Rolling Stone magazine decided to get rid of one of its biggest personality attributes. Its size. Starting with the October issue, they cut the magazine down to a more "normal" 8.5x11 size we are used to. Its a move designed to sell more magazines on the newsstand. The classic odd size just didn't fit in and wouldn't always fit in the magazine stands. The large size and saddle stitch binding made it difficult and more expensive for advertisers to put in special inserts and make ads.
Other changes include a move to glossy paper, and typical magazine style glue binding and it plans to add 16-20 pages per issue.
I had a chance to check the current ACDC issue out. Its horrible. It seems as if they just took the design from the larger format and squeezed it into the smaller frame. It just doesn't feel right. Perhaps with time they figure out how to make it work, but for now, It seems Its small, its forgetable, its generic. Everything is crammed onto the page. The pictures are all too small.
In my opinion Rolling Stone just murdered their magazine. I was thinking about subscribing again...y'know so i could stay current and all that, but now i most certainly will not. Part of the appeal for me was the large size, that wierd newsprint like paper, the big pictures....i even liked the staple binding. I liked it because it was unique and different. Apparently that wasn't enough and once again another magazine had to conform to stay alive.
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