RichardCravy.com

Posted by Richard Cravy on April 25th, 2007 in Macintosh, Publications, Reviews

I have a few publications involving computers and technology that I just can’t seem to do without. Hopefully this is the first of a series of articles/reviews to those magazines I really like. Hopefully my fellow contributors will pitch in with articles as well.

Either first or second on my list is MacFormat, covering the Macintosh in the United Kingdom. Truth is, their website does not do this magazine justice! By American standards it is oversized at 11.75″ x 9.125″, and runs about 132 pages per monthly issue. In addition to the magazine itself, you get a DVD of Macintosh software bound into each magazine. First, I’ll talk about the magazine, then about the included DVDs.

Each issue is full of glossy photos accompanying news, reviews, how-to articles, and tech support. Here are some examples from the latest issue I have as I write this:

• Software reviews: 8 articles including Corel Painter X, Codeweavers Crossover Mac, and Native Instruments Traktor 3.2. These are real reviews or mini-reviews, not just text lifted off the manufacturer’s website or box. The reviewer actually uses the product, gives his or her opinion of the pros and cons of the package, and gives a 1 to 5 star rating. For packages I am personally familiar with, I have generally agreed with the reviewers assessment, leading me to trust reviews of those packages I have not yet used.

• Hardware reviews: 15 items including a Fuji digital camera, Kensington mouse, and several portable speaker/boombox type devices for iPods. Again, as with the software reviews, pluses and minuses, uses, value for money, and a star rating are given.
• How-To articles: My favorite section included 7 articles profusely illustrated and with enough verbal detail to make it possible for me to actually duplicate the process and results. Examples in this issue included surviving a hard drive crash, retouching photos in iPhoto 6, making an amateur documentary with iMovie, and using the Mellel word processing program (a copy is free on the DVD).
• Wrap it up with 6 pages of tech solutions to reader submitted questions involving hardware problems, iPod stuff, solutions to common problems and more in this issue.

Now, about that free DVD in each issue: it seems that each monthly DVD will have two or more free pieces of software, usually one or two versions older than the current retail title by that publisher. In addition will be freeware and shareware titles, tutorials, podcasts, reviews, games, and trial software titles. The April 2007 issue had a free copy of Toast 6 Lite CD & DVD burning (newest is Toast 8 Titanium), Mellel 1.9 word processor (newest is 2.1), CrushFTP 3 (Version 4 now out), 2 games, 12 reviews, 14 trial programs (time or feature limited), and 5 tutorials.

Check out the accompanying photos for more information. To me this is great value. There seems to be less advertising pages than in the American computer mags, and almost every reviewed in the magazine is available on both sides of the Atlantic, and usually at lower prices on this side. Now for a few downsides:

• Availability: unless you subscribe directly at $100+ for 12 issues, I have only been able to find it at Barnes and Noble bookstores, but not online at www.bn.com
• Cost: The content is a great deal, but price per issues is about $16!
• Timeliness: By the time copies of an issue appear at my local B & N, the next issue is already on newstands in Great Britain! And occasionally an issue never makes it to my local dealer, meaning I miss it altogether.

So, if you have a Mac, a nearby Barnes and Noble bookstore who consistently carries this magazine, and are willing to fork out $16 + tax per issue, you will be getting a great deal in my opinion!

RATING: 4/5