For this blog post we are going to explain the similarities and differences between the printed and online versions of the Rolling Stone Magazine. We will describe both the online and printed versions, discuss their focuses, explain its advertising, and tell you what we learned.
The primary focus of this magazine is to discuss current artists and other aspects of today's music culture. The print version is organized into three main sections. "Features", which mainly consist of interviews. "Rock & Roll" which consists of music news and who's hot and who's not. "Departments" covers other aspects of music culture such as, television, movies, and record reviews and releases. We believe that the online version has a clearer layout, and is much easier to navigate then its print counterpart. The online version has an easier layout to use, putting its table of contents at the top of each page. The online version's timeliness makes it easier to get the newest articles instantly. Both the print and online versions use quite a few photos, of which there is a mix between black and white. The online version also includes videos, in addition to their plethora of photos.
In the printed version, the featured articles are fairly long, making for an interesting read if you are interested in the topic. For example, in a featured interview with Elton John, he discusses in career in its entirety and shares his experiences. However there is a variation in length with the non-featured articles. A good example of shorter articles are a 300ish word review a a newly released album (Bright Eyes; The Peoples Key) , and a 2 page spread on upcoming Oscar nominees. The online version's articles are much shorter, unless you subscribe to their "Plus" online subscription. But with that service you also get access to other articles that didn't make it into the print addition, so it might be worth it to some people.
The primary focus of this magazine is to discuss current artists and other aspects of today's music culture. The print version is organized into three main sections. "Features", which mainly consist of interviews. "Rock & Roll" which consists of music news and who's hot and who's not. "Departments" covers other aspects of music culture such as, television, movies, and record reviews and releases. We believe that the online version has a clearer layout, and is much easier to navigate then its print counterpart. The online version has an easier layout to use, putting its table of contents at the top of each page. The online version's timeliness makes it easier to get the newest articles instantly. Both the print and online versions use quite a few photos, of which there is a mix between black and white. The online version also includes videos, in addition to their plethora of photos.
In the printed version, the featured articles are fairly long, making for an interesting read if you are interested in the topic. For example, in a featured interview with Elton John, he discusses in career in its entirety and shares his experiences. However there is a variation in length with the non-featured articles. A good example of shorter articles are a 300ish word review a a newly released album (Bright Eyes; The Peoples Key) , and a 2 page spread on upcoming Oscar nominees. The online version's articles are much shorter, unless you subscribe to their "Plus" online subscription. But with that service you also get access to other articles that didn't make it into the print addition, so it might be worth it to some people.
In the print addition, the advertisements are aimed at young, hip, liberal, college educated, people with a decent income. There are two ads’ that stood out. For example, the cover page advertisement is for the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze. The advertisement states "The 2011 Chevrolet Cruze. IT'S SO 2012." This insinuates that the people reading this magazine think that they are ahead of their time. The ad also mentions that the car has a 40 gigabyte hard drive option, although it never says what that option is for. The back page ad is for "Absolute Vodka", and insulates that the night life is where they party is at. The online ads are for the Rolling stone magazine subscription, they don't have ads for external products.
What sets Rolling Stone apart from the competition, is it full coverage of diverse musical genera’s, intertwined with, political, social, and environmental issues. A lot of other music magazines, focus on a specific genera, and usually aren't concerned with the lifestyle behind the music.
The two biggest advantages of the print edition are that it's easier to read on the toilet and that you can smell the cologne samples that are sometimes put into the magazine. The two biggest advantages of the online version is that it has more articles than the print edition, and that you can search their archives for a past articles that you remember. The two biggest disadvantages of the print edition are that it's not available instantly like the internet and you can damage the magazine itself if you're not careful. The two biggest disadvantages of the online version are that it requires the internet and electricity to be able to use it, and you don't have physical control over the articles themselves. Content wise there isn't an advantage to the print or online version, as long as you subscribe to their "Plus" service. The content is exactly the same. The online version is just a digital version of the print version, displaying the exact same content in the same manner that the print version does.
What sets Rolling Stone apart from the competition, is it full coverage of diverse musical genera’s, intertwined with, political, social, and environmental issues. A lot of other music magazines, focus on a specific genera, and usually aren't concerned with the lifestyle behind the music.
The two biggest advantages of the print edition are that it's easier to read on the toilet and that you can smell the cologne samples that are sometimes put into the magazine. The two biggest advantages of the online version is that it has more articles than the print edition, and that you can search their archives for a past articles that you remember. The two biggest disadvantages of the print edition are that it's not available instantly like the internet and you can damage the magazine itself if you're not careful. The two biggest disadvantages of the online version are that it requires the internet and electricity to be able to use it, and you don't have physical control over the articles themselves. Content wise there isn't an advantage to the print or online version, as long as you subscribe to their "Plus" service. The content is exactly the same. The online version is just a digital version of the print version, displaying the exact same content in the same manner that the print version does.
We feel that the target audience is broad, spanning the gap between ex-hippie baby boomers and their children that share mutual core values in music and politics. The ad's fit in well with the stories and photos in the magazine appealing to the entire niche with its product placement. There weren't any obvious stereotypes or offensive messages in the magazine as far as we could tell.
We prefer the print edition because it's easier to just pick up and read when you have a spare minute IF you have access to the magazine. The only time we actually read Rolling Stone, is when we're in a public library and have nothing better to do with our time. If we actually were interested in what Rolling Stone has to offer, we would definitively choose the online version over the print edition due to its superior content and usability. Personally, we don't interact or even regularly read Rolling Stone let alone interact with them on any other level besides reading. However, if we were interested in interacting with it in other ways, the online edition provides a good medium for this with article comments.
What we learned from this project is that magazines are using the internet to connect their reader base with each other on their websites. Giving users the ability to comment on and discuss articles in real time.
We prefer the print edition because it's easier to just pick up and read when you have a spare minute IF you have access to the magazine. The only time we actually read Rolling Stone, is when we're in a public library and have nothing better to do with our time. If we actually were interested in what Rolling Stone has to offer, we would definitively choose the online version over the print edition due to its superior content and usability. Personally, we don't interact or even regularly read Rolling Stone let alone interact with them on any other level besides reading. However, if we were interested in interacting with it in other ways, the online edition provides a good medium for this with article comments.
What we learned from this project is that magazines are using the internet to connect their reader base with each other on their websites. Giving users the ability to comment on and discuss articles in real time.
No comments:
Post a Comment