The New Yorker Digital Reader

The New Yorker recently made every single page of every single issue of its venerable magazine, from 1925 to the present, available online for subscribers. In launching its Digital Reader, the New Yorker acknowledges a publishing trend: that going digital is an indispensable way of keeping your publication afloat in these tough economic times.

There is a difference, though, between reading online content from newspapers like the New York Times or the Chicago Tribune and reading a literary magazine like the New Yorker online. Newspaper content is, by-and-large, written for quick consumption and so works well for online reading. The headlines and articles derive their value from their immediacy. (People increasingly want to read the news as it happens, not wait and buy a newspaper the following morning.) They’re perfect for short reading stints either on a computer or a mobile device.

The New Yorker's articles, in contrast, are longer, more thoughtful, and deeper pieces that don't easily lend themselves to online reading. They are best read while sitting comfortably in an easy chair with a cup of tea in hand. That said, though, I think it's an amazing resource. I'll just make sure I have the print version when I'm digging into the summer fiction issue.