[![Technologizer by Harry

### [Navigation](#navigation)

[![Technologizer by Harry
McCracken](https://www.technologizer.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/2018-technologizer-logo-for-web-8.png)](https://www.technologizer.com/ "A Smarter Take on Tech")
[Technologizer by Harry
McCracken](https://www.technologizer.com/) A Smarter Take on Tech

Home
### Navigation

-

[The Best of
Technologizer](https://www.technologizer.com/the-best-of-technologizer/)
-

[About](https://www.technologizer.com/about/)
-

[Newsletter](https://www.technologizer.com/subscribe-to-technologizer/)
-

[Contact](https://www.technologizer.com/contact-technologizer/)

Return to Content

The End of Computer Magazines in America
========================================

With Maximum PC and MacLife’s abandonment of print,
the dead-tree era of computer journalism is officially over. It lasted
almost half a century—and was quite a run.
Posted by Harry McCracken on April 15, 2023 at 9:22 am

The April issues of *Maximum PC* and *MacLife* are currently on sale at
a newsstand near you—assuming there *is* a newsstand near you. They’re
the last print issues of these two venerable computer magazines, both of
which date to 1996 (and were originally known, respectively, as *Boot*
and *MacAddict*). Starting with their next editions, both publications
will be available in digital form only.

But I’m not writing this article because the dead-tree versions of
*Maximum PC* and *MacLife* are no more. I’m writing it because they were
the *last two* extant U.S. computer magazines that had managed to cling
to life until now. With their abandonment of print, the computer
magazine era has officially ended.

The first issue of Byte, the first magazine about personal computers—and
many people’s candidate for the best such publication, period..

It is possible to quibble with this assertion. *2600: The Hacker
Quarterly* [has been around since
1984](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2600:_The_Hacker_Quarterly) and can
accurately be described as a computer magazine, but the digest-sized
publication has the production values of a fanzine and the content bears
little resemblance to the slick, consumery computer mags of the past.
*Linux Magazine* (originally the U.S. edition of a German publication)
and its more technical sibling publication *Admin* also survive. Then
again, if you want to quibble, *Maximum PC* and *MacLife* may barely
have counted as U.S. magazines at the end; their editorial operations
migrated from the Bay Area to the UK at some point in recent years when
I wasn’t paying attention. (Both were owned by Future, a large British
publishing firm.)

Still, I’m declaring the demise of these two dead-tree publications as
the end of computer magazines in this country. Back when I was the
editor-in-chief of IDG’s *PC World*, a position I left in 2008, we
considered *Maximum PC* to be a significant competitor, especially on
the newsstand. Our sister publication *Macworld* certainly kept an eye
on *MacLife*. Even after I moved on to other types of tech journalism, I
occasionally checked in on our erstwhile rivals, marveling that they
somehow still existed after so many other computer magazines had gone
away.

I take the loss personally, and not just because computer magazines kept
me gainfully employed from 1991-2008. As a junior high student and
[Radio Shack TRS-80
fanatic](https://techland.time.com/2012/08/03/trs-80/), I bought my
first computer magazine in late 1978, three years after *Byte* invented
the category. It was an important enough moment in my life that I can
tell you what it was (the [November-December 1978 issue of *Creative
Computing*](https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1978-11)) and
where I got it (Harvard Square’s Out of Town News, the same newsstand
that had [played a critical role in the founding of Microsoft just four
years
earlier)](https://www.technologizer.com/2009/01/02/the-newsstand-that-spawned-microsoft-is-set-to-close/).
Even before I purchased that *Creative Computing*, our mailman had
misdelivered a neighbor’s copy of *Byte* to our house, an error I
welcomed and did not attempt to correct. From the moment I discovered
computer magazines, I loved them almost as much as I loved computers,
which is why I ended up working in the field for so long.

A 1989 Wall Street Journal article on the big bucks being made in the
computer magazine business. From the collection of David Bunnell, who
cofounded PC Magazine, PC World, and Macworld, among other publications.

I spent most of that time at *PC World*, which I joined in late 1994 at
almost precisely the moment it launched its first web presence. From the
start, the web was a terrific way to keep tabs on tech news. Eventually,
it would make the whole idea of a publication about computers that came
out once a month feel more than a little silly. It also let merchants
reach customers directly, a gut-punch to the ad business that had made
*PC World* and its biggest rivals so profitable.

But the web didn’t render printed computer magazines obsolete overnight.
*PCW* had some of its fattest, happiest years as a business in the late
1990s. Even in 2008, when I left, the print magazine was a profit
center, not an albatross.

Indeed, the entire computer magazine category spent years in Wile E.
Coyote mode. We’d blithely walked off a cliff—it’s just that gravity
hadn’t kicked in yet. Here’s a slide from an internal PC World
presentation charting our newsstand sales vs. our principal surviving
competitors from 1996-2004. By this time, several major magazines had
already failed: *Byte* in 1998 and *PC Computing* and *Windows* in 2002.

I should pause to acknowledge that newsstand sales weren’t the primary
barometer of a computer magazine’s health. For one thing, about 90
percent of *PC World* issues were sold via subscription. For another,
advertising was what kept us rolling in dough. Still, selling single
issues at $6.99 a pop was a great little business in itself, so we put a
*lot* of effort into creating a product that people would notice at the
newsstand and choose to purchase. And I am ashamed to admit that I
occasionally moved the *PC World*s in front of the *PC Magazine*s when I
encountered them for sale, though I wouldn’t be astounded if there were
Ziff-Davis staffers who performed the same ploy in reverse.

Our point with the above chart was that *PC World* had become the
newsstand leader. But it did so not by growing but by bumping along
rather than nosediving. As you can see from the chart, *Maximum PC* was
the only title that ticked steadily upward. It clearly cared about the
newsstand as much as we did, and we worried that it might someday
surpass us. (It never did, at least during my tenure.)

In the 1990s, Computer Shopper was so huge it teetered on the verge of
being impractical to, you know, read.

Unless you worked at *PC World* in 2004, what’s most striking about this
chart is *Computer Shopper*’s utter collapse—from something like 350,000
issues sold at the newsstand a month to fewer than 55,000. As the most
catalog-like major computer magazine, it was the most vulnerable to
being rendered obsolete by the web. Once a 1,000-page (!!!) monthly
behemoth, it withered in more dramatic fashion than *PC World* or *PC
Magazine*. When it didn’t feel like *Computer Shopper* anymore, readers
lost interest.

Even *PC World*’s best newsstand seller of all time—our Windows 95
issue, seen below in another internal PowerPoint slide—didn’t match
*Shopper*’s mid-1990s heyday. But we sold almost 200,000 copies, for a
sell-through rate nearing 60 percent—figures that slipped out of the
realm of possibility within a few years. Counting subscribers, we peaked
in 1999 at a circulation of 1.25 million, the largest ever for a
computer magazine.

Computer magazines had been such a robust business that they could spend
years dwindling and remain viable. *PC Mag* [didn’t abandon print until
2008](https://www.technologizer.com/2008/11/19/pc-magazine-a-magazine-no-more/),
shortly after I left *PC World*. *Shopper* [followed the next
year](https://www.technologizer.com/2009/02/27/computer-shopper-a-magazine-no-more/).
*PCW* [held on until
2013](https://techland.time.com/2013/07/11/pcworld-exits-print-and-the-era-of-computer-magazines-ends/),
whereupon I wrote a piece for *TIME* asserting that [the era of the
computer magazine had
ended](https://techland.time.com/2013/07/11/pcworld-exits-print-and-the-era-of-computer-magazines-ends/).
(In retrospect, that was a tad premature.) *Macworld* [made it to
2014](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/business/media/macworld-to-end-its-print-edition-and-lay-off-many-of-its-employees.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare).

A Maximum PC cover from back when we at PC World were a little
intimidated by their newsstand prowess. (It hasn’t aged well.)

*Maximum PC* and *MacLife*, meanwhile, pretty much ignored the internet.
They even dismantled their web presences:
[MaximumPC.com](http://www.maximumpc.com) now redirects to PCGamer.com,
a sister brand, while [MacLife.com](http://www.MacLife.com) simply spits
out a string of garbage characters.

Pretending that the internet didn’t exist sounds like a preposterous
strategy for keeping a print magazine alive, but it somehow worked.
*Maximum PC* and *MacLife* survived—scrawny, but with a pulse—until
2023. Their final issues were 98-page weaklings that cost $9.99 apiece
and seem to have a grand total of one page of paid advertising between
them—plus an article sponsored by a mail-order computer dealer.
*MacLife* has an editorial acknowledging it’s going digital-only;
*Maximum PC* does not.

My local Barnes & Noble still has a sizable technology magazine section,
but it’s dominated by British imports that aren’t quite computer
magazines.

Should we mourn the end of computer publications printed on paper?
No—and yes. What was great about the computer magazine age wasn’t that
the information was printed on dead trees and delivered by truck once a
month. In most respects that matter, the web is a far superior way to
keep people informed about the technology in their lives.

But as timely and efficient a means of communication as online media is,
the entire computer publishing industry failed to figure out how to turn
it into a business that was remotely as vibrant as print had been. And
those vast quantities of full-page ads paid for some amazingly ambitious
service journalism.

*PC World* had a sprawling lab full of technicians benchmarking
everything from laptops to TVs, and paid experts well to write how-to
columns on products such as word processors and spreadsheets. When we
wanted to compare the usability of Windows, OS/2, and Mac OS, we hired
normal everyday people through a temp agency and shot video of them
performing typical computing tasks. We invested an absurd amount of
money on twice-yearly surveys that let our readers rate the reliability
and customer service of major computer manufacturers. In 2000, I dropped
everything to spend *months* flying around the country working with
*Dateline NBC* on [an investigation into PC repair
shops](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mHiF3vRh2I).

Forty years ago, PC World published the most successful debut issue in
magazine history.

*PC World*’s headcount over the last couple of decades tells a story in
itself. In mid-2000—well into the web era—we had 80 journalists, product
testers, and designers on staff. Seven years later, the figure was
slightly over half that. Today, the masthead of the all-digital *PCW*
carries 13 names. I’m unsure if they’re all full-time employees, and
almost half are pulling double duty on *Macworld*.

There is still fine work being done at the online incarnations of former
print publications and newer outlets that were digital from the start. I
haven’t even mentioned the fact that today’s tech media spans the
written word, video, audio, and community—and that it’s possible for an
individual journalist to partake in all of the above without being
employed by a giant company. Bottom line: If there was a magic switch
that would let us ditch present-day computer journalism for what we had
in, say, 1995, I wouldn’t flip it.

(Of course, I might feel differently if I’d *owned* a fabulously
profitable computer magazine rather than merely working at one.)

I do remain grateful that computer magazines existed. I’m glad I got to
help make them. It’s great that many vintage issues are available in
scanned form at the [Internet
Archive](https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine), [Google
Books](https://books.google.com/books/about/PC_Mag.html?id=w_OhaFDePS4C),
and
[elsewhere](https://www.vintageapple.org/pcworld/?fbclid=IwAR1OAO84v6j5OQF2Ct09IVLr2euFq6FhbV98fC_XuJocb4QLpzxZKv-8ftk).
Their time has passed—but what a time it was.

##### [50 comments](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comments)

#### Recently on Technologizer

[The End of Computer Magazines in
America](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/ "Permanent Link: The End of Computer Magazines in America")
[It's 2018. Maybe Technologizer Should Be a
Newsletter](https://www.technologizer.com/2018/05/20/its-2018-maybe-technologizer-should-be-a-newsletter/ "Permanent Link: It's 2018. Maybe Technologizer Should Be a Newsletter")
[Hello
Again](https://www.technologizer.com/2017/09/28/hello-again-2/ "Permanent Link: Hello Again")
[Technologizer: The Flipboard
Edition](https://www.technologizer.com/2016/01/24/technologizer-the-flipboard-edition/ "Permanent Link: Technologizer: The Flipboard Edition")

[]()
[** It’s 2018. Maybe Technologizer Should Be a
Newsletter](https://www.technologizer.com/2018/05/20/its-2018-maybe-technologizer-should-be-a-newsletter/)

1.

Bill Snyder April 15,
2023 at 11:07 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95654 "Direct link to this comment")

Not many journalists have your institutional memory which makes this
such a good story. One other reason it was such a good time:
computer magazines were paying journalists enormous salaries.

Reply

2.

Esther Schindler April
15, 2023 at 12:49 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95655 "Direct link to this comment")

Of COURSE I moved magazines around on the shelf so that mine were in
front! …or the ones in which I had articles were, anyway.

Reply

3.

Mike Mihalik
April 15, 2023 at 1:16 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95656 "Direct link to this comment")

Don’t forget that monthly subscription to web resources like Readly
and Apples scooping up of Texture, PressReader, Kindle Unlimited,
and Issue to name a few.

I gave up individual subscriptions to print mags years ago, and
instead paid for online access to more magazines that I could
ever read.

Sure, I still visited the newsstands in places like Barnes & Noble
to see if there were other magazines that piqued my interest.

There’s still a place for magazines and newspapers. Just deliver
them to my phone, tablet, and desktop.

There’s something satisfying in reading that magazine and newspaper
layout format. Much more useful to me than endless articles on
a website.

Reply

-

Robert
April 18, 2023 at 12:51 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95702 "Direct link to this comment")

Great article. Perhaps now you can submit articles on web safety
and computer advances to the 50+ demographic. As Mike says here
“there’s something satisfying in reading that magazine and
newspaper layout format” Our readers still get print. It may be
dead in the tech magazine world but not dead to 50+ folks
wanting information. Yes we have websites and place our print
edition online at montanaseniornews.com but there is still value
in holding the newspaper taking time and not being barraged by
pop ups. We try and inform, empower and entertain. There’s a lot
of talent on this thread that could benefit the elder audience
on how to prevent the scams, hackers, and bottom feeders from
harming an audience. Computer savvy journalists are
still needed.

Reply

4.

Dogzilla April 15, 2023
at 2:43 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95657 "Direct link to this comment")

I lived for the day my Byte magazine was received every month.
Nothing on the web now is like the content from the top mags back in
the day.

Reply

5.

Larry Bouchie @TechPRGuy
April 15, 2023 at 2:53 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95658 "Direct link to this comment")

I think Red Herring was the first tech mag I bought, in 1995. At one
point, I thought my friend, who tipped me to it, was pranking me, as
I went to about five news stands asking for “Red Herring” lol. Then
I started working in PR, repping tech vendors. Started pitching and
placing stories in LAN Times, ADT, BYTE, PC Week, Computerworld,
SAR, Upside, etc., etc. Gave my career a huge, early boost, netting
Cognos an Infoworld award in a database reporting tools bakeoff. And
I distinctly remember perusing the magazines at Barnes & Noble,
circa 1999, and spotting 10 magazines with stories about my clients
– that was a thrill! By the time I ended my career 20 years later,
most of the magazines were gone, or existed online using
contributed byliners. Fortunately, we could still pitch tech stories
to the NYT, WSJ, AP, Reuters, and other news and business outlets.

Reply

6.

Jon April 15, 2023 at
3:26 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95659 "Direct link to this comment")

I have a digital subscription to Maximum PC through Zinio, there’s
been no indication that they’re stopping that. In fact, the latest
issue had a subscription offer for the 1 or 2 years of the print
edition, so the decision to shut that down seems to have been
rather sudden.

Reply

-

Eric Griffith
April 16, 2023 at 7:18 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95665 "Direct link to this comment")

they may continue to make a “print” version that’s essentially a
PDF for Zinio or other subscriber services. We did that for a
long time at PCMag too–until this year, in fact. But we haven’t
printed on paper since ’09.

Reply

7.

David B April 15, 2023
at 5:15 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95660 "Direct link to this comment")

Loved Byte and Dr. Dobbs Journal. Used to visit British Library in
London to read old copies of both to help understand how to program
CP/M OS. When new Intel/Motorola chips came out I devoured the
dozen’s of pages of detail that Byte went into.

Reply

-

Erwin
April 18, 2023 at 6:56 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95700 "Direct link to this comment")

Al Stevens was the MAN at Dr Dobbs. The magic of computers has
gone and they’re so everyday now that the spark needs a
new home.

Reply

8.

Ben Combee April 15,
2023 at 5:19 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95661 "Direct link to this comment")

I think Code Magazine is still publishing out of Houston TX. They
show print subscriptions at and
I’ve seen it at my local B&N.

Reply

-

Harry McCracken April 15, 2023 at 5:23 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95662 "Direct link to this comment")

Thanks, Ben. It’s interesting that the straggling survivors tend
towards being pretty technical.

Reply

9.

roy brander
April 15, 2023 at 9:10 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95663 "Direct link to this comment")

Brings me back to when there was a point to reviewing software,
because consumers had a choice over which office packages to buy.
That Windows 95 issue is also about the time that corporate IT took
over all purchasing and went all-Microsoft.

Reply

10.

Kevin in San Diego April 16, 2023 at 12:28 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95664 "Direct link to this comment")

Oh damn. I miss those days. We had a local magazine here called
ComputerEdge, edited by the likes of Dan Gookin and Andy Rathbone,
of DOS and Windows for Dummies fame. Free mag, I used to grab a copy
every Thursday and sit down in a local restaurant and read it cover
to cover. No way to recapture that feeling. They tried to stay alive
for a few years online. No joy. Digital just don’t do it.

Reply

11.

David Needle April 16,
2023 at 9:59 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95666 "Direct link to this comment")

Thanks for doing this Harry – great piece. Of course you wrote from
your experience and several of my favorites (where I also worked)
weren’t included: Infoworld, Personal Computing and Computer
Currents, to name a few. The latter two are long gone and Infoworld
gave up on the print version many years ago. It was a special era
and one that deserves to be memorialized.

Reply

-

Harry McCracken April 16, 2023 at 10:14 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95673 "Direct link to this comment")

Thanks, David. I thought of the controlled-circ, less consumer-y
publications as a category unto themself, although of course
InfoWorld started out more consumery and was available on
newsstands at first (I remember buying it at the Paperback
Booksmith in Kenmore Square). I worked at InfoWorld from late
1992-early 1994 on the InfoWorld Direct supplement, née Computer
Buying World. It was not a terribly satisfying experience, but
it helped lead to my first PC World gig.

Reply

-

Shawn Laflamme April 18, 2023 at 10:45 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95701 "Direct link to this comment")

InfoWorld Direct not a satisfying experience? Well, that’s
probably an understatement. But you have to admit that it
had some entertaining moments.

Reply

-

Harry McCracken April 18, 2023 at 3:22 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95703 "Direct link to this comment")

Hi, Shawn. Computer Buying World was, overall, a great
experience, so it all evened out. Most of the
entertaining moments I remember happened at CBW,
I think. Funny that the same people producing more or
less the same publication resulted in such
different scenarios.

In related news, I donated my CBWs and InfoWorld Directs
to the Internet Archive, and hope they will eventually
be scanned for posterity.

Reply

-

Harry McCracken April 18, 2023 at 3:23 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95704 "Direct link to this comment")

Also, thank you for the AmigaWorld shirt you gave me 30
years ago, which I still own and occasionally wear.

Reply

12.

Michael Antonoff April
16, 2023 at 1:28 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95667 "Direct link to this comment")

Personal Computing circulated well over a half a million copies each
month in the eighties. Unfortunately for its staff, Ziff was willing
to pay big bucks to the owners in 1990 to kill the magazine and have
its subscribers merged into the list of the
newly-launched PC/Computing. I worked at the latter for about a year
some 4 years after Personal moved me from New Jersey to California.

Reply

-

Harry McCracken April 16, 2023 at 10:10 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95672 "Direct link to this comment")

Personal Computing (which doesn’t seem to have a
Wikipedia entry) deserves to be better remembered, since it was
the first slick, not terribly technical, business-oriented
computer magazine for a general audience. After starting it, my
friend David Bunnell certainly used it as a template for PC
Magazine, PC World, and Macworld.

Reply

13.

Brian April 16, 2023 at
1:29 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95668 "Direct link to this comment")

My Dad got a subscription to PC World with the introduction of the
Pentium in 1993. As a young person growing up with computers, PC
World was my favorite magazine, bar none. What a first-class
publication; it wouldn’t surprise me if it was the best computer
magazine of the ’90s. Thanks for your contributions.

Reply

14.

Sye April 16, 2023 at
2:28 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95669 "Direct link to this comment")

I do indeed “quibble with this assertion” in its obviously
absolutist form the article title promotes. 2600 has a dedicated if
specialized audience, releases periodically in each quarter, still
in print, has no current plans to stop dead tree production, and
it’s paid for by subscriptions. This is the definition
of “magazine”. Just because you personally dismiss it because of
vague hand-wavy arbitrary narrowing of your definition of a
“computer magazine” doesn’t make it less so.

Otherwise though, the writing is on the wall. Dead tree magazines in
general and even traditionally edited e’zines are slowly on the
way out. It’s to be expected that geeks have accelerated this demise
within our own domain of interest except for a very few specialist
audiences such as 2600.

Reply

15.

Ann Revell April 16,
2023 at 4:06 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95670 "Direct link to this comment")

Harry, without these publications I would never have met you… in
Boston, many many years ago. I raise a glass of Chateau Neuf du Pape
in honor of all the relationships these publications fostered!

Reply

-

Jim Louderback
April 17, 2023 at 9:20 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95681 "Direct link to this comment")

I’ll join you with a burgundy Ann. And Harry, I’m shocked that
you would cover up competitive magazines. Aside from Esther –
who I would have fired if I’d known – none of us would EVER
stoop that low. For reals.

Reply

-

Harry McCracken April 17, 2023 at 10:44 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95686 "Direct link to this comment")

Hi, Jim. I’ve already heard from another former ZDer who
rearranged newsstands on your behalf. I mainly did it when
PCW was impossible to find, and eventually not even then.

Reply

-

Ian Betteridge
April 17, 2023 at 11:57 pm
[\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95696 "Direct link to this comment")

Ha, Harry, who knew you were such a bad boy

So much good stuff in this, Harry, thanks so much for
writing it. We are near contemporaries (I started on
MacUser UK in 1995) and I loved that industry. Even
though the pace of work was insane. And it’s hard to
comprehend labs like those now. We had our own
equivalent at Dennis, but they were nothing like the
size of the US ones.

Reply

16.

Maria Korolov
April 16, 2023 at 4:08 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95671 "Direct link to this comment")

My first tech reporting job was at Computerworld, back in 2000. It
was the height of the dot-com coverage era — people were learning
all about the Internet by reading print publications. And they
were THICK. I remember getting on airplanes — the job involved a lot
of travel back then to tech conferences — with a stack of magazines
a foot high. ECompany Now. Business 2.0. The Industry Standard, Red
Herring, Wired, Upside… It seemed like there was an infinite
appetite for feature stories about the Internet and how companies
were adapting — and people were reading the stories in print. To
save articles for later I would literally rip them out of the
magazine and store them away — then throw out the rest of the stack
of magazines at the next airport, when I landed, because it was too
much to carry.

It feels like we’re at a similar inflection point again. Except I
don’t know if this time we’re going to see the creation of new
reporting jobs to cover the AI transformation.

I’m already doing a lot of my reporting via email. All of that will
probably be automated by ChatGPT 5, once the fact-checking
functionality is in place. My AI will talk to their AI and 90% of
news stories — all the stuff that’s already pretty routine — will
probably be done automatically, more accurately, faster, and, of
course, cheaper. Leaving us tech writers chasing the 10% of stories
that remain that still need face-to-face interviews and probing
follow-up questions. Probably video, too, to prove that an actual
human talked to another actual human. (Until AIs can do that part,
as well.)

But with AI, we can have our interviews automatically transcribed,
summarized and outlined in a click. We can have our background
research done for us automatically. The AI, trained on our writing
styles, can have drafts ready for us in an instant for us to review,
modify, and submit. So not only will there be fewer stories for
humans to write, but the humans will also be more productive,
meaning that the number of jobs will shrink even further.

After all, the goal of all journalism is to have humans read our
stories, and there’s only so much reading that humans can do. Plus,
there will probably be AI-powered reading apps that automatically
summarize stories and focus on just those elements that are most
important for readers to know. That will take advertising revenues
away from publishers, meaning that that they will be under even more
pressure to cut costs.

As a tech journalist, I’m super excited about all the possibilities
that AI affords. But, as someone who is too young to retire, I’m
also terrified about what it will mean for my profession.

Reply

17.

David Strom
April 17, 2023 at 4:26 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95674 "Direct link to this comment")

Harry, I have collected numerous issue \#1 of several mags if you
would like copies of their covers JLMK.
It was a very special time for me too! PC Week 1988-90.
Thanks for the memories.David

Reply

18.

Don Willmott April 17,
2023 at 5:14 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95675 "Direct link to this comment")

During my 14-year tenure at PC Magazine, I saved every issue until
the stack was as tall as I was. Then I decided just to keep some
“greatest hits.” The rest went into the recycling bin, and so
it goes. Even after 20+ years I’m still incredibly proud of the
amazing thing my colleagues and I built.

Reply

-

Harry McCracken April 17, 2023 at 10:59 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95688 "Direct link to this comment")

I have ditched almost all the print copies of magazines I wrote
for in favor of PDFs.

Reply

19.

Jack Burnett April 17,
2023 at 6:39 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95676 "Direct link to this comment")

Harry, thank you for posting this valuable retrospective. I am proud
to say that my name is on the masthead of that first issue of BYTE
that is shown, and that I was actually “in the room” when the idea
for it (not mine) was conceived. Those were wild, exciting,
exploring days, when big news might come about a—wait for it!—1k
memory board. Our receptionist-cum-ad bill collector once told me
many years later about having to dun some entrepreneur in his Bay
Area garage. And on and on, although I should make it clear that I
was an implementer, not a driving force. FWIW, I eventually moved on
from America’s first computer magazine to America’s oldest
continuously published periodical, The Old Farmer’s Almanac, where I
am managing editor. Thanks again.

Reply

-

Harry McCracken April 17, 2023 at 10:57 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95687 "Direct link to this comment")

That’s cool, Jack. I’d love to read the definitive article on
just who created Byte someday, since it was a subject of
some controversy.

Reply

20.

Ken Timlin April 17,
2023 at 6:41 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95677 "Direct link to this comment")

Does no one remember a magazine called “Datamation”? I believe it
was the first-ever computer magazine dating from the late 1950’s. I
became aware of it in my first computer class back in 1974.
Obviously it was oriented toward corporate, mainframe computing and
has been gone for more than 20 years but it was certainly
historically significant.

Reply

-

Harry McCracken April 17, 2023 at 10:36 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95684 "Direct link to this comment")

I remember Datamation, and the website still exists!

Reply

21.

sizer99 April 17, 2023
at 8:34 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95680 "Direct link to this comment")

Back in the day I loved Byte, Infoworld, PC Magazine, Computer
Shopper, Creative Computing, Compute!, and various 6502 magazines
that came with code. But… yeah. I haven’t bought a computer magazine
(ignoring Edge for video games) in 20 years. They went from super
cool tech stuff you couldn’t find anywhere else to being nothing but
shopping guides for tech challenged managers (even Computer Shopper
had some hardcore stuff way back). And if all you need is reviews
then there’s always the internet. Computer magazines dumbed
themselves out of existence.

Reply

-

Harry McCracken April 17, 2023 at 2:24 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95691 "Direct link to this comment")

I didn’t touch on this in my story, but there was such an
evolution in what people needed out of a computer magazine, and
it was a real challenge. For years, anyone who was into
computers needed to take a real hands-on approach to them, and
it provided an endless amount of material for stories. But
computers eventually got simpler, and smartphones are
simpler still. There are certainly still highly people who want
highly technical publications, and that’s great. But the masses
ended up needing less hand-holding than was once essential.
Great for them; not so great for people in the
hand-holding business.

Reply

22.

audiophoria April 17,
2023 at 9:47 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95682 "Direct link to this comment")

Back in 1985, I had just started my first IT job (managing inventory
– lowest job). In a meeting in my second week, our manager asked for
suggestions for a 300+ modem purchase – everyone just looked around
– no clue. But I had just poured over a PC Magazine roundup/review
of 50+ modems: I named the best modem with a detailed technical
explanation of why it was best choice for our needs, etc. I got
promoted the next day. So much could be said about what great
resources the best computer magazines were back in the day…

Reply

23.

Steve Burgess
April 17, 2023 at 10:33 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95683 "Direct link to this comment")

Harry, great post. I think my first “computer magazine” was
“Proceedings of the IEEE,” which had a ton of
computer-related content. Then there was “Byte.”

Reply

-

Harry McCracken April 17, 2023 at 10:39 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95685 "Direct link to this comment")

Computers and Automation is another candidate as the first true
magazine about computers. And since it employed Pat McGovern, it
led to the company that started a whole lot of other ones.

Reply

24.

Stannie Holt April 17,
2023 at 12:11 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95689 "Direct link to this comment")

Great article! Your deep institutional memory makes this a “hail and
farewell” to remember. I worked at InfoWorld from 1997 to 1999, when
the dot-com economy was at its peak. It was a thrilling ride. I
remember all the tech-biz magazines Maria Korolov mentioned — all
fat with print ads for an impressive “thud factor.” And I remember
tearing out articles to save — in fact, I still have a banker’s box
of clippings somewhere. Thanks for summing up an era.

Reply

25.

John Dickinson
April 17, 2023 at 12:58 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95690 "Direct link to this comment")

Harry leaves out the invention of PC Mag’s PC Labs. It was the thing
that made the magazines indispensable corporate buyers. PC World had
to invent a competitor to keep up. And by the way, Computer
Shopper’s high points were about 1,200 pages and 600,000
newsstand sales.

Reply

-

Harry McCracken April 17, 2023 at 2:28 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95692 "Direct link to this comment")

Hi, John. There is SO MUCH I didn’t write about in this story,
and maybe I’ll cover some of it in additional pieces. PC Labs
was certainly a crucial institution and the founding of our own
PC World Test Center was a direct reaction to its importance. We
sometimes felt like we had to do it on a shoestring compared to
the ZD version, but in retrospect we spent a fortune, and I’m
sorry those types of institutions don’t exist in the way they
once did.

And wow, 600,000 copies of Computer Shopper at the newsstand!

Reply

26.

John Dodge
April 17, 2023 at 7:58 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95693 "Direct link to this comment")

I’ll have to share this with Bill Bulkeley, a good friend who I see
several times a year. We traded emails today as a matter of fact.
He’ll appreciate that his piece is still getting traction. Bill
interviewed me for this piece on background. Harry, your post
motivates me to go out to a Barnes and Noble and find a
computer mag. Perhaps, a fool’s errand.

Reply

-

Harry McCracken April 17, 2023 at 8:12 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95694 "Direct link to this comment")

That’s great. I was interested by the piece saying that
InfoWorld couldn’t get funding for a lab until 1988. When I
visited it in 1992, it was ginormous.

Reply

27.

Gary A. Bolles
April 17, 2023 at 9:41 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95695 "Direct link to this comment")

Harry, great roundup from a phenomenal time… I first wrote as a
freelancer for Network Computing Magazine in late 1989, eventually
EIC, and then
[email protected]
Week, Yahoo! Internet Life, etc. We documented the rise of the
Internet even as it ate our lunch. The business has continually
reinvented itself, but now AI is trying to finish the job. -gB

Reply

28.

Erwin
April 18, 2023 at 6:53 am [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95699 "Direct link to this comment")

One title to rule them all… Dr Dobbs Journal

Reply

-

kaiponte
April 19, 2023 at 2:00 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95707 "Direct link to this comment")

Harry, great article. You must be about the same age as I. (I
started with the then-new TRS-80 in fifth grade.) I still have
copies of Byte and Computer Shopper. My father-in-law, who
passed away last year at 86, spent his entire 60-year career
writing for various technical publications and would comment on
how the readership was dwindling. Wonder how we’ll find these
article in 30 years.

Reply

29.

Steve Woit
April 19, 2023 at 1:55 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95706 "Direct link to this comment")

Proud to say that I put together the first corporate IDG budget for
PC World when I was working for Pat McGovern, on an original IBM PC
running a review copy of Lotus 123 that we had received from Lotus
founder Mitch Kapor. The print computer magazines had a great run
here in the U.S. and around the world. The brutal competition
between IDG and Ziff Davis and others made everyone better in the
end (unfortunately with millions to the lawyers as well).

Reply

30.

Julio Franco
April 19, 2023 at 10:08 pm [\#](https://www.technologizer.com/2023/04/15/the-end-of-computer-magazines-in-america/#comment-95709 "Direct link to this comment")

Thanks for the memories and insights Harry. I was probably about 10
when I started reading PC Magazine and PC World which introduced me
to the world of computing, product reviews and testing. Later, I
also subscribed to Maximum PC (who would become advertising partners
many years later). Who knew that would become a life-changing
pastime for me, by the time I was 15, I was a full-on tech
enthusiast and was starting to code basic stuff, so I published a
simple website to “report” on tech news. That’s when I started
TechSpot, still a high school kid, playing to be a reporter,
eventually learning from the trade and building an audience. It’s
been almost 25 years since but it all started with that magazine
sitting on the newsstand.

Reply

### Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Copyright © 2023 Technologizer.
Proudly powered by [WordPress](http://www.wordpress.org)



Loading Comments...

Write a Comment...
Email (Required)
Name (Required)
Website

###