Are you an avid Magazine or newspaper reader?
Would you be interested in getting your magazines or newspapers right on the iPad?
Same as with books, some people still prefer the printed content to the digital one. They like the way the book, magazine or newspaper feels in their hands and I can’t argue with that. Depending on what I’m reading, I may prefer the printed content as well.
But what if you are a frequent traveller, or you commute long distances on public transport to go to work, or you are leaving on vacations and you don’t want to take with you several magazines because they are heavy. Or maybe, you can’t even get that specific magazine delivered to you where you go or where you currently live. You might still be able to read that content by using Newsstand and the respective app for your favorite magazine or newspaper.
Oh, let’s not forget about the multimedia content. Most magazines and newspapers nowadays include interactive content that you won’t find on the regular editions.
Opening Newsstand
From your home screen, tap on the Newsstand icon.
The first time you open Newsstand you’ll see a screen similar to this:
There’s a sign that tells you that you can download magazines and newspapers from the App Store. Before you continue, make sure you are connected to the Internet.
If you tap on this sign or on the “Store” button on the upper right corner, the app store download screen will appear:
Here you can select any of the magazines or newspapers shown. You will notice that most of them say “Free” but there’s a catch. In most cases, the app that allows you to download the content of the magazine or newspaper is free but the content itself is not.
Most of these apps provide the layout or skeleton for the content to load but you may need to purchase a subscription to this content. In some cases the content is free, in others it becomes free after a certain time for past editions.
Downloading a magazine app
As an example, we will download a magazine app. If you followed the previous steps above, you should be inside the app store download screen.
You can swipe left and right with one finger to browse the catalog and choose a magazine app. Please note that the content displayed on the catalog may vary based on location or country.
In this example, we will install “The New Yorker” but in a similar way you can install any other magazine. Once found on the catalog, tap on “Free”.When you tap the text inside the button changes. Then, tap on “Install App”.
A dialog box appears requesting your Apple ID password.
After entering your password, the download begins.
Once the download is finished, you’ll see the magazine app on your newsstand.
Opening a magazine app
Tap on the magazine icon app recently downloaded to open the magazine.
In this case the New Yorker opens and a dialog box requests if you would like to receive Push notifications. Tap on ok.
The main app screen opens and allows you to download paid or free issues.
In this case, I’m downloading the free issue so I tap on the download button. The issue starts downloading and shows a progress bar. Once finished, the issue might get displayed automatically or we can tap on the cover icon to get access to the content.
Navigation and menus vary from magazine to magazine so I won’t be commenting about this on this post.
Depending on the magazine or newspaper, there are different subscription methods and fees. If you are already a subscriber for a certain magazine or newspaper that has an app available, you may be able to download and see the digital content without extra payment by signing up with your subscription number.
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