Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cult of Mac
MacAddict Magazine to be renamed Mac|Life
Near the top of my list of the dumbest things I've heard today, Macworld reports that MacAddict is being relaunched as Mac|Life, thanks to some genius at Future US, the humorous and handy Mac-themed magazine's current publisher. The Macworld article points to a recent job posting on the SF Bay Area craigslist for a new Editor-In-Chief, which confirms the "rebranding" and indicates that the newly named mag will be on the stands in Spring 2007.I haven't followed any of the goings-on over at the-magazine-soon-to-be-formerly-named-MacAddict, so I don't know what's prompted this name change, but I am pretty convinced that it's still a bad idea. Aside from the fact that it ticks off Shawn King, who leads the similarly named Your Mac Life, the long-running Mac radio webcast, it makes the mistake of putting a silent "|" in the middle of the name! I hate that. It's fine for a logo or title treatment but you can't just go around inserting random characters into names that you want to roll off people's tongues. MacAddict was a perfectly good name and fitting for its readership and fans. And according to Wikipedia, "As of June 2006, the magazine has the second largest audited total circulation in North America among Macintosh-focused magazines (with a rate base of 110,000), after Macworld, as well as the second-largest audited newsstand sales." Why mess with a good thing? Will that "|" really boost circulation even more? I think not. As for the confusion in having a Mac|life and Your Mac Life in the same niche market, it appears the lawyers are about to get involved, based on this statement King gave to Macworld. "We're not happy about the name change. They've know about us and the similarity of the names is too close for comfort." We are consulting lawyers as to what our next move will be."
And every time a lawyer's phone rings, an angel gets his wings.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Patrick said 6:10PM on 10-06-2006
I love the new name. I hope it sticks!
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Sean OB said 6:15PM on 10-06-2006
NO! its terrible
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J3 said 6:34PM on 10-06-2006
no..... oh god no... please tell me this won't mean that MacAddict is going to start to be more "mainstream". Their slightly quirky journalism is the biggest draw they have. *sheds a tear*
and does anybody remember when they used to put your mac life podcasts on "the disc"? Great way to return the favor :/
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ih8bg8s said 6:41PM on 10-06-2006
Y'know I have almost every MacAddict since it began until number 150 or so the main reason I gave up on it is because of this blog and I have to say that I hope if they do change the name then soem loyal group will recreate the attitude and mac knowledge under the "old" name.
By the way If any one knows a good place to sell of MacAddicts I wold like to hear about it short of eBay ofcourse.
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Owen Marmorek said 6:58PM on 10-06-2006
Alright! I now have an online petition up and running. Together we can fight to keep the magazine's name just the way it is!
Sign it: http://www.petitiononline.com/macaddic
Note: It is posted as "macaddic" due to an 8-letter name restriction.
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szeky said 7:22PM on 10-06-2006
Mac Life huh?
This magazine already exists (since 2001). OK, only in Germany and had its | removed some time ago …
http://www.maclife.de/
Too funny, MacAddict will use the same name now, though i prefer the good old MacAddict!
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tim said 7:39PM on 10-06-2006
"Macworld article points to a recent job posting on the SF Bay Area craigslist for a new Editor-In-Chief"
maybe ill take my 'last chance to renew' postcards out of the trash. rik was just getting TOO socialist. i mean, do we really need a MAC MAGAZINE that pushes a political agenda more than a technological agenda?
side note...the first mac addict i read was on a plane back from seattle (where i live now), i responded to a how to article. the second mac addict i read was once again on a plane back from seattle a few months later, and they had printed my little 'how to' and given me credit.
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SydT said 11:25PM on 10-06-2006
Mac Life is the most popular magazine in Japan b4... they are gone like around 2002
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perspicuity said 8:26PM on 10-06-2006
Who reads Mac magazines anymore?
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kg said 10:09PM on 10-06-2006
After a MacAddict review of inkjet printers stated that the Canon model could also print directly to CD/DVD discs, I gave up on this amateur rag. And anyone who has tried to have a discussion with Shawn King off the show knows how much of a foul-mouthed self-important bipolar schizo he is. They can have each other.
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Bob S. said 10:45PM on 10-06-2006
I've been a reader since the first issue, but it's gotten tough. Stupid six-page quizzes (really, what content is better suited for online than an interactive quiz), annual articles on How To Digitize Your LP Collection, and continually weirder and dumber editorial choices were really getting to me. (Not that it's all negative -- their Field Guides have been decent. Well, mostly; this month's on audio is awful.)
And speaking as a copy editor and fact-checker, the current issue is a mess. Typos, grammatical flubs, and inaccuracies on nearly every page.
I'd thought about writing Future a long letter explaining the ongoing derailment of the magazine and the steps I'd take to fix it. Maybe if I had, I'd be interviewing there. Maybe it's not too late. (Back in the '80s I was a writer and editor of a Macintosh magazine for three years.)
I suspect the pipe in the title is meant to remind potential buyers subconsciously of iLife, incidentally. And I hope that's where the magazine goes. Mr. "perspecuity" up there may think Mac magazines are dead, but England's iCreate is well worth the expense of an imported magazine. The $14 to $16 each issue costs is well worth it. iCreate's published by Future's competion (Future's a Brit company), so they can't just reuse stuff, but if they're smart, they'll learn.
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Laurie said 10:50PM on 10-06-2006
Bob S. - I agree about iCreate. It's an excellent magazine. I buy it regularly at one of the many bookstores and int'l newsstands we have here in NY.
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Nathan Sweeney said 11:03PM on 10-06-2006
Of course we know that the purpose of the pipe '|' is to take the output of using "Mac" as the input for "Life".
I still prefer the name MacAddict. Blogs and internets are great, but there are some places computers don't belong, mainly the throne, and a paper magazine is just the solution.
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Joseph A. said 1:01AM on 10-07-2006
I remember reading my first MacAddict back in the late 90's. Those were good times and I had noticed a serious decline in quality over at MacAddict since around 2003ish, though my reading through the 00's was spotty. I'm really going to miss the name, but I can hope that possibily with some of these changes they'll manage to shore up the parts that have been lagging, maybe even breath some new life into it. More than anything else I just want to see the fun spirited energy that you could find in the pages of MacAddict back in the late 90's. Reading MacAddict back then kinda kept the faith alive if you know what I mean.
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Jay said 1:19AM on 10-07-2006
hmm....don't know what to say aobut this one. I've been a subscriber for the past 8 years. Its has its up and downs. I've thought about dropping it and then I read a great article on "how to connect the MacMini to your tv", photoshop tips, etc.
I know I can Google for some of this info, but its all right there for future(Pun?) reference.
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tim Rosencrans said 2:14AM on 10-07-2006
I gave up on MacAddict on issue 100 (i have issues 1-100). I WAS a great mag with great people (I have some interesting video of several very inebriated staffers at the Claris party in Boston for their first MacWorld). But the Macness of the mag has diminissed to nothing with most of the staff rejects from gaming mags.
I a related vein why is it the Europe can produce such great magazines while the US mags Suck? I mean even the different version of MacWorld are like night and day with the UK version far superior.
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ih8bg8s said 4:08AM on 10-07-2006
here here #14
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umijin said 4:26AM on 10-07-2006
Isn't there already a MacLife out there? Maybe that's MacHome.
To be honest, MacAddict has really tanked it for the last few years. The Mag went from honest and witty, to just plain goofy. I remember when they castrated the review ratings, to make the lower ones less negative in tone. It also seems that the mag went from Mac Hardcore fave to MacNewbieFanboy fave. The latest editor-in-chief did nothing to alter the fall, and I think he sped it up. And when Cary Liu (think that was her name) left, the remaining spirit left too. Looks like MacLife will complete the gentrification to blandness. My guess is that all these moves have been market decisions.
And to be fair, all the Mac print magazines have struggled mightily, since Internet info sources for news have taken over (like TUAW). I remember when MacUser ruled, then got coopted by MacWorld (an inferior mag at the time). When MacWeek was scuttled, MacAddict was the only beacon for a while. In the last 3 years or so, MacWorld actually became harder hitting and more meaningful than MacAddict - but not by much.
Goodbye MacAddict, and good riddance IMHO.
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Georg said 12:36PM on 10-07-2006
MacAddict doesn't only need to change it's name, it has to change its entire contents. I had a subscription to MacAddict for a year and was very disappointed. Superficial journalism, reminded me at times of a teen magazine appropriate for 15 year olds. MacWorld is a bit more serious, but is way too soft on Apple products.
By the way, in Germany here we already have a MacLife, which isn't bad either. Maybe that's a good omen.
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Wheels said 9:27AM on 10-07-2006
Holy cow.....Laurie's back!!!! TUAW has most of critical thinking skills back!
WB Laurie!
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