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Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Web vs. Print

A single thread ran through most of the comments on my recent post about the economics of climbing magazines: the idea that print media is on its way out, and the Internet soon will rule. And so it's interesting to note that 8a.nu, the Swedish web site that has become the international clearinghouse for sport-climbing and bouldering news—likely the No. 1 international climbing site in traffic and reigstered membership—is about to publish....wait for it....a magazine. Actually, it's an annual, but still, it's going to be printed on old-fashioned paper.

UPDATE: 8a announced Wednesday that it has received sponsorship to double the print run of its yearbook, to 10,000.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Remember when people were still wondering if digital photography would really become very popular?

The paper vs web debate reminds me of the same discussion.

The writing is on the wall, and the wall is an LCD or something even better, not mashed up tree trunks.

Kris said...

Dougald,
I have to agree that web publishing is on an incredibly fast train to somewhere. I have been an editor with an on-line outdoor business news magazine (The BOSS Report) for the last five years, and last year we bought four new print titles. Why? Print media still reaches a broader, and very different audience.

On-line media will continue to grow, and it will probably become the top player in the game soon, but it will never completely replace print media.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree that print media is on its way out. 8a.nu website is great!

Anonymous said...
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