Sunday, August 10, 2008

The Last Gasps Of Dying Print

The Classic Rock Magazine Is Switching to a Smaller, Rack-Friendly Size
Some packages like the curvaceous old Coke bottle become so iconic that they are recognizable at 30 paces. So it is with Rolling Stone, whose large format has stood out on magazine racks for more than three decades. It won’t for much longer, however. With the Oct. 30 issue, which will go on sale Oct. 17, Rolling Stone, published by Wenner Media, will adopt the standard size used by all but a few magazines.

In an interview in his office, Jann Wenner, founder, publisher, editor and general guiding force behind the nation’s biggest music magazine, was characteristically brash about the change. Leaning back in his chair, one leg slung over the side of it, he said, “All you’re getting from that large size is nostalgia.”

Soon they'll all shrink to the digest size of the classic TV Guide (and current Prevention magazine and Readers Digest).

Which, by the way, is almost the size of the Sony Reader screen.

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