Chalk up another win for the Web in the battle between print and electronic media. Venerable PC Magazine, launched 27 years ago, is transitioning to an all-digital format. The January 2009 issue will be the last printed version of the magazine, says Editor-in-Chief Lance Ulanof, in a letter to the magazine’s readers:
While we are energized by the endless possibilities of the digital format, I assure you that the decision to stop producing a hard-bound copy was not an easy one. But the reality is that the ever-growing expense of print and delivery was turning the creation of a physical product into an untenable business proposition.
In the good old days, it was not uncommon for an issue of PC Magazine to be 500 to 600 pages (with about two-thirds of those pages advertisements).
A lot of other print-versions of computer magazines (industry and consumer pubs) are on their way out, although many don’t realize it just yet.
