Sky & Telescope Mag in UK

[PembrokeSteve]

Hi,

I popped into WH Smiths today with intention to buy December's "Sky & Telescope".  "Sky & Telescope" has been my favoured magazine for many years.  What pleased me is that it's price was also cheap at £3.70 in comparison to the £5.50 being charged for the other UK astronomy mags "Astronomy Now" and "Sky at Night".  However I had a shock when I realised that Sky & Telescope's price has now increased to £6.99  !!!!   😬   Sad day for me as I am not willing to pay that for a magazine.   😢
Does anyone have any idea of why such an increase in price?

Regards,

Steve

[Space Hopper]

Christ, thats 'daylight' robbery.

But you're right, its also showing £8.72 on 'Newsstand' (PER COPY) 

[icpn]

I think since the AAS took over S&T all the overseas prices have doubled or more. Even digital membership is now three times what it was before for international subscribers. I guess they are trying to screw people to recover the money they paid out which I suspect is going to lose them a lot of international subscribers. However the editorials are more about diversity thna expalining the magazines policies.

[johninderby]

10 hours ago, Space Hopper said:

Christ, thats 'daylight' robbery.

 

Or more appropriately. 😁

 

Edited November 21, 2020 by johninderby

[AdeKing]

OMG you're right. I have a digital subscription active that I think cost me about $25.

The digital only price is now almost $70.

That has certainly lost me as a subscriber I'm afraid as I certainly don't read cover to cover.

☹️

[Paul M]

That's a lot to pay to read a load of adverts!

S&T was always my favourite. I subscribed to it for many years but stopped a long time ago. Not least among the reasons was the quality of the paper. Its physical quality had gone and the content was struggling.

Magazines just can't compete in the internet age. Certainly not with a 3 month lead time on articles!

[Oldfort]

Like Paul M, I subscribed to S&T for many years.  However I felt the quality of articles started to decline, and the magzine got thinner.  When my sub came up for renewal about 2 years ago, I did try to renew online, but their system would'nt let me.  I contacted the helpdesk, but it was no help at all, so I gave up.

This was such a contrast to my experience several years earlier, when one issue never showed up.  I phoned up and spoke to a lady, who was very apologetic (sounded genuine), didn't try to blame anyone else and just sorted out the problem without delay.

[Space Hopper]

Does anyone on here subscribe to 'Astronomy Technology today' online magazine ?

https://astronomytechnologytoday.com

[callump]

I get the digital Sky & Tel - it has been improving over the recent years, and in the Jan 2021 issue an excellent article on winter galaxy groups.

The price increase was a shock - but then it's only the price of two or three coffees (or one beer in some London pubs), so I will be continuing my subscription.

I also get Astro Technology Today - it is really good.

And Amateur Astronomy Magazine - which also has good content.

/callump

 

[bish]

I used to buy Sky & Telescope and Astronomy magazines from W H Smith,  but they have  closed near me. Either means a trip to a bigger town, or post. Not so cheap now. I read a lot less magazines with all the podcasts now though.

[Deadlake]

I have the digital copy, find it a great way to keep them archived. However ties you in to having an iPad to read them on...

[icpn]

The digital edtion is a PDF so you could read it on any platform that has a PDF reader, I would normally read mine on a Widnwos machine..

 

Owen

[bish]

17 hours ago, Deadlake said:

I have the digital copy, find it a great way to keep them archived. However ties you in to having an iPad to read them on...

Wish I was a bit more up-to-date. Books and magazines I have to have  physical copy. I used to hoard the magazines (had a load for 35 years), but do dispose of them now (mostly).

[TerryMcK]

I’ve just had a look at https://astronomytechnologytoday.com which is being offered at $6 a year or $9 for 2 years. Normally it is twice these prices. There is a demo copy to look at. Not sure if they offer pdf downloads or just as per the demo which has some sort of online screen reader. Either way it doesn’t break the bank and might be worthwhile if the magazine survives the pandemic.

The demo magazine was roughly three quarters taken up with American based adverts which are not relevant to me. However magazine adverts in whatever form boost revenues and paying ongoing costs. Not a problem for me.

I subscribe to the print version of Astronomy Now which is good, digital version of Sky At Night which is poor and Amateur Astrophotography which is good. I might drop Sky At Night.

[icpn]

If you subscribe to ATT then you can get PDF downloads of it. There are usually quite large in the 100Mb range though.

[ian2]

£6.99 is too expensive for what it is. I’ve also tried Astronomy Now and Astronomy however I find that browsing on here provides better info about observing than any of the magazines 😝 for the competitive price of free

[AdeKing]

I found that my local library had electronic versions of Astronomy and The Sky at Night available via the RBDigital app, so thats where I get my fix of those from.  Worth checking if you're a member of your local library.

I like Astronomy Now and get a paper copy but tend to only flick through it so am tempted to drop that one.

ATT is very good value and I enjoy reading that one, though as previously mentioned it does contain quite a lot of adverts, but I find that I can ignore those without too much nuisance.

Edited November 25, 2020 by AdeKing
App name added.

[billhinge]

I don't mind the adverts in https://astronomytechnologytoday.com and https://www.amateurastrophotography.com/ , you never know when you may find some new gizmo, both are cheap enough so no worries

S&T was something to  look forward to as a youngster in the 70's and 80's, went back to it 10 years ago but it wasn't the same and it was just a quick skim read

I may buy a mag from WH  Smiths occasionally but usually only for a review or specific articles, sad but the internet has most of the info anyway and is interactive

[baggywrinkle]

I bought a copy last week and was nastily surprised at the rise in price...will not be buying again.

[chiltonstar]

I used to subscribe in the '80s and '90s, and found it excellent. Since then, I've only bought the December edition with the Skygazers' Almanac most years; one or two good articles usually, but not much comparison with AN. So it looks as though I will have to look for a copy of the Almanac online somewhere from now on....

Chris

[skyhog]

I have bought numerous magazines over the years. I've mentioned in a couple of threads my fondness for S&T going back to the mid seventies. Ive had subscriptions for guitar mags and computer mags too. Then came the Internet and, quite frankly, they all became rather pointless. I say that because this hobby is an absolute perfect fit for the online world. We could get into a python sketch, "what has the Internet done for astronomy".... 😁.. OK, a magazine is the price of a couple of pints of beer. Well I'd rather buy the beer to be honest. 

[Andy ES]

I go to the local market in Chelmsford and you can get it for £1 if you don’t mind it being 3 months old!

A place in Basildon also does this.

Apologies if you don’t live in Essex.

[kirkster501]

In this online world,  I am no longer fully reading the magazine Astronomy Now that I subscribe to, good that it is.  I am going to cancel the subscription since, as others have said, I can learn more of what is important to me online at places like SGL.  Magazines have lost their relevance to me now, even online ones.  I prefer quick snippets of information now.