Time Inc. is at work on Maghound, which is akin to an online newstand where readers will pay a monthly fee—$4.95 for three magazines, $7.95 for five or seven for $9.95—and can then mix and match magazines of their choosing (the magazines they offer, that is, I don’t see Mother Jones pop up on the cover crawl).
Brian Wolfe, president of Time Consumer Marketing, calls Maghound, set to officially launch next year, the answer to Amazon for books, Netflix for movies, and iTunes for music. “The magazine industry,” he recently told AdAge (subscription), “has done nothing essentially to make the consumer experience better.” The online service, though, only goes so far. No digital, paperless versions. But one user improvement that will surely attract subscribers, those renewal notices won’t pile up. But no promises on what bait-to-switch will fill your Inbox.
