4 Ways to Read Magazines for Free or Cheap

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It’s getting harder to enjoy turning the printed pages of your favorite magazines. Money and ESPN The Magazine are among the titles that stopped their print editions this year, becoming digital-only publications.

Titles that still have print editions, though, can be bought for next to nothing if you know where to look. And it’s getting easier — and cheaper — to swipe through digital magazine pages.

Following are several examples of the ways you can read print or digital magazines on the cheap.

Take advantage of Prime Reading

If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you already have free access to digital magazines — and many other digital publications — through a feature called Prime Reading.

We cite the feature in “These Are the 9 Best Benefits of Amazon Prime“:

“Read as much as you want, whenever you want with Prime Reading. This feature gives Prime members access to more than 1,000 digital books, magazines and comics to read at no added cost.”

No e-reader? No problem. Download the free Kindle reading app to your mobile device or computer, and you’ll be able to enjoy Prime Reading titles on that device or computer.

Buy magazines on sale on Amazon

You can always find print and digital magazine subscriptions that are deeply discounted on Amazon. We’re talking around $1 per issue — and often much less, especially during sales like Prime Day.

Check out Amazon’s “Magazine Subscriptions” webpage to see for yourself. Note that you can use the menu on the left to filter subscriptions by price — and that there’s a page devoted to magazines that currently are offering yearlong subscriptions for $10 or less.

Just note that in some cases, magazine subscriptions are deeply discounted on Amazon because they will automatically renew after the initial subscription period ends. A one-year subscription with auto-renewal, for example, would automatically renew after the first year. But Amazon will send you a reminder before such subscriptions renew, so you will have an opportunity to cancel them to avoid auto-renewal.

Check with local libraries

Just as libraries subscribe to certain print publications, they also subscribe to digital publications. So, ask your local library what digital magazines are accessible to folks with a library card.

You might be able to access them from home by using an app, as we explain in “Don’t Pay for These 10 Things: They Are Free With a Library Card.”

Try Apple News+

Apple News+ is a subscription service that Apple launched in March. It’s available through the Apple News app and gives you access to hundreds of digital magazines and newspapers.

A subscription costs $9.99 a month, but if you’re a voracious magazine reader, it might be worth it. Plus, a free one-month trial is available.

You will need an Apple device or computer, though. Apple News+ is available for devices with the iOS 12.2 operating system or later, and computers with macOS Mojave 10.14.4 or later.

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