Printed world is dying.

I have in my hands the last PC Magazine printed issue, January 2009.

I received a few other business and technically oriented magazines for free. I mean, the subscription would cost something for someone that did not “qualify” for them, and one by one they were getting slim and sending out notices that the printed edition no longer would be available, and that I needed to opt-in for receiving such issues on-line.

But PC Magazine? My gosh! I was a regular subscriber to it for years! How am I suppose to read the subsequent issues when I want to read something while on the bus, the park, or the WC?
I just keep thinking about the implications this Internet revolution brings. I have seen such magazine get thinner and thinner in recent years, and heard about newspapers cutting editions to only three a week, or simply disappearing.

I live in a place in which Internet, middle class and telecommunications (i.e. BB, iPhone, etc.) abound. But what about those other places that do not have such luxuries? When I was a student, the only way I could get latest information about my studies and trends was by going to the public libraries, or getting to doctor’s offices and asking for two-month old magazines and the like. What about those countries in development which computer per person ration is less than 1/100?

I can’t imagine what it is going to be when printed products such as Time, The Economist, Vanity Fair and others simply can’t keep up with the cost and go entirely online. Somebody (are you RIM, Apple and Sony reading?) has to come up with a gadget similar to the one for eBooks; or adjust the existing ones for magazines, advertising included.

One thing is certain, we’ll save a lot of trees now. :) That is not bad at all.