When the beta’s of iOS 5 came out, I will be the first to admit that I was very skeptical about newsstand. I would have much preferred the concept built into iBooks and then iBooks be added to the software. But there it was when iOS 5 was released. I kind of stared at the app for a while on my home screen, not really sure of what to do with it. I couldn’t put it in a folder like I do with the other Apps that I don’t really use much. So there it sat, kind of staring at me, waiting to be used. Finally I figured, if Apple didn’t want to hide it, there might be a reason for that. So I loaded it up and started exploring.

To my surprise there was a large amount of magazines that I do like to browse, sitting there in the popular downloads section. I figured that the expense of subscribing to a magazine would be pretty much the same as if I ordered it through the mail. Something I hate about having it come through the mail, is having them sit around forever before I read them. I’m an avid reader, but sometimes things pile up and it starts to bother my visual chaos ADD.

But in any case, I didn’t feel like buying anything at the moment, so I closed the app and stored the information in the back of my mind. Reminding myself to check it out later when I had some more time. A few hours later, I decided to check it out and see what the App had to offer in terms of prices. I didn’t really want to spend $20+ on anything or any commitments at the moment, so I didn’t think there would be much for me there. Lo and behold though, I find that a subscription to one of my favorite magazines, MacLife was only $.99 a month. Thats $12 for an entire year of a magazine that normally costs about $7 a copy. I immediately signed up and downloaded the first months issue.

Looking around I found similar prices for other magazines. Newsstand confused me at first, but I think I might enjoy having a nice library of magazines at my disposal just as much as I enjoy my large collection of books.