As Electronic Products is now available in both print and digital versions, this

is a good time for a debate the pros and cons of each medium. Editors

Christina Nickolas and David Suchmann offer divergent views.

Print publications
will never die!

There has been a lot of talk about whether print is alive or dead. To convince yourselves that print is very alive and doing very well, you just need to hop on any train or subway and see all the business men and women–young and old–reading the latest news in the good old-fashioned newspaper or magazine.

And if you observe them a bit more, you will also notice that they all have their laptops at their side. So why aren't these people reading the latest news off the Internet, where it is abundantly available? The answer is that print newspapers and magazines are a very comfortable medium and something with which all age groups are familiar.

And if print were dead, why are the magazine sections of bookstores always packed with readers day or night searching for an interesting magazine? Simply because we enjoy reading print anywhere, anytime, and we can discard when finished. Print is so user friendly.

I have tried reading magazines online. But I find it a blinding and slow experience, especially after reading long articles. I also can't display online magazines on my coffee table or store interesting issues on my bookshelf.

Yes, technology is changing. We see it everyday. DVDs have essentially replaced videotapes. MP3s are changing the face of the music industry. We also saw Web journalism rise to a peak a few years ago. However, why hasn't it been able to pay?

Print is very much alive! Digital will only supplement print for all those who need quick access or don't have a current issue or they are just technology geeks that have to be up to date with new technologies.

Christina Nickolas, Editor

Digital puts info
at your fingertips

As an Editor for Electronic Products Magazine for 3 years now, I receive considerable joy from seeing the fruit of my labor in each and every print issue. This is quite different from the 20 years prior that I spent as an engineer in manufacturing putting out production-related “fires,” when I never quite had sufficient time to sit and read a trade magazine.

I also vividly recall the delay in receiving requested information by mail. When the information arrived–sometimes 2 to 6 weeks later–I may have lost interest in it, or had no time to spend on it.

Today, the trade magazine Web sites, the manufacturers' Web sites, and the Internet search engines together make finding information much easier and more immediate. In fact, magazines like Electronic Products now exist entirely in digital form, looking almost like the print edition–and with the all-important search capability. No longer do we need to try to recall in what issue of what magazine we may have found a potential solution to a problem, and then go searching for it through a large pile.

Gone are the days when I ripped out pages from many magazines and squirreled them away in a file or drawer, in case I ever needed to get more information. Invariably, when that need occurred, I couldn't find the material easily, and often I couldn't find it until I no longer needed it.

I still find printed information extremely necessary, but the method I use to find the information has changed drastically–and is predominantly through the use of the Internet.

David Suchmann, Editor