I have been reding Model Railroader Magazine on and off for over 40 years and I still enjoy reading it. That being said, I can’t helpm but notice that you got a lot more magaZine back in the 80s than you do today. I know that everything is getting more expensive, take the engines for instance. I sure do miss the old Athern line. Yes the engines are a lot more expensive but in general you get a lot better Quality and alot more technology.
This happening to just about every magazine. The Internet has made those 4-12 page advertisements from discount dealer obsolete. If they even have an ad, it usually show a few ‘hot’ items, and instructs one to their web site for more details. I have not done any ‘page counting’, but I suspect the ‘meat’ of the magazine(construction articles/reviews/layouts) really has not dropped too much. Kalmbach is going to a printed/web format as seen by the ‘Subscriber Only’ content. And of course the ‘price’ keeps going up - what’s new!
Jim
If you look closely you will see the older MRs was a mecca of advertisements from manufacturers to mail order hobby shops that used several pages for their ads…Today we have less pages of advertisements and most of the old mail order shops has departed the scene or can be found on the web.
I kinda like the slim and trim MR since I don’t have to thumb through several pages of advertisements.
Of course I miss some of the old columns like paint shop and BS session.
Back in the days before the internet, you knew a new product was coming out when it appeared the magazine or by word of mouth. Now a days, the second it pops up on the internet, it’s being reported on forums like this minutes later. Either that or the manufacturers are sending email press releases to their fans. By the time MRR or the other major publications announce or show ads for the new products, it’s already old news by a month or 2. Even inventory advertised in print was the inventory at least 2 months prior since there is a lag between the submission deadline and the time the magazine hits the newstands. And for hobby shops/dealers, there’s only so much room to print their inventory. It’s easier to just say “here’s a website, go there to see our entire stock”. Trainworld and Toy Train Heaven have gone from 4 to 6 page ads to 1 page ads.
It’s just the result of changing technology and those who adapt will survive.
I like the ads in MR. Really. They’re all for train products. They let me know what’s out there. More important, they are targeted ads, not garbage saturation ads for hair coloring or septic tank cleaning. I can read an entire news magazine, for example, from cover to cover, and when I get to the end I can’t tell you one product that was advertised, but the ads in MR are almost as good as the articles, and sometimes even better. An ad for a new Rapido release, for example, is more informative and better photographed than a review of the same model.
I occasionally click on a link on the forums, but mostly I don’t. So, for those advertisers who might want a few minutes of my eyeball-time, go with print ads in MR. I may be a relic, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a lot more guys like me out there.
Model Railroader has to straddle a fine line between revenue from the print magazines and how much article content it can print. Within the next ten years, paper magazines will become a thing of the past. with e readers and tablets rising on the market, and forums such as this (one of a million railroad forums), the need for a central magazine format may also dwindle.
There is still a need for paper magazines because there is still a number of modelers who read them over an electronic format. There is also a large population of modelers who don’t own computers, but as the cost of computers goes down and more people make computers a part of their lives, print format will fade away.
I would agree with Mr. Beasley. Give me a print copy any day. I do not have reliable internet at home and more and more I get increasingly frustrated by the fact that there malicious people out on the internet that want to mess up my computer because I have never done anyting to them! So I only get to see these forums at work. And somedays I am lucky enough to have the time to do so. Like today.
If you keep your anti virus up to date you have very little to worry about on the web.
I have been on the web since 2001 and none of my past computers has never had a virus…My anti virus has warn me many times of unsafe sites…
You may have gotten a fatter magazine in the past, but the overall modeling content hasn’t diminished that much – there aren’t as many talky columns as there once were.
I much prefer getting a well-edited magazine that can be saved as a reference, instead of wading through page after page of dubious Internet material. MR and RMC have both stepped up their game in the past year and gone beyond beginner articles. There are many good historical society magazines, web sites and groups but online there’s a lot of posing, chatter, and dubious information.
Postal rates and paper costs have risen sharply over the past decade – these have done as much to shape the look of printed publications as Internet competition.
More than 100 magazines are now available in e-reader format and the number is growing every day. They don’t eliminate the print version; they publish both. The e-reader version avoids the cost of printing and mailing. E-books can even be borrowed from many public libraries. It is the way of the future.
But I bet when the day comes that the e-reader version outsells the print version …
If you keep your anti virus up to date you have very little to worry about on the web.
I have been on the web since 2001 and none of my past computers has never had a virus…My anti virus has warn me many times of unsafe sites…
this is part of the problem. The expense of protection. It is a whole lot cheaper to simply not have the internet at home. thus I have more money for the railroad.
I do (did) also subscribe to several magazines of the religious variety. I am a retired pastor, also a retired computer support person who spent 28 years with the Federal Reserve automation program, and another 10 with the Santa Fe information systems department. I don’t subscribe to any computer mags but one anymore, got burnt out when I took early retirement. But, the point is, the magazines I get from the religious presses is also loaded with lots of ads for books, magazines, furniture, builders, etc. but not much of a religous content for a pastor. As I do still fill in supply as a pastor, I try to keep current, and it is hard with religous mags.
I think MR is coming out leaner and meaner, and to be perfectly frank (whoever he is), I never did pay as much attention to advertising as I did articles, unless I was looking for information for a product and places to buy it.
I will continue to support MR even if the ads aren’t numerous, after all you only buy soo much “stuff” and my wife thinks I am “stuffed out now”.
Bob
Like Brakie, I like the “slimmed down” version of MR 'cause I don’t hafta push through mega-pages of advertisements. I personally do not care for the electronic type as I reckon I am just old-fashioned and enjoy paging through the mag.[C):-)]
Well, that explains all the N scale articles this month!~ The magazine is smaller!
Lee
I don’t subscribe to the current business model of, "You have 24 hours to send me your deposit for something I may or may not produce in the next 12 months. I like to envision how something fits in my scheme and. How it tested and contemplate a picture. Faster isn’t aways better. A pox on internet buiness.
Jim, independent of advertising this may help to answer your question based on my response to another recent thread:
If we go back to the 1980’s and randomly pick the January 1986 issue there were:192 pages Vs 94 for the latest issue.
19 articles Vs 8 articles
18 department articles Vs 12
3 scale drawings Vs 0
However Jim, I am not trying to make any judgments, but just reporting counts.
Peter Smith, Memphis
Not even that. If you’re wary and cautious in general, you don’t even need anti-virus. And if you’re less savvy and need anti-virus software there are perfectly functional and legitimate ones that are free. The major names in retail AV software are very bloated and sometimes not very good.
I agree, Mr. B.
That has more to do with where you go on the internet. Some of us still hide our copies of Playboy.
MalwareBytes, Lavasoft Adaware, and Symantec antivirus are all free and highly reccomended by a certain tech person at a certain Indianapolis Univeristy I happen to be related to, though she is using Professional versions there, we run the cocktail of free user stuff at home. Secunia is also free, and will update your programs automagically or at least tell you there asr eupdates so that. I also use a program called Web of Trust, which is a user rated system that blocks sites other people tag as malicious. Ad wile you may be the first one into a new site, you can then warn others of it as a problem, and it owrks the other way around. WoT redriects you to an intercept screen, so you have the chocie to go back if you think the site is okay. It’s saved my butt a few times by intercepting pop-ups to it’s “This site is untrrustworrthy, do you want to continue” screen.