Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with magazines

Recommendations of software/hardware combo to scan magazines

Mr.X — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 07:32:08 -0800

I have 60 to 100 magazines. I want to scan them all completely and then use OCR software so that they would be searchable. I am looking for recommendations on the scanner I should use, as well as the OCR software. I have a flatbed scanner, so with good software, I could probably take the time to do it, but a scanner that would let me feed in several pages at a time would be best. WinXP is the OS of my computer. Ideally, I would want to spend no more then $300, with $500 as an absolute max.

How much money does the gossip magazine / gossip blog / tabloid industry make?

Elle Vator — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:23:45 -0800

So, celebrity gossip is everywhere and lots of $$$ is forked out for images of famous babies, etcetera... BUT how much money does the gossip industry MAKE? I can't find any online statistics about Gossip Industry Revenues. It's actually very odd and mysterious.

I'm looking for numbers on gossip magazines, gossip blogs and/or the tabloid industry, with the goal of comparing the Gossip numbers to the Porn Industry and the Television Industry respectively. I could use global numbers, US or North American numbers.

It would be useful to find a webpage as comprehensive as this: http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html

...but I would take a single, high impact sentence about the tabloids and gossip rags (such as this gem: "US Porn Revenues are greater than the combined revenues of ABC, CBS and NBC"), which was properly cited and verifiable.

Anyone got anything?

Intellectual periodicals in Spanish

Mummy of a Lady Named Jemutesonekh — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:49:09 -0800

What are the most interesting intellectual periodicals in Spanish? Is there a close equivalent to the London Review of Books? To Dissent? To n+1? What distinguishes the slate of intellectual periodicals available in Spanish from that in English?

Subscriptions that aren't to magazines?

Marquis — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:27:59 -0800

What are some wonderful things I can buy subscriptions to, other than magazines and newspapers? Curious about interesting subscriptions for things that aren't magazines, zines, journals or newspapers. For example, Amy Lam's My Topics art series, or I guess McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, but really I'm most keen on things that aren't books either. Toys? Sculptures? Cool Maps? Stuff that comes in the mail monthly, quarterly, biannually... Stuff for adults, or stuff for kids.

An etsy search brings up some things, but mostly lacklustre cards/soap/baked goods/lame crafts. I know there are subscriptions out there, but I'm curious about the wonderful ones.

Is it legal to sell used books and mazines retrieved from a bookstore dumpster?

meggie78 — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:29:33 -0800

Is it legal to sell books, magazines and other items found in a bookstore dumpster on eBay? I heard someone talking about doing this, and am just curious about whether there is anything illegal about it. The bookstores probably don't want people rifling through their dumpsters, right?

Recommend some French-language books (or sites) for a intermediate French-learner.

Kurichina — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:01:22 -0800

Recommend some French-language books (or sites) for a intermediate French-learner, to (hopefully enjoy) reading with the aid of a dictionary and bescherelle. I'm looking for some French-language books to read but am at an odd spot in my comprehension. I don't want to read a textbook or books for kids, but my comprehension isn't high enough to read any truly complicated texts. I recently tested at a Government of Canada B/C Level (i.e. I'm comfortable with multiple tenses/forms but they do not come automatically), and was told by my tester that while my grammar was fairly solid, my weak vocabularly was primarily to blame for being in the B rather than C range. I think reading would be a somewhat entertaining way to get going on improving my vocabularly while I'm waiting for a class/ The sort of literature I'm looking for:

- novels (could include young adult or contemporary as long as it's a. good - do not want to be reading some schlockly teen romance, thanks - and b. not hugely complicated - I'm willing to use my dictionary, but hopefully wouldn't be constantly swithcing back and forth between dictionary and book)

- non-fiction (politics/history/art/entertainment etc, again as long as it's not hugely complicated)

- short stories

- magazines with somewhat 'meaty' and/or interesting content (like a Walrus or Geist sort of publication)

Essentially, I'm looking for the right balance between meaty enough to be interesting, but dumb enough for me to read in my second language. Know of anything that fits the bill? I've seen this question but I'm looking for specifically for something that would suit my language level.

Reading for a Reinvention

cuando — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:49:30 -0800

I've decided to make some big changes in how I live. Things like exercising more, eating better, dressing nicer and so on. Things are going pretty great now, but I am looking for some useful reading (magazines, books, websites, blogs) to help me stay motivated and generate ideas. Further info... I'm a guy so I'd prefer suggestions (especially anything relating to style, fashion, & health) that are unisex or male-geared. Some examples of what I currently read are:

NYTimes Well blog
Gimmie20.com
ExRX & StartingStrength
Uncrate
A.Continuous Lean
Lifehacker
Triathletes Training Bible
Runner's World

I was also thinking of getting a magazine subscription to like Men's Health. Any thoughts are appreciated

Where can I find the best writing on the internet?

jpg15 — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 01:29:38 -0800

Is there a web site which recommends the best writing on the net on a periodic basis? There are plenty of great blogs and websites out there to read, and no shortage of recommendations. This post, for example, recommends lots of different sites. But I find my own interest in wading through all of it on a feed reader gradually waning. I am wondering if anyone knows of any human-run site which recommends excellent writing.

I am interested in high quality, thoughtful, even controversial writing on any subject. The closest thing to this that I am aware of is Arts & Letters Daily, but a significant number of their posts are book reviews or appeal strictly to very well-read humanities students. I am interested in suggestions which draw from the features and opinions of all of the major US (or English-speaking world!) newspapers, magazines, blogs, and sites.

Looking to Offer Magazine in .Pdf format

KathMuse — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:02:34 -0800

I work with a smallish (circ under 5,000) magazine that's considering offering subscriptions in .pdf. Anyone out there using any kind of program for something like this? How's it working for you? NOTE: We already offer individual .pdf issues, but we want to be able to offer the option for all issues in a given year going to the subscriber without their having to request them individually.

Magazines for Toddlers

stray — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:27:38 -0800

I wanna get my two year old niece a magazine subscription. But she's not so much into the New Yorker yet, so do you have any suggestions? I've seen this, but I'm wondering if there's one in particular that you recommend.

Deets: Two year old girl, Canada, Bilingual-ish (English/French) might be cool.

Also, feel free to tell me that this is a dumb idea!

Pantey Songs

MrMisterio — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:17:01 -0800

We made a magazine all about pants. Not a fashion magazine or anything, just people writing/drawing/doing poems abut pants. Now it's time to launch it and I seem to need some pants-related songs for a radio show. Seems like a perfect question for the hive-mind. Any ideas?

Oh, THAT'S how you republish the same material.

Brandon Blatcher — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:34:06 -0800

Do you know of a newspaper or magazine that publishes to both the web and print and posts a PDF of the print version on their website? I'm looking to compare and contrast how publications publish the same material on the web and in print. Obviously the websites are easy to find, but even for publications that do post PDFs of issues, they can be hard to find on their site. So if you know of a publication that has a website AND posts a pdf of their print issue, could you post the link to the website and print pdf, please? Thanks!

I'm looking for newspapers and magazines, subject matter or language doesn't matter.

How do magazine publication dates work?

BradNelson — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:14:50 -0800

Why are magazines always dated in the future? Why do weekly magazines show up in the mail with a printed date from next week? Why do July issues of magazines show up in June? For weekly magazines, it seems even more useless to do this, but it seems like every single magazine in print does this. What is the point? If your Time magazine shows up on July 7, why is it dated July 14?

USA Mailbox for magazines?

london302 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:09:09 -0800

Has anyone based outside US figured out cost effective mail forwarding service to take advantage of cheap magazine subscription rates? Subscription prices of magazines such as the New Yorker, Wired etc tend to be a lot cheaper for US residents than those in Europe. I have heard of mailing services in the USA who will forward them to you in other countries. On searching google I have found several companies which offer these services but the ones I have found eat the savings to cover the cost of owning the mailbox and postage. Has anyone in the HiveMind cracked it? I am based in the UK btw. Thanks

Too many comics!

JoanArkham — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:19:43 -0800

What should I do with old comics and magazines (that may not be school/retirement home friendly)? I have a ton of old indie comics and magazines I want to get rid of, but it seems a shame to toss them out. I know the usual advice is to give them to a school for crafts or a retirement home, but they aren't really appropriate for those venues. (Adult, but not porny enough to leave in the woods.)

I don't really have the time or space to do anything crafty with them myself.

What's the easiest way to digitize magazines?

JPigford — Sat, 23 May 2009 19:09:13 -0800

What's the best/fastest/easiest way to digitize magazines? I've got a slew of Family Handyman magazines (among others) that I'd love to digitize and just store on my computer instead of letting them pile up in a closet.

What's the fastest/easiest way to digitize them? A big necessity would also be text recognition so I could then search all the magazines.

My assumption is just a regular scanner, so if it is just that, I'd love recommendations on fast scanners and good software (I'm on a Mac).

If there's a better "system" for this or other ideas, then I'd love to hear it.

How do I send books or magazines to someone in jail?

electroboy — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:24:21 -0800

How do I send books or magazines to someone in jail? A friend is going in for about a month and besides visiting, I'd like to be able to send him some books or magazines. However, the Detention Center rules state that "Requested books, publications, etc., must come from the publisher."

I've heard anecdotally from another friend in similar circumstances that shipping directly from Amazon isn't acceptable either.

So, has anyone had experience sending anything other than letters to someone in prison? Is there any way to get publishers to ship directly?

What should I do with 240 porn magazines?

Sully — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:31:14 -0800

My friend is getting married and just gave me his porn collection! A cursory count makes it about 240 magazines. It's mostly hetero mags from the late 80's, early 90's. What fun and creative thing could I do with them? In the past, I've done some "high concept" events like this and this so incorporating the porn as giveaways was my first thought, but I thought I would ask the hive mind for fun and creative ways to otherwise make use of the porn. Thanks in advance!

Mining the Bound Periodicals Section

Rinku — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:40:08 -0800

What hidden gems can I find in the periodicals archive of my library? My campus library has an enormous bound periodicals section that covers half of an entire floor. A good portion of it is archives of academic journals in subjects I'm not very interested in, but I feel like in all those shelves there have to be journals that will appeal to the average, non-technical reader.

I've read some of the archives of Poetry (the title was so wonderfully self-explanatory) and everything that's there of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern. (Just a few issues, unfortunately.) I also found a few volumes of Mother Earth News from the early seventies that were amusing for their overwhelming hippiedom, but everything else that I pull off the shelf at random seems to be some kind of German law journal.

What interesting or unique magazines or journals might I find squirreled away? I'm interested in anything as long as it's readable and doesn't require in-depth knowledge of a certain subject.

What are contracts like for staff photographers at magazines?

unknowncommand — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:29:44 -0800

What are the contracts like for staff photographers at magazines (for example, those at the New Yorker or Vogue)? Specifically regarding exclusivity, and with respect to productivity, rights to images, profits made from selling images, term limits. MeMail me if you want more details, or have sensitive information.

Need suggestions on some good magazines

WizKid — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:10:09 -0800

Can you recommend me some good magazines similar to Readers Digest? Hi All,

About 10-15 years ago I loved Reader's Digest. Recently I was looking at Amazon for purchasing the subscription. But after reading the review looks like its not what it used to be. Seems like it's more of ads, weight loss advice, etc ...

This is just for night time reading. I would like to read few pages before I go to sleep. Currently I'm looking at Reader's Digest or National Geographic Traveler.

Do you have anyother recommendations for me? Preferably annual subscription less than $15.

What's like Wired magazine?

ilovehistory — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:13:59 -0800

Need Magazine Suggestions along the lines of: Wired, The Week I am having trouble finding more magazines like the ones I love. Any other magazines that are similar to Wired and/or The Week?

Breaking up with John Updike

Rudy Gerner — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:29:23 -0800

I'm over the New Yorker. What are some other magazines I'll enjoy? I love political content, feature articles, good humor and thoughtful reviews but lately the New Yorker has seemed, I don't know, more arch and high fallutin' than usual and I just can't bear to read it anymore other than the reviews.

The format is great--both shorter and longer feature articles for wherever my attention span is at a particular time, and kind of a political/general interest slant, where a typical magazine can have thoughtful pieces on a variety of relevant topics or themes. Good movie reviews would be great. I can totally live without the fiction and cartoons. I have very progressive politics but while I don't want to read a neocon rag, I also don't necessarily need something that simply parrots my own views.

Some interests: race/racism, LGBTQ issues, urban affairs/politics, movies, quirk, the internet/technology, etc.

I know I'm not doing a great job of what I'm finding irritating about the NYer (which makes it difficult to offer recommendations), but I can't totally put my finger on it, other than I'm finding the tone annoying and the content somewhat repetitive now that I've been a subscriber for about eight years.

I am aware of Harper's and Atlantic Monthly. Anything else I'm missing?

Looking for Lit. mags that are known for their book reviews.

exlotuseater — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:54:47 -0800

Looking for literary magazines that are well-known for their reviews of newly-published poetry, both chapbooks and full-length books. I am trying to come up with a shortlist of magazines and poetry reviews that will accept a free, unsolicited review copy of a book of poetry that is coming out next month.

If you have (an) easy answer(s) to the question, I will add some narrowing criteria: the work in question is a ~60 page collection of mature poems by an already-published author, past editor of a major periodical, and past and current scholar and professor of philosophy. The poems in question are lyrical reflections on the natural world that have a quiet profundity to them. If we can narrow down the list further with these, great!

Freelance design gigs?

Kreiger — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 05:19:52 -0800

London magazine/newspaper designers and art editors: Where do you get freelance and contract work? Alternatively, where do you go when you need freelancers?

I'm asking on behalf of a friend who's recently gone back to freelancing after a few years working full-time as an art editor and designer for magazines.
They're looking for freelance work as a designer or art editor for mags or papers in the near-term, and hoping to break into graphic design gradually.

They've got their portfolio sorted...I'm essentially fishing for leads, contacts, agency recommendations, or advice for someone getting back into freelancing after three years in the corfortable pastures of full-time employment.

If you don't have an account, or don't want to post contact information on askme, drop me a line at askme.dropbox@googlemail.com.