RIP: PC Magazine 1982 - 2009

Wi-Fi may survive, but PC Magazine has not.

As recent as July 11th I wrote about this demise: "With a 35.8% ad pages loss in this year's first half, PC Magazine has emerged as a leading candidate for the Reaper's prediction of a computer magazine going under this year." My earlier predictions appeared on May 22nd and in a quite sweeping fashion back on January 17th.

PC Magazine will become a web site only proposition in January 2009, which makes total sense since tech computer and product reviews are the fastest growing, most commonly used areas of the web. Why wait weeks to find out if a Dell computer is slightly faster than one from HP, when you have to buy it now and you don't want to wait?

PC Magazine has a long illustrious history tied in with the rise (and fall) of Ziff Davis Media. At the height of its popularity in the late 90's, PC Magazine appeared bi-weekly thick and full of advertisements. It was Ziff's print cash cow. But like magazine information, the software went through its own evolution and became downloadable and instant. By 2008, there was no reason to have a print magazine devoted to upgrading your PC or evaluating new products. That world had moved entirely to the web.

While this will shake up Silicon Valley and computer nostalgia fans, PC Magazine leads a category that will shrink for the very same reasons.

As you know, the Reaper does all its blog postings on its Die-BM desktop. (sorry, I could not help myself)

Comments

[Skunky]

Auf Weidersehn PC Magazine. I used to work for Ziff Davis (before the advent of the internet).

Grimmy...you're hysterical and I love your writing style. Keep being funny and keep begin sarcastic.

[Eduardo Lerner]

This is a quite eventful November. Do yo get paid overtime? Also, have you been traveling overseas and not telling us anything about it? I say this because in Europe there is blood everywhere.

[NxtbookMedia]

You forgot to mention that they are still going to be producing PC Magazine Digital, a digital version of the print magazine. So it will live in a magazine format, just in pixels, not paper.

[qwerty]

what's the point of having a digital magazine format when there's no actual print magazine? Why make the editors and designers go through all that trouble? PC Mag already has a web site and an email newletter anyway. I assume it's just until all the paid subs run out then the digimag goes away too.