There are some very good reasons why people like to have a simple digital reproduction of a print publication. If I could I would read all magazines and newspapers online. I've grown used to using my computer for 'reading news' and work-related content. Sure I'll read books and novels offline, but for anything that comes in the form of shortish articles, I'd rather read it online. Why?

- I find it easier to scan content. I can read faster online that I can off.

- I can search. If I want to find a passage of text that I liked, it's a simple matter of typing a phrase in the search engine. This often can be quicker than doing the equivalent offline.

- I hate wasting the paper. Even though most news print is now printed on recycled paper, it's still wasteful and clutters up the place. The amount of reading I do quickly adds up to a lot of paper each week.

- Archives. I don't want to keep years' worth of magazines on my shelves, but with the New Internationalist digital edition http://www.exacteditions.com/shop/386/422 , I have access to archives right in my account at no extra cost. And because I can search them so quickly, I can find old stuff easily.

- KISS - Keeping it simple is sometimes preferred to having content dressed up in all sorts of trendy webby ways. Many people just want to read an article; they don't particular care what some crank with a bee in his (and yes it is mostly 'his') bonnet thinks about it in the comments area, they don't necessarily want to rate it, or take a poll, or whatever else makes it 'interactive'. I sometimes read (and write for) the Guardian blog, but the comments on it are just awful, full of reactionary, self-righteous, crass, insanoids. That can be a real turnoff for people. Having a closed-off digital edition of a publication can be a nice quiet place to do what you came there for - read.

I'm sure that digital editions are not for everyone, but I wouldn't discount their appeal too readily. Even if they don't take off in a huge web trendy way, there are still a few of us who quite like what they do and don't necessarily want to give that up. Given how easy it was for us to set them up at New Internationalist and how easy they are to maintain, I don't think that it needs to be such a drain on resources. It certainly doesn't prevent us from spending time trying to do all the bells and whisltes kind of stuff too as you know!

; - )

cheers,

adam