This is a question Steve Rubel poses in his excellent blog post, The End of Tangible Media is Clearly in Sight. While I am not sure I am completely on the same page as Steve, his thesis is essential reading for anyone making a living off of print media. It was the CD question which got me. I have an iTunes account and realised recently that buying a CD makes no sense anymore – smart hardware has disrupted music distribution, turning it upside down.
Mark, i agree whole heartedly. With music you can download, copy your cd’s and LP’s to a program like iTunes and then create play lists depending on your mood at any given time. Your collection becomes transportable and the world is a better place. The customer has now moved to a situation where they only purchase what they want and are not saddled with the majority of a CD which is less attractive to them. I wonder how this applies to mags where probably two thirds of the content may not be of interest and therefore what mag alternative will gen Y be looking for in the coming years. Perhaps an on-line create your own version of a mag.
Interesting times