A good magazine is like a warm glass of milk

I don't know about everyone else, but I just love reading a magazine. No, not on my laptop, not on Kindle (Amazon's wireless reading device) but holding it in my hands and flipping the pages. One of my favorite times to read a magazine is right before bed. I prop myself up with pillows grab a magazine off the nightstand and flip it open. It's like my warm cup of milk.

I subscribe to three magazines: Consumer Reports (my wife and I don't buy a thing without consulting CR), Family Handyman and Muscle & Fitness. Maybe it's the pretty pictures, maybe it's the glossy four-color printing. I don't know. But I know I love holding a magazine in my hands.

I have always had a soft spot for magazines. I got my start in magazine publishing as the assistant editor of a small health food trade magazine in NJ. It was like a dream. My own office with a window, lots of responsibility and the office was 10 minutes from my house. Want to know how old I am? We used wax paste up with galley paper. Working at the magazine gave me a chance to cut my teeth in newspapers. You see the salary was so low that I took a part-time sports writing job at the local daily for extra income.

I always cringe a bit when I read about magazines ceasing or folding the print edition to go solely online. I understand the reasons - ad revenue is down; printing cost savings. But I still like licking my fingers to turn the pages or dog-earring a page to hold my place for future reading.

The media world is changing and magazines are certainly not immune to the those changes. PC Magazine recently announced it is moving to an online format and ceasing its print version, and other magazines are sure to follow suit.

So maybe I'll ask Santa for a Kindle. On the good side I'll have a lot more room on my nightstand. I'll just have to be careful not to spill my warm milk on it.