Review: Still a lot of good stuff to read, a little less to look at
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 23, 2011
The Great Gray Lady is one way some people refer to the "New York Times" to describe the expanse of type compared to the newspaper space devoted to images.That's what I thought of when I first subscribed to and started reading "The New Yorker," Kindle edition. Holy Cow, there's still a lot of good stuff to read but certainly a lot less to look at.Gone are the provocative photographs. Also missing, the lush advertisements for everything from Kohler bathroom fixtures, to a two-page display inviting me to fly Air France.  I'm one who first pulls out and throws the Sunday newspaper inserts into the recycling bin. I never would have thought I'd miss the magazine advertising but I do. At least the New Yorker cartoons remain on the Kindle edition although they are a little washed out but I'm willing to live with that.The e-New Yorker navigation has improved from when I first subscribed. The screen is now divided vertically. Left half contains the section headings, "The Talk of the Town," Reporting & Essays" "The Critics." Toggle over to the right and the articles are highlighted for that section. That makes cruising through the magazine easy enough to make for a pleasant read.I've subscribed to the print edition for more than 20 years and still anticipate Thursdays when it's delivered to my address. I still make it my week's work to read most of the content. These days, though, most of the time I find I'm reading most of the magazine on the Kindle. I use my Kindle to aggregate all my reading material in one place and I like that.Overall, the "The New Yorker" Kindle edition presents me with a couple of things I'd describe as a little distracting, just a tick shy of annoying. But those distractions, for me, are more than compensated for by the portability the Kindle offers - and the fact that I can easily archive all the issues.At the end of the day the "The New Yorker" is really all about the content, isn't it. And the availability of the magazine loaded onto my device in a readable format every Monday morning by the time I get up makes me one satisfied Kindle subscriber.