Ski Journal

This magazine has renewed my faith in the soul of the sport. Other publications keep wandering further down the trendy, easy money path (Powder included) but open one of these gems and it will give you better articles, better quality photos and less commercial interruption. One issue and you will feel it. Please support these guys doing what they obviously love to do; it can't be easy these days.

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Men's Health (1-year auto-renewal)

As a regular reader of "Men's Health," I have long enjoyed its articles for their entertaining style and the useful information contained in its pages. After several years, however, it has become obvious that there are only so many abs exercises, or amusing sex tips, or ways to portray men as charmingly stupid. I realize that I no longer need to buy the magazine as I can just look at the back issues I have instead. It covers the basics well, but does it over and over, so my advice is to enjoy it for a year and then go on to more advanced things on your own.

I've enjoyed subscribing to Men's Health magazine in the past but I had to stop to prevent being sold products and renewals without my authorization. Be aware that with your subscription, they will automatically renew your subscription "for your convenience" and bill you accordingly.

Also, I would receive post-card notices in the mail about their latest fitness guide ($28) and how I can "preview" it for 21 days. Of course, I think not and toss the card out. Too bad I didn't pay close enough attention. I have to fill out and send the card back in order to decline. The fitness guide shows up in the mail and I have 21 days to repack it and ship it back. They got me with two of them (I admit, I did fail to get it shipped back before 21 days was up) and, along with the auto-renewal, I had enough and called and told them I didn't want to be a customer anymore. Fine....I thought. It's been four months since my last issue and here I am now with a postcard from Rodale Books about previewing the 2008 Fitness Guide. I guess cancelling my subscription wasn't enough to keep them from auto-selling me stuff.

Can you imagine this new tactic of selling becoming the norm? The retailer gets to choose what we order and it's up to us to decline it. Crazy! If you google for "Rodale return card 14 days" you'll see that there are some who have attempted to sue Rodale over this. Think twice before ordering this magazine and being subjected to the same sales tactics.

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I know that Amazon does not have the option of zero stars but if given that option, I would still give Men's Health one star for at least its content. I have been a fairly consistent subscriber to the magazine for about 6 years and I have definitely been educated and entertained by its content. The authors and layout staff have definitely made Men's Health a pleasure to read.

Unfortunately, over the last couple of years that I have noticed, the parent company, Rodale has been engaging in some fairly poor business practices. First off, they love to send random hardcover books to you and charge you for them without you ever really consenting to it. There is basically no way for you to ship back the books without costing a fortune on shipping fees. To my knowledge, there is no option of opting out of this.

Also, unlike a lot of other normal magazines, Rodale never gives you the option of renewing your subscription. They pretty much just send you a bill at the end of your original renewal period and charge you for the next period automatically. If you do not respond they will send your debt to a collection agency and that is a whole different nightmare to deal with.

Of course I'm sure if we all read that thing we signed before subscribing to the magazine that there will be a section in small print informing us that Rodale can do whatever it wants. In that aspect, it is indeed my fault for letting them take advantage of me but I have recently canceled my subscription and never plan to subscribe again until Rodale decides to change its policies.

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My problem isn't with the magazine itself, but with their new (or at least new to me) subscription policy. Subscriptions now automatically renew, which means you will start receiving bills months before your current subscription ends. If you decide you don't want to renew you must call them. If you don't they will turn you over to a collection agency, even if you don't receive issues from the new subscription.

I have subscribed to Men's Health off an on for many years, and even own some of their books. This is the first time I have had this problem, and it will be the last. Apparently they are getting desperate trying to keep their subscribers.

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Aside from the fact that this magazine has very little to do with REAL men, it's publisher, RODALE has treated me very unfairly.

You will get bombarded with glossy junk mail and they will automatically renew your subscription without your approval. If you ignore it, they will have North Shore Agency (collector) send you a collections notice. Think I'm kidding? Just Google it. They do this to everyone.

My wife got me a subscription through her airline miles program. I hated the magazine and never renewed it. Apparently that means little to Rodale. I got a notice from North Shore and challenged them to prove I asked for a renewal. Never heard back. I expect to see this on a TV "rip-off" report soon. You've been warned!!

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Jj

Don't purchase subscriptions from Amazon or Magazine Express.

The following are my experiences with a subscription to Hiragana Times from Amazon.

What this page doesn't tell you is that the Japanese magazines subscribed to on Amazon are filled by a company called Magazine Express and are shipped SEAMAIL from Japan which mean you'll recieve every issue 8 to 10 after it's released.

I placed my order in January and, to date, have not recieved a single issue. After several phone calls, the Magazine Express people (who fill the Amazon subscriptions) said they had to restart my subscription for the May issues which will take 8-10 weeks due to shipping issues. So after ordering in January, I will not receive a single issue of this uncancelable magazine until possibly in late July. Very poor service.

This is unacceptable for a magazine that most US Japanese bookstores (fujisan is one) can get within a week or that you can order directly from the publisher for only a few dollars more. If I had known the shipping policy I would not have ordered and the magazine supplier, Magazine Express will not cancel the subscrition.

I advise avoiding ALL Amazon magazine subsriptions due to their poorly stated policies.

**Update, I wrote this review in June. It is now July 8th and I've just been informed I must wait until August 15th to see if an issue arrives. I ordered the magazine on January 9th and I have had no resolution from either Magazine Express or Amazon who provides no way to contact anyone within Amazon about magazine orders. I reiterate, buying magazines from Amazon if a poor idea.

I have read this magazine in Japan and am esctatic for finding it available in the US! This is a great magazine for those who love to flip through and look at colored pictures for ideas on what is in style!

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Digital Photo Pro

Digital Photo Pro: This is a high-quality magazine, filled with comprehensive and informative articles, with great attention to aesthetics, as the photographs and products displayed are done with such class & detail. I have been collecting these magazines, on a monthly basis, which I keep in yearly binders, for reference. At one time, I had at least 6-8 different photo magazines coming to my home but then eliminated all but two and the Digital Photo Pro is one of them. For informative & inciteful articles and crisp, descriptive photos, I believe this is the best magazine available .

A fairly thin magazine (approx 105 pages per issue) that is packed with information. Too many ads for my taste but even the ads are informative (so not a complete waste of space). Bi-monthly. Recommended for advances photographers.

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It is a good magazine that give examples of different works of photographers and new technology and equipment. I recommended to all, and the best is that is cheap.

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I have subscribed to this magazine in the past and found it to be excellent. I am deducting two stars because of the poor delivery system that is currently in place. When I initially ordered the magazine I was told it would take 4 months to get the first issue. However, Amazon did not notify the publisher correctly, resulting in an additional 3 month delay in getting the first issue.

Why would anyone subscribe through Amazon only to have to wait 7 months to get the first issue.

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It is good it will keep me up to date, looking forward to further issues specially if they have anything on Nikon as I'm a Nikon owner and in this issue there was nothing on Nikon?

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