Mac Life

I like the magazine a lot but am very pretty annoyed about the cd. I have a dialup connection and a single phone line. I have been a subscriber since MacAddict issue number 1. But now I am SOL for the cd content.

Everywhere you look its geared to broadband. I don't know how you people afford it.

I chose broadband internet over cable TV, and I save a little extra by not subscribing to magazines

CD content aside, I'm amazed that people still buy computer magazines. When I gave up buying MacAddict (about 7 years ago), it was because even then there was enough online content providing the same information, and in a more timely manner (news occurring that day, as opposed to last month or longer).
The magazine had become redundant, and didn't provide anything I couldn't find faster, and for free.

I really enjoyed the early years of MacAddict because many of the articles in the mag showed irreverent humor and creative wackiness, all while providing useful information it would be painful to gather or attempt to read online on dialup modems. (Hence the nifty CD-Rom for trial software)

Being a somewhat feisty supporter of the Mac, I can say that the magazine was well suited for the segment of the Mac crowd who were fed up being criticized for their choice of operating systems. It helped with "mac evangelism", if you will. For example many of its articles heled to dispell the megahertz myth and explained the advantages of RISC over CISC processors, etc

What seems to be missing (from the first issue of MAC | LIFE , at least) is that spark of a counter-culture that defined MacAddict, in my opinion. The insert that came with the first issue of the magazine itself basically says that the editors think that Apple is mainstream enough to drop the mac evangelism angle. Granted there is great growth in the ranks of MAC users but we are still a minority of the computer market.

The new mag seems to be great in terms of reviews and tips and tricks. Its personality doesn't seem to inspire the same sense of "oh cool, look what came in the mail today" that MacAddict did for me.

I could smell change when Max went into retirement...

Personally, I'm for keeping the CD with the magazine. CDs aren't very expensive and it really makes a magazine feel like something special.

I dropped the $10 dialup I was on for $14.99 384Kbps DSL a while ago. It was a promotion, before the current rates came into play. Anything better than dialup is worth the money. My parents, however can't get cable or DSL at their house. I'm hoping that somebody markets a comparable service like WiMax or something that can reach out over the cellular networks. They can get cellular service... Anyway, being stuck on dailup is a reality for many people, and sometimes your 56k modem can only run at 28.8 or 33.6 due to the (poor) quality of the local lines.