Is a print magazine still worth the price in 2022? | Column

An extra tenner? Sure, Im in.

I just got my paper copy renewal notice in the mail, and plan to re-sub for at least three more years.

I give the print magazines away to kids interested in cars after I've read them, and the GRM+ option means that the last year or so will be available online forever, so nothing much lost.

So yes, please continue the print editions. They're handy to give away. 

I much prefer the print version.  I have no problem paying a bit more for it. 

Just received my June GRM issue today... simple answer is yes to both GRM and CMS...   

I'm a paper guy. Magazines, books, service manuals. I do not like digital versions of any of those. 

I have subscribed to both of your mags for a good while now. For the love of God, kick the E36 M3 out of whoever sends me those renewal notices. When i am a month into a new subscription I do not like getting envelopes in the mail with renewal propaganda. A few years ago I let both my subscriptions lapse for a while. When I renewed them I received spam in the mail to renew my subscription before I ever even received the first issues I had bought. 

I'm subbed to Motortrend (generally boring, considering the "trend" of the current market), Hot Rod (cool and technically helpful on occasion, inspiring on occasion), Automobile (gone now, for some time, sadly), and GRM.

I'll let all the others go if push came to shove in the budget. I'm one of those people who hates using a smart phone for pretty much anything other than calling someone, so I'm personally not interested in reading a magazine on my phone. I have plenty of them in digital form, but zero interest in staring at a screen any more than I need to.

If a price increase is needed, then so be it. You guys are worth it.

Ten bucks? Here's a twenty, keep the change.  Print suscriber forever! Digital is too hard for me to use.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

duke906 said:

So all you motorheads skip a pint of $7.50 beer or $5.00 coffee ok?  

that's a good way to frame it.  i've spent far more on far less.  Windsor Ballet, i'm looking at you.

Ahh.. the ballet..been a long time. Don't want to deal the border these days. Local ballet just doesn't cut it.

Subscriber since "Autocross Magazine " issue #1 . Don't have a price tag on a lifetime of many enthusiastic days of paper copy reading. Currently have both magazines in my pool of interest, along with a few others that are aligning themselves with my "classic" points of view on Autosporting endeavours. .  Wouldn't trade a minute of the enjoyment while my coffee cools in the Cup. 

My favorite Diner server lady will gladly see a bit less on the counter for the blessed therapy I derive from your publications. Seeing 66 in my senior age box and holding on to my one owner 84 GTI and '72 Pinto Hillclimb car are anchors in my belief in this struggle to avoid the twilight of surrender to the Car Nazis of Hotel California. I will not go easily, My lobe centers won't allow it. Bring on the Increase, we'll stick around.

You guys Rock!

GRM is the only mag I still subscribe to. The rest have either ceased production or turned to crap (not implying CMS is crap, I was never really a subscriber to it as it just isn't my cup of tea).   $10/year has seemed like a price that is not sustainable to me for quite a while, but I'm not a whiner... I will happily pay more and prefer to get the print version to read, but also like having a digital "archive" so I don't have to store the hard copies for reference material.

As a purchasing guy I will tell you I'm getting 4-5 price increase requests per week.

Paper is high on the list of steepest increase on costs.

I like print media so I'd happily pay as well.

I'm a DIGITAL EDITION subscriber. If it's $30 or $40 a year that's fine. Honestly, $50 is probably where I'd draw the line.

Yes, thank you for all of the support. We have a terrific team that makes the magic happen (or something like that). 

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

It is a different experience. It's also a difference experience on the production end–like, how to tailor the story telling for the particular medium. 

Thanks again. 

I'm halfway through my second 10-year hitch. I unswervingly prefer the print version and am not interested in digits magazines.  Unless the price quintuples, I will pretty much certainly renew for a third 10-year.

I haven't read through the comments (though I will), but I have a perspective. Apologies if it is a rehash of anyone else's ideas.

I subscribe to exactly three magazines. GRM, CM, and MOJO.

We all know the first two.

MOJO is a music magazine From England. Think Rolling Stone at its best and then some. It is a great mag. They write with passion about everything music, be it modern or not. They include a CD each month to turn you on to new music, and have huge content, and not much advertising. What they do have is largely advertising concerts in the UK.

I pay $80 a year for it, and consider it a bargain. When you subscribe, they take the blurbs off the cover, so you are simply left with a beautiful picture of the month's featured artist, and a single word. MOJO.

They had to up their prices to pay for excellent writing. This "boutique" magazine is the future in my opinion. Sort of like the horse analogy everyone uses talking electric cars vs. gas. My life is enriched by this magazine. I'd support (with $) GRM/CM going the same way.

Yes!  Happy to pay more.

Simple answer, YES.

Electronic magazine reading is not the same experience as flipping pages back and forth, reading or skimming through the magazine.

Another yes, bill me GRM'r.  I do like both formats though as the community that has been built here is the best on the web.  I give the subscriptions away to gear head buddies at xmas.  It's like of those taste a random new beer from around the world things.

Absolutely. GRM has been part and parcel to some of my best life events. It's the least I can do, and the last magazine that I subscribe to. (I do support the local newspaper as well).

I absolutely appreciate the print mags and have no problem spending more on them.  I only subscribe to GRM/CMS and the US version of Sound On Sound magazine, and I pay a heck of a lot more for SOS to support some of the best journalism on something I'm interested in.

Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) said:

I'm a paper guy. Magazines, books, service manuals. I do not like digital versions of any of those. 

I have subscribed to both of your mags for a good while now. For the love of God, kick the E36 M3 out of whoever sends me those renewal notices. When i am a month into a new subscription I do not like getting envelopes in the mail with renewal propaganda. A few years ago I let both my subscriptions lapse for a while. When I renewed them I received spam in the mail to renew my subscription before I ever even received the first issues I had bought. 

Hah, I inadvertently subscribed to multiple years of GRM thanks to those and eventually they just switched me over to a CM sub too.  Clearly, the renewals were too cheap since I didn't care enough to check how much time I had left on my sub.

Long time subscriber, and I like the print edition.  I don't need to be pinned to a screen for yet more time.  This is the only print subscription I keep, save for occasional mags I pickup when I need to burn frequent flyer miles.  The new price is do-able.

Slightly off-topic but relevant to the print issue:  I hate ads and use every adblocking technology available and would welcome the demise of the "free" internet.  There's just too much stuff being pushed at us at every opportunity and I have gotten to the point of actively NOT considering stuff pushed by intrusive ads.  The ads in GRM are actually useful to my interests, and I do check them out.  One reason I keep old GRMs around is to be able to dig through old ads, especially at the back of the mag, to find some obscure vendor or part or service that I suddenly realize I need.

Every time I open the mailbox and see a GRM mag I smile. 

Another 10$/yr seems like a pretty easy decision. 

Yes, I will pay the $10 /yr increase. I would pay $20 a year increase. GRM is valuable to me and my life.