I've only just got into the iPad habit, picking up an iPad2 on Friday. Early opinions are that I do like reading articles on it and Instapaper for iPad is perfect for putting together a collection of pieces off twitter for reading later. Tried Branson's Project magazine and it made me want to punch the iPad to make it stop - rubbish style over function and content and took an age to download. The i app which just replicates the newspaper is fine. The most readable i've come across is the BMJ. It actually makes me want to read the BMJ instead of The Word! (almost)

Moral: it's not about the bells and whitles of multimedia, it's just about having access to the content to read.

and would certainly read a magazine on there if it was as easy to use as a podcast.

If, for example, my digital copy of the Word magically appeared on the iPad every month then I'd use it, otherwise I'd just read a book instead and save the Word for when I have access to the paper copy.

The film mag Empire is excellent on iPad; you have all the articles but with additional video interviews and links to film trailers; I like the good, clear presentation. You can download it monthly for £3.99.

The Sunday Times mags are also good.

I've subscribed to the paper version and given up in the past, but I'm really enjoying the iPad version. It's nothing fancy, no multimedia - just very clear presentation and easy to access. I'm pondering using it for Rolling Stone, and based on the post above may give Empire a go too.

Read the daily Irish papers on it and I really like the books app. Agree with the Doctor that Branson's mag is just annoying and another vote for Empire who seem to have got it right.

Do the iPad owners on the board carry it around with them most of the time, or does it live on the coffee table? I say this because I'm always chucking my Kindle in my bag or sticking it in my coat pocket, as it's pretty durable and only cost £100. I think if I had an iPad, I'd be too scared to travel with it as a matter of course.

But I occasionally use it to look at Economist, Intelligent Life, S Times, New Yorkers, Vanity Fair. Most often, if I'm travelling.

For imaginative use of the format, th Times Eureka supplement is good

I read most of them but mainly for work purposes as I work for a picture library and the digital publishing revolution is keeping all of us on our toes.

The consensus seems to be that content remains king: those publications (and Branson's Project is definitely one) who have handed the keys over to the IT department are the ones which have failed.

You need to augment your print offering with what the iPad can offer, not obliterate it.

I'd read a Word iPad edition - something with footage clips of gigs/films/the best & worst feature plus audio links and the ability to interact directly with the opinion and review columns.

If I find that appearing on itunes in the next month or two let the record show that I will be claiming my consultancy fee.

Bah, was hoping that this would be the Word iPad announcement.

Anyways The Times/Sunday Times, the Economist app (the free version is enough for me), occasionally get Sports Illustrated & Wired, never bought the paper version of either but would certainly subscribe to both on iPad if that was an option. Subscribed to Popular Science for just over €1 per issue.

Subscribed to loads through the Zinio app, SFX, Edge and T3 all of which I bought the paper versions of, Rolling stone & Esquire (both less than €20 for a years sub) never bought the paper versions of either. Got fed up waiting for The Word, so subscribed to Uncut. All cheaper than the paper subscriptions.

Tried Empire, the first iPad issue was reasonably priced but took up far too much space, since then they increased the price to the same as the paper version, so no thanks.

Haven't bought a magazine in many months.

Would certainly subscribe to Word if it's priced right, has to be less than a regular sub., it doesn't need any bells or whistles.

...not really bothered if its the same price as paper version, because it's not cluttering the place up and demanding to be recycled. Also The Monthly, which is a terrific Oz mag I got into the habit of reading when I was there. When my Macworld sub expires I'll go iPad, and the same would go for other guy-type things I buy, eg guitar mags, because the piles won't irritate the FPO. Ditto Word - what are we waiting for?

I also love Wired for my Geek fix. Again, just a duplication of the magazine with additional links to multimedia.

One gripe I have with some mags on the iPad. Lay off the the in-my-face multimedia ads that totally screw up page turning while they load and get in the way.

I read many of the above mentioned magazines (and more) using Zinio, share pdf scans with friends (for more obscure publications) and am utterly addicted to longform.

For a great example of how not to make an iPad magazine look at Post Matter. Truly awful.

I would gladly pay more for a sub if The Word offered an iPad readable version.

I read two/three books per week on the iPad.

Living in Australia, the cost of non-local mags - especially those airfreighted in - is prohibitive. I get the ESPN magazine on the ipad for that reason, and would certainly subscribe to The Word on ipad on the same basis...

Never used to get round to reading these in print form, now I have them on the iPad I usually get a lot more read.

Why?

Cant really say, it just seems more convenient somehow.

I also have a KIndle for books and get very frustrated when a book I want isn't available, the Kindle is just so easy to carry around.

I too would subscribe to an iPad Word mag.

Off now to look at Empire on the thing, sounds good.

I recently acquired a Gen 1 iPad at a reduced price and was keen to try out a magazine on it. So I bought the latest Uncut magazine (sorry - I'm a WORD subscriber anyway so you've not lost any business). I have to say I did not like the experience of reading it on the iPad. It looks great but it soon became a strain to look at for a concentrated period of time. Plus, it may be my eyesight but I continuously had to 'pinch and zoom' to be able to read the text. This makes navigating round an article on the same and across pages a real pain. I love my iPad, think it's a great bit of tech. But if WORD magazine became available to download to it I'd probably stick to the paper-based version!

In my defence, I may sound like a Luddite but I've worked in IT for 25 years so am more than happy to embrace new technology. But in this case, I was genuinely underwhelmed by the experience.

I can see the benefits of added interactive video and audio content and might buy on that basis, but as a simple digital copy of the print version I'll stick with paper for now.

And it's wipe-clean.

Certainly the ipad makes photos "pop" out at you and is great for magazines like Vanity Fair. For magazines with more text, not sure how much better really the experience is. Again, it all probably boils down to a cheaper price than a physical edition and perhaps more additional content (like Empire magazine does with the trailers etc.) being the deciding factor.
One way to do it might be to have a staggered release date. Physical copy comes out, perhaps physical subscribers get a digital copy at the same time. Then two weeks later a digital copy can be bought on its own or subscribed to, at a reduced rate.

I find that I'm using my iPad all the time - I use at work for taking notes, reading emails etc etc - and so magazines / newspapers on the iPad are a natural extension.

Regularly download the Sunday Times, which is pretty comprehensive for the price.

Get the occasional issue of Wired, if there is something that looks good on it.

I like the Empire iPad version and have bought a couple of issues, but the app / magazine is not available on the Singapore iTunes store and so I tend to only get when I have credit in my UK iTunes account. If Word are thinking of launching a iPad version, then please make it international !

Also read MacFormat on the iPad - as a subscriber I have access to the pdf version of the magazine for download on the day of release. As an international subscriber, I get the pdf version a week before the print copy comes so is very convenient.

Whilst some of the more "multimedia" iPad magazines (e.g Empire / Wired) are nice, I actually think a simple pdf straight copy is perfectly fine. It has all I need, it gets to me on time every month and I have no problem with storage.

I can access perfectly readable web content, I can read this 'ere blog, download the latest podcast (or stream it If I'm impatient) I can get my emails, contacts, calendar, play games, listen to Spotify, Radio stations from anywhere in the world, read Twitter, Facebook, I can even log onto my Mums computer if she's having a problem with something.

I have a Laptop PC for DJ-ing and playing live. It's rock solid and has never let me down. In order to use the software I need controllers and an Audio Interface which plug in via USB so an iPad simply won't do, and it can't handle the software anyway.

The Word Magazine arrives in the post and I read that. It's a nice experience and gives the eyes a rest.

I cannot understand why I would need a another slab of plastic that is bigger than the phone but smaller than the laptop, but won't fit in my pocket and won't do any of the things I need the laptop for.

Reading magazines or books is a joy and it's always nice to get away from a screen (I work with computers all day), I like it so why would I want a device to replace that pleasure?!

I subscribe to Rolling Stone on Zinio.
It is an absolute steal at about $15 per year!

...but I'm reading a lot about I-Pads in magazines

I downloaded a few books and magasines to my iPad and found the reading experience fine... indoors. Outdoors and in harsh lighting, it's poor.

I then purchased a Kindle which has a far, far better screen for reading: less glare and good to read pretty much anywhere. However, compared to the iPad it feels plasticky and clunky. Also, it's nowhere near as good for pictures or for simply flicking through something and diving back and forth through whatever you're reading.

The outcome is that I'm downloading and reading books via the Kindle, which I love as a reading device, and avoiding magasines until someone comes up with a device that combines a Kindle screen and readability with the touch and feel of an iPad.

Is cost not a factor for anyone? After many years of 'getting by' we've recently become very skint due to employment or lack therof. It's made me realise how much I've taken for granted being able to afford to buy CDs, DVDs, books and the latest Apple or Panasonic gadget without really worrying about the cost. Now it's like being a student again, counting every penny and having to decide whether to buy a coffee or go without and save the cash to buy a beer later. And the idea of handing over a few hundred for a device like an iPad is now out of the question. We get by with our old computer and a hit and miss internet connection. But does this mean we are to fall on the wrong side of digital divide? If newspapers disappear in favour of apps and libraries shut down, where does that leave people like us for information and entertainment?

The problem that all publishers face is that while they might like to pursue some of these options they're all "as well as" and not "instead of", which means you're increasing the amount of expense and trouble you have to go to at what is already a very tough time for everyone. We shall revisit this regularly.

When he tired of official reports and memoranda and minutes, he would plug his foolscap-sized Newspad into the ship's information circuit and scan the latest reports from Earth. One by one he would conjure up the world's major electronic papers ... Switching to the display unit's short-term memory, he would hold the front page while he quickly searched the headlines and noted the items that interested him. ... the postage-stamp-sized rectangle would expand until it neatly filled the screen and he could read it with comfort. When he had finished, he would flash back to the complete page and select a new subject for detailed examination.

Floyd sometimes wondered if the Newspad, and the fantastic technology behind it, was the last word in man's quest for perfect communications. Here he was, far out in space, speeding away from Earth at thousands of miles an hour, yet in a few milliseconds he could see the headlines of any newspaper he pleased. (That very word "newspaper," of course, was an anachronistic hangover into the age of electronics.) The text was updated automatically on every hour; even if one read only the English versions, one could spend an entire lifetime doing nothing but absorbing the ever-changing flow of information from the news satellites.

It was hard to imagine how the system could be improved or made more convenient. But sooner or later, Floyd guessed, it would pass away, to be replaced by something as unimaginable as the Newspad itself would have been to Caxton or Gutenberg.

(Via http://boingboing.net/2010/02/02/arthur-c-clarks-2001.html; and prompted by being able to read 2001 on my Android phone---had to be done, really ...)

I haven't got an iPad yet, but I do have an iPhone, and as an occasional reader of comics, I've been intrigued by the headway that particular medium has been making. I spent a while trying to collect US publisher IDW's 'Doctor Who' series, which for various complex licensing reasons isn't widely available in the UK.

Now they've launched the same titles digitally, and they're great. You can read them in portrait mode as a full page as you would the regular comic, with the opportunity to zoom in etc. Alternatively, by turning the device to landscape, you can read them panel by panel, with the formatting of captions, speech bubbles and the like adjusted accordingly. They're also about a third to a quarter of the price of the print version. All the big publishers, Marvel and DC particularly, are embracing the technology and making the most of it with their own dedicated apps for this sort of thing.

Comics aren't going to be to everyone's taste, of course, but it's really sold me on the idea of reading magazines on some kind of computer / tablet device, which I'd been fairly resistant to previously. If more magazines can embrace the technology, and the opportunities provided by it - i.e. not just sticking out a PDF of the print version - I think there's a very bright future for digital magazines, and I'd certainly be interested in going down that route, particularly for publications that I don't keep hold of when I've finished reading them.

Inspired by this thread, I've just tried Zinio - I'd never even heard of it before - and it looks really good. I've read the sample magazine extracts and decided to buy a couple of one-off issues to see how I feel after sustained use.

First impressions are very good though, I definitely think I could see myself reading Word on it. Doesn't need to be a special 'multiple-media' edition; just the regular magazine but delivered digitally. Possibly a freebie with a physical subscription - along the same lines as the current e-edition - or offer a digital-only sub?

I suspect I'll use it to subscribe to those American magazines I like to pick up when I'm over there - Rolling Stone, Modern Drummer, Car & Driver, etc.

While the kids play. And occasionally watching India balls things up in Cricket World Cup via Sky Mobile on 3G.
And skim reading today's Times from time to time and catching up on guilty pleasure The Tudors via iPlayer. And if wanted I could read The New Yorker or Wired or or Vanity Fair.

The last 3 seem specifically designed with the capabilities (and limitations) of iPad in mind whereas many magazines and papers don't seem to have done more than a sort of half-arsed version of the print model.

If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing well especially as far iPad and other such devices are concerned.

However, note to The Hep - unless you can get a kindly advertiser to sponsor an iPad version - then it might be worth waiting and work on a website optimised for mobile.

Tablets and smartphones are all going to get lightter, faster and cheaper and will become the norm in the next two or three years - and Apps may be just a step on that route.

However, note to The Hep - unless you can get a kindly advertiser to sponsor an iPad version - then it might be worth waiting and work on a website optimised for mobile.

Yes indeed. I have been enjoying mobile versions of many sites on a smalish Android phone, but found the Word site almost unusable until someone suggested Opera Mini which has a nice mobile option. However this doesn't work with the search facility properly in my case.