Review: The Kindle magazine store just got a lot classier
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 11, 2009
The Kindle version of "The New Yorker" looks great and is easy to navigate.  No, you don't get all of the cartoons from the print version, but you get a nice handful of them- accessed via clicking on the cartoonists' names at the end of the Articles List.  I was going to complain that the print version's cover (one of the most notable aspects of the magazine) isn't included in the Kindle version, but it is.  After a bit of investigation, I discovered that if you simply hit the previous page button after you're sent to the first page of the Articles List- voila!- you're shown the cover.  Don't know why they're being so cagey about it, but at least it's there.  Monthly subscription price is very good, too.  For the price I'm paying for each monthly issue of "Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine" on the Kindle, I'm getting four (and sometimes even five) full issues of "The New Yorker".  This was an easy buying decision.2/17/09 postscript: I see from my new issue of "The New Yorker" that they somewhat corrected the cover problem.  You're still not sent to the cover when you first open your new issue, but at least they're more clear that it's there. On the first page of the Articles List- the place you're still sent upon first opening your issue- there's now an entry for "Cover", which also helpfully includes the name of the artist who drew that week's cover, along with the title of the cover art.  Just click on the cover info and you're sent to the cover.  Or, as said before, you can still just hit the previous page button from the first page of the Articles List to get there, too.3/3/09 postscript (the final one, I promise):  Another new issue, another change.  This time, when I opened my newest issue (my first on my new Kindle 2), the first thing I saw was indeed the cover, so there you have it.  No selecting or clicking to see what by all rights SHOULD be the first thing one sees upon opening "The New Yorker".  Though (grumble) the cover is reproduced a little small, underneath the needless redundancy of the magazine's title floating above the magazine cover (redundant because the title is right there within the cover reproduction).  Whatever.  It's petty to quibble.Anyway, chalk up this silly review, with its endless updates, to the fact that Amazon and its participating magazines continually tweak Kindle content to improve their readers' experiences.  And they mostly succeed.By the way, "The New Yorker" looked and worked great on the first Kindle and- with more elegance and more functionality- everything is even better on the K2.