I get several freebies. The only magazine I now pay for is Latitudes & Attitudes. They historically have been mostly sail, but most every issue now has a trawler article. They are all about cruising and the cruising lifestyle. Their irreverent attitude is the opposite of the blue blazer cruising magazines. Ted G DeFever 44, Amici Block Island, RI

I was an avid reader of Passagemaker when they actually wrote about passagemakers. I saw them drift away from that and dropped my subscription when they got that "growler" boat. So were they really going to make a passage in a picnic boat? I'm sure they're just doing what they do to stay in business. The quality seems to have dropped to the "free magazine" status though. I haven't looked it up, but I wonder what their free subscription numbers are compared to paid? Maybe they're all paid, but a lot of the other rags that are just thinly disguised brokerage listings are mostly free if you ask. Power and Motor yacht comes to mind. I used to get it and changed addresses... It followed me without my asking or qualifying; I'm suspecting my Boat/US membership provided the address. The only boating rag I pay for now is DIY (http://www.diy-boat.com/) and it's worth every penny. It caters to the do it yourselfer, sail and power, so not every article is applicable to you. It is really full of great information in every issue, if you tend to do work on your boat yourself. Keith _____ -----Original Message----- I get several freebies. The only magazine I now pay for is Latitudes & Attitudes. They historically have been mostly sail, but most every issue now has a trawler article. They are all about cruising and the cruising lifestyle. Their irreverent attitude is the opposite of the blue blazer cruising magazines. Ted G DeFever 44, Amici Block Island, RI _______________________________________________

"Keith" <keith@anastasia3.com> writes: >Maybe they're all paid, but a lot of the other >rags that are just thinly disguised brokerage listings are mostly free if >you ask. PassageMaker Magazine was acquired about 5 years ago by Trader Publications. >From a press release: "In addition to PassageMaker Magazine, the Trader organization includes Sound ings, Trade Only, Nor'easter, and marine websites Boats.com and YachtWorld.co m. Trader Publishing Company publishes more than 700 other print classified a nd photo guide magazines, including Boat Trader and Yacht Trader. Trader Publ ishing Company is equally owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., and Landmark Commun ications, Inc." Now, I'm not a corporate insider of Trader Publications, but I've been in bus iness for a while. I'm guessing that they make next to nothing on retail sale s, and just break even on subscriptions. The money will come in being able to sell advertising to a desired demographic, especially across such a broad ran ge of publications (700!). Plus, they get incredible economies of scale in pr inting, etc. I'm actually a bit of a magazine junkie (I have a complete collection of Yach ting back to 1936 among other things), and it's interesting to watch how maga zines change over time. This is the reason that I have so much respect for Wo odenBoat. First, they have maintained a focus on wooden boats (hey, you can l augh but when was the last time you saw a passagemaker in PassageMaker?). How ever the other much more interesting thing is that they have made a conscious decision to not allow "lifestyle" ads in the magazine. You can bet your botto m dollar that makers of condos/high-end appliances/BMWs/etc. would love to re ach the WB demographic, but WB realizes that over time the tail would start w agging the dog and over time this would kill their magazine. Now, it also hel ps that WoodenBoat is privately held and to the best of my knowledge still co ntrolled by the founder, Jon Wilson. It makes a difference (and that I do kno w quite a lot about, as the owner of a entrepreneurial software company which was purchased by a much larger public company). Scott Welch Product Manager, Open Text Collaboration and Social Media Group www.opentext.com 905 762 6101 "Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out ." - John Wooden