Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Goodbye MacAddict, Hello MacLife
I purchased the first issue of MacAddict from a newstand many years ago. I thumbed through the pages and came the conclusion that I needed a subscription. Over the years the magazine has been a little kookie, irreverent, and often quite funny. I've watched quite a few writers come and go. It was one magazine that I always looked forward to getting in the mail. The magazine always came with a CD that had all sorts of great little games, utilities, shareware, and freeware. I discovered Ambrosia Software because of MacAddict and wasted a good number of hours playing Escape Velocity and then, later, EV Nova. I learned about new products and gleaned information regarding upcoming hardware. This magazine saw me through an LCIII, Bondi Blue iMac, TiBook, iMac 1.8 Ghz G5, and a Macbook Pro. It started out under the publisher "Imagine", which later turned into "Future".
Starting with the February edition, MacAddict is now MacLife. The first issue is much slicker than MacAddict used to be. It seems to reflect a changing demographic of Mac users. Perhaps with the Mac becoming more mainstream, the magazine decided it better follow suit. The cover stock is thicker and the articles are pretty straight laced compared to the old format.
I mentioned that I subscribed after the second issue. Well, a while back I let my subscription lapse. The magazine sent me a copy anyway with a chiding reminder...and NO CD. That was just a kicker. I'm sorry to say, it seems the new format won't have CDs either.
I'm looking forward to seeing if they can keep the amazing momentum they had in the past. MacAddict apparently had the second highest readership of any Apple magazine. So the rebranding is a risk. I remember the hoo haw when the magazine changed its logo.
I will keep my judgement of the new format to myself for the time being. I am eager to see what they do with it.
