Digital Subscriptions

Photo credit: VintageJacksonville.net

We have a significant magazine habit at our house, and the stack is always at a towering height. Since beginning the shift to electronic editions a few years ago, we have encountered several problems.

1) In a desperate bid to retain subscribers, publishers have somehow hoodwinked us into auto renewal agreements. As someone who has strong opinions about auto renewal, this option must have been hidden deep in the fine print and tied to a low subscription rate. I mean, they are pretty confident that we are going to be pleased with their product, aren't they?

So basically, we have been waiting out print subscriptions to which we are contractually bound. Although in extreme cases (for example, my subscription to W runs through 2020 - literally), we will have to carve out some time for a discussion about presumptive, unilateral timeframes.

2) Adding the digital option to existing subscriptions is impossible. Not allowing customers to read the material in his/her preferred format seems foolish, but adding the digital feature (or just utilizing it when offered) never seems to work, i.e., the option is not available, not supported, etc.

3) Even when a reader can successfully detach from the print edition - and it's almost like a break-up - it's impossible to get a digital subscription. I just recently reinstated a couple of magazines, and it was impossible to select digital only. The options were a) print subscription or b) print subscription + digital. That doesn't exactly help my towering stack of magazines. Am I doing it wrong?

No more paper, please.