One of my new reading addictions in 2009 was Wired Magazine. Reading it at the library required additional effort since it wasn’t at my closest site. So a few days before Christmas, in the guise of a gift for my husband, I ordered it online at http://www.wired.com. The website is awesome, even if you don’t want the magazine. The magazine is very affordable at $10/year and they offered additional gift subscriptions for $5. I also took advantage of their offer to renew my Vanity Fair subscription since this click-through order rate was cheaper than what they had offered via email and snail mail renewals (it pays to do your homework before ordering!).
Granted, Wired’s rate does not beat the deal my husband got. He recently bought a Rolling Stone (the magazine, not the band) brand shirt at TJ Maxx. The tags included a postcard to order a free 1-year subscription to Rolling Stone magazine. Pretty good deal since the shirt was $7!
One of the best ways to get magazine deals is to become a corporate executive. In my past working life, I held such a position. I was added to an “executive magazine” mailing list somewhere. So I still get offers to buy magazines and the rates are no more than $10/year. I find it humorous that executives are given magazine subsidies to subscriptions they probably have little time to read and could afford the full rate if they were that interested! However, since I’m currently “between opportunities”, I am grateful for those subsidies today.
The other deal I’m appreciating is the Rhapsody website: http://www.rhapsody.com. My husband recently subscribed to this service. Rates start at $12.99/month and they do offer a free trial period. Rhapsody allows you to build playlists and listen online to an unlimited number of full length albums. You have the option, as in iTunes, to purchase songs or albums if you want to download them. The great thing about the subscription rate is that we can listen on multiple computers (whether at home or at work) and we can be logged in at the same time and listen to our own personal playlists. I find that it’s functionality is not as easy to use as iTunes, but I know one of two things will happen – they’ll either improve their functionality or I’ll adapt!
Rhapsody is allowing me to utilize a Christmas present I bought for myself last year: 1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die – A Listener’s Life List, by Tom Moon. Today I listened to Sigur Rós, a rocker from Iceland, and Silly Wizard, a Scottish/Celtic band. I know that without this book or Rhapsody I would not have easily listened to their albums.
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