or the Wall Street Journal. I think it's more than just the Internet siphoning off customers -- though that's a definite variable.

People are dumber.

MHA wrote: Dude, you can't even get Time, Newsweek or the Economist in the train station anymore! How about the Financial Times or the Wall Street Journal. I think it's more than just the Internet siphoning off customers -- though that's a definite variable.

People are dumber.

I've seen all of those at train stations... the key here is where the train station is

I don't think you will find the WSJ at the Franklin Ave 2-3-4-5 newsstand... but I don't know that you would find F.E.D.S. mag or Smooth mag at a newsstand at Grand Central

And while I agree that there's been some kind of general shift towards the banal and derivative, I don't know that people are getting dumber on average. I think the general public's taste in most things media related (TV, movies, music) is taking a dip, but I don't know if that fits in the context of this thread or is indicative of diminishing intelligence

the free model is not sustainable and in order to survive many of these news outlets need to go to the micropayment (or subscription - reader's choice) format.

Magazines killed themselves too. For example I stopped buying Car & Driver when I realized they put ALL their articles online about 2-3 weeks after they hit the newsstands

I remember when train stations had those pull-knob vending machines. Mostly candy bars and cigarettes. I seem to recall Nedick's having stands in a bunch of stations as well.

the ny times have been on the free model since i think 96 and still going strong. when they adopt early and do it right they do fine enough vs others who refuse to do it till its too late. by adopting latest tech and know how.

Big booty magazines remain widely available because big booties are and always will be lucrative. Hence, instead of an online version replacing the print version, BOTH versions become available so that the profits are doubled.

And let's face it, 95% of men would rather gawk at a nice ass than read boring publications like The Economist and The Nation.

talk about nudie mags guys can take those to the bathroom with them . they probably too cheap to get a laptop for the same reasons.

armchair_warrior wrote: the ny times have been on the free model since i think 96 and still going strong. when they adopt early and do it right they do fine enough vs others who refuse to do it till its too late. by adopting latest tech and know how.

No they're not. They're hemorrhaging money like almost every other national publication.

The traditional print advertising model hasn't been able to be applied to the internet, so now the media are providing the same content as before, only this time getting a fraction of the revenue.

Natl publications have been facing a major crisis with no good solution ever since the internet gained in popularity.

As I said, micropayments and online subscriptions seem to be the best models that anyone has come up with so far.

Jack Krohn wrote: Big booty magazines remain widely available because big booties are and always will be lucrative. Hence, instead of an online version replacing the print version, BOTH versions become available so that the profits are doubled.

And let's face it, 95% of men would rather gawk at a nice ass than read boring publications like The Economist and The Nation.

jacky wacky with that masers in something,

harharhar

you sure know how to crack me up, you son of a gun

harharhar