A mate of mine, Phil, mailed me this morning about Zinio, a company that provides/sells electronic versions of magazines.
It rang a bell, I thought I’d seen it mentioned in an article from the Register on the Guardian digital edition. But I was wrong ;-)
It’s worth visiting Zinio – you can download a few different editions of magazines for free, it’s interesting to see how the physical activity of reading is rendered onto a screen – page turns are animated etc. You can also print, which gives it back the portability which is obviously the main benefit of a magazine (powerbook in the bath, anyone?). Bonus for us in blighty is the massive reductions on subscription prices for MIT magazine etc.
The Guardian beta site is knackered, but if I manage to get access, I’ll write up a report. The Register seems to like the way they’ve managed the digitisation.