Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

I spent the better part of 2 hrs at the Conde Nast Portfolio Magazine site, and as opposed to a lot of websites, I really felt the time was very well spent. Got me wondering about whether it was available on the Kindle, and sadly it’s not (Update: It should be available on the Kindle soon – I was informed on Jan 23rd, 2009 that it’ll be in the Kindle store in a little bit). Anyways, here are my thoughts on Amazon’s Kindle Magazines selection.

There are only 18 magazines now 22 magazines available on the Kindle. Nearly every magazine offers a ‘buy current version’ option – a great way to check out the magazine’s kindle edition without committing to a subscription. Lets take a look at Kindle edition magazines -

1. Newsweek – #1 spot, $1.49 monthly price, great reviews (4 stars). Newsweek is the single most popular magazine in the Kindle store, and one of the best regarded.
   

   NewsWeek Kindle Edition

2. Reader’s Digest- #2 spot, $1.25, 4 star reviews, reminds me of all the RD that I’ve read (my parents had a subscription and there are so many amazing stories like the Kon Tiki voyage story that I read).
   

   Readers Digest on Kindle

3. Time – 2 stars. Don’t know how this has the #3 spot given users felt it was an embarrassment, hate it, etc. If I were Time I’d recall the magazine or do something to stop diluting their brand value with the substandard Kindle edition.
4. Technology Review Magazine – Technology Review Magazine by MIT. 4.5 stars rating. Bimonthly. $1.25 a month. The low number of reviews (2, of which one hasn’t even subscribed to the kindle edition) hints that magazines, like newspapers, have hardly taken off on the Kindle.
5. Politico – There are a lot of complaints about this political blog being sold as a newspaper or magazine and not being worth the prize. Take a look yourself at a trial edition before making up your mind.
   

   Politico - How not to launch a magazine

6. The Atlantic- 4 star rating, good reviews, $1.25. Didn’t know that Atlantic was the brainchild of beloved writers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow among others. I ended up reading an article from the Atlantic online and would highly recommend this magazine too.
7. Cash: Personal Finance for Real People – Its a magazine from Tribune Magazine Services and it’s very well reviewed.
8. The Nation – The Nation has 4 star ratings, and some of the best reviews, especially regarding its suitability for the Kindle and low price (half of dead tree version).
9. Narrative Magazine – One stellar yet solitary review. A magazine worth your time.
   

   Narrative

10. U.S.News & World Report – At this point we’re dealing with just 1 customer review – so I’d recommend buying a single edition and making your own decision.
11. Forbes- Suprised that Forbes is so low in the charts. 4 star ratings. A higher price point at $2.49.
12. Reason Magazine – A solitary 5 star review. Its a libertarian magazine.
13. Slate – Great reviews, 4 star ratings, and a personal favorite. Definitely try it out. $2.49 a month.
14. Fortune- Another surprise in how low it is in the charts. $1.49 a month. Also, the number of magazines and newspapers with Obama on the cover is insane.
15. Opinionated: Voices and Viewpoints on America and the World – 4.5 stars. Lots of reviews – all glowing ones. Another recommended magazine. $1.49 a month.
16. Asimov’s Science Fiction- $2.99 a month. Solid 4.5 stars. One reviewer mentioned it as being the best resource for SciFi fans on the Kindle. One of the few kindle store products I’ve seen that is more expensive than the real world version (I’m talking subscription cost).
17. Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine – Also with 4.5 star ratings, and a $2.99 price point. Like the Asimov magazine above, this is published by Dell Magazines. I think niche targeted magazines like this should really target the Kindle. Why isn’t there a Golf Magazine available yet? or a sport specific one?
    

    Ellery Queen Kindle edition

18. Salon – Salon gets really poor ratings and is not recommended.
19. Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine – Another niche genre superstar with 4 star ratings, and $2.99 price. Kudos to users for pointing out that the electronic magazine is more expensive than the print version.
20. Analog Science Fiction & Fact – Another $2.99, niche magazine. Again from Dell Magazines. 4 star reviews.
21. PopMatters $1.49 a month. A 2 star rating and a 4 star rating – A reviewer describes it as “get a new edition every day containing a variety of movie, DVD, book, music, and video game reviews, as well as a “people” feature or two”.
22. The Escapeist – A magazine for gamers.

Here are my thoughts on magazines available at the Kindle store -

1. Wouldn’t it be a better strategy for Dell Magazines to lower the price point of their magazines? Their customers seem upset (and rightly so) at having to pay more for the Kindle edition. If they reduced prices it’s safe to say the ratings would increase from 4 star/4.5 star ratings to 4.5 star/5 star ratings.
2. Magazine customers seemed happier than newspaper customers (i’m also going to be posting about all available kindle newspapers soon – the addition of the Baltimore Sun delayed that post).
3. The range is extremely limited. 18 is way too low.
4. On the other hand, the number of 4 star, 4.5 star rated magazines is very high – Opinionated, The Nation, The Atlantic, Slate, Forbes, Reader’s Digest, Newsweek, MIT’s Tech Review, and the 4 niche magazines. That’s 12 out of 18 magazines getting 4 stars or higher. The Kindle magazine range includes some solid, solid magazines (and some of my favorites) – so Amazon, great job on the quality of magazines and hopefully we see a lot more high quality magazines like Portfolio added for the Kindle. BTW, Portfolio is going to be hit by Conde Nast budget cuts.

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