End of the Road - RIP Print Media

cwalker2

Registered
I just received the last issue of Motorcyclist. I feel like I've been punched in the stomach.

I've been a reader/subscriber since May of 1979.

Cycle Guide disappeared first. I think their second to last issue had a Honda CBR on the cover with chrome body work and a young hottie straddling it. It was a thinly veiled desperate attempt to up the dime store magazine-rack sales numbers. One last hurrah to save the magazine from the clutches of death. Unfortunately it wasn't enough. 4 monthly rags dropped to three. As a young man, subscribing to 4 monthly moto mags was costly, but I always got a free duffel bag and huge discount on cover price.

When Cycle magazine went belly up in the early to mid 1990's they joined forces with Cycle World and it felt like a dark time for magazines. Still we soldiered on with two magazines offering monthly product tests and great articles on equipment and bikes. The shoot outs were my favorite features. Kevin Cameron was wisely picked up by Cycle World to continue his great engineering prose. Then just a few years ago things got a major overhaul when Cycle World and Motorcyclist became "archive quality" - read 'thick and expensive' and only 6 issues per year. Ugh. Was the end really near?

I read my final issue of Motorcyclist this week with great sadness. I still have my 1st issue with the 125MX shootout on the cover in may of '79. I was just a boy, but I could read and I swear to God it came with the smell of fresh dirt, chain lube, and pre-mix melded into the pages.

The internet does not provide the same information or the same wonderful photos. The difference is like working in your buddy's well lit garage on a summer night with the door open. You take action, see things, meet new people, and learn things. Mission accomplished. The other is like trying to attend a cook out with dozens of families. The kids are screaming and playing, folks are talking, the din of the stereo garbles the conversation, and the alcohol works to blur the rush of info thrown at us. In the end I'm not really sure I learned anything even though 10 times the info was thrown at me. And although I remember both events with fondness the one that stays with me is that night we measured ring end gap, degreed camshafts, or bolted the head and valve cover back on at 1:00 am. Not just camaraderie, accomplishment. Learning. Teaching. Success.

I feel like I have no one to commiserate with. I feel like an old man who has lost one of his last two good friends. After this it's just me, then darkness. Am I the only one who misses print media that much?

It's been 40 years since I began my dance with Motorcyclist. It's hard to say goodbye. I feel like I'm laying a life long friend to rest.

Godspeed Motorcyclist Magazine (1912-2019)

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The problem is compounded when it comes to non-fiction material, history etc, if it's stored in 'the cloud' it can be over written and changed, if it's in a ppublished book, it's there for keeps.
Remember encyclopaedias? Do you ever see them anymore?
Not likely. The cost was horrendous, but you kept them for a lifetime, and then passed them to your kids . . . the 'truth' was in writing and did not change.
The internet . . . hmmmm . . not so reliable.
 
The problem is compounded when it comes to non-fiction material, history etc, if it's stored in 'the cloud' it can be over written and changed, if it's in a ppublished book, it's there for keeps.
Remember encyclopaedias? Do you ever see them anymore?
Not likely. The cost was horrendous, but you kept them for a lifetime, and then passed them to your kids . . . the 'truth' was in writing and did not change.
The internet . . . hmmmm . . not so reliable.

I hear you Kiwi. When I started secondary school, my parents bought a set of encyclopaedias for me and my sister for school. So they hold sentimental value to me as both parents are gone.
When I moved in with my girlfriend, she said to throw them out as they are worthless and so outdated. It was the first argument we had. Sense prevailed as we both love real books. And the encyclopaedia are 40 yr old next January.
I still buy print media where I can, vinyl music first, cd music second and if I have to digital download as a last resort
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I hear you Kiwi. When I started secondary school, my parents bought a set of encyclopaedias for me and my sister for school. So they hold sentimental value to me as both parents are gone.
When I moved in with my girlfriend, she said to throw them out as they are worthless and so outdated. It was the first argument we had. Sense prevailed as we both love real books. And the encyclopaedia are 40 yr old next January.
I still buy print media where I can, vinyl music first, cd music second and if I have to digital download as a last resortView attachment 1601067

View attachment 1601068

View attachment 1601069
Lol look at the bow in that shelf!! Heavy books!
 
I hear you Kiwi. When I started secondary school, my parents bought a set of encyclopaedias for me and my sister for school. So they hold sentimental value to me as both parents are gone.
When I moved in with my girlfriend, she said to throw them out as they are worthless and so outdated. It was the first argument we had. Sense prevailed as we both love real books. And the encyclopaedia are 40 yr old next January.
I still buy print media where I can, vinyl music first, cd music second and if I have to digital download as a last resortView attachment 1601067

View attachment 1601068

View attachment 1601069
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I got 60-70 era set , I am keeping also , they weigh a ton .
Brittanica's? We had a set of those growing up, I spent hours reading them. I can still smell the paper....
 
People fail to realize that what you read on the internet is likely to be specifically targeted at you. Very different from going and finding information. There is no small amount of irony in the fact that in an age where an unprecedented amount of information is available to the vast majority of the world's population, that same population is less interested than ever in learning more about anything. As mentioned above, I'm extremely sceptical about the ease with which digital information can be changed, we are far too reliant on a very flawed system.
 
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