It looks like the USA version of Macworld is shutting down, no news on the UK variant.

http://9to5mac.com/2014/09/10/idg-shutt ... ff-let-go/

I wonder how much longer the Dennis publications will continue. They seem to be a shadow of their former selves. I read c't magazine, here in Germany, which was what I switched to, because PC Pro was too expensive over here (over an additional hundred Quid for delivery).

c't is a bi-weekly magazine and always has in depth articles written by experts. If Intel bring out a new processor, Dennis do a 1 page spread which covers the speeds and how they can be overclocked and what size dye the use. c't on the other hand will have a 3 or 4 page breakdown of how the processor works, box outs with several hundred words about new technologies - for example PC Pro never mentioned Quicksync when it was introduced, yet c't had an expert brought in to analyse it and report on what it meant; it is a technology that allows the encoding of H.264 video and is very fast. When it was introduced, an nVidia or ATI card could compress a 15 minute video in around 5 minutes, Quicksync could do it in under 1 minute! Yet PC Pro didn't even think this was worth mentioning.

Additionally, I can log onto heise.de website (the publisher) and get any actual article from the current issue, either as a web page or downloadable as a PDF (with my name in the footer, to make me think twice about spreading it). Older content is free for all. Dennis doesn't seem to make any current content available and old content comes on the site 3 months later, but is heralded as new content, which generally means comments generally call the writers idiots, because the information is out of date.

And the PC Pro staff have taken to attacking commentors in the comments section, if they point out the shortfalls of the magazine.

It would be a shame if MacUser were to close down as the magazine is better now than it has been for quite some time.

The change to monthly publishing seems to have done it some good in fact- less requirement to worry about 'news' and more features. I rather thought it was opening Death's door for it (and I'm still not sure magazines have a long term future) but it does seem to been a change for the better.

MacUser is about twice the thickness of Macworld - both monthly magazines. MacUser seems pretty good on covering more than just news and reviews.

Most Dennis publications are now run by freelancers so providing sales are good they'll keep on running. Dennis essentially just franchise out the magazines now for a fixed monthly cost.

I think the future of magazines is long form, in depth journalism. The web is fine for short notices, but people rarely read long articles (several thousand words). News doesn't make much sense these days, because we get it in real time - although accurate news is ever rarer, as people rush to get the 'news' out, without checking. their facts first.

I completely agree about indepth reviews. I used to enjoy reading Computer Buyer and it used to set out its computer reviews as 6-8 pages long, broken down into sections by categories. So it'd start off with an introduction, have a section on build quality and design, performance, features, peripherals etc. IIRC it was the need for "quick concise information" that led to it putting individual half-page reviews for each computer. It meant there was less discussion about the merits of each computer. Sadly, it was one of the early casualties of Dennis.

I visit the PC Pro website about once a week and even then, it's only out of boredom. I've seen the comments against visitors/posters. I've witnessed their behaviour over forums. It's rather sad.

These mags should follow Custom PCs' lead, ditch the 'free' DVD of software that anyone can download, and have a lower price. Whenever I look at computer magazines at airports, the ones with DVD's are way too expensive to consider buying.

Why are they still giving away "free" DVDs? In this age of broadband, it's almost completely unnecessary.

Nostalgic trip: I remember when they used to give away a 3.5" floppy disc containing a demo version of a game. I used to look forward to the freebie back then. It was something worthwhile.

Used to adore ST Format for it's free disk. You didn't know how [LIFTED] things were back then