Just hitting the Google Play Store this morning and saw the Magazines tab is now available on our front page. As above you can see there is an emphasis on Australian magazines such as the Australian Women’s Weekly and Australian GQ and it appears a deal has been done with an Australian Magazine publisher as the magazines included are from what I can tell all Australian based.
The Magazines are available via subscription or individual issue with a number of magazines offering 14 day free trials when you purchase a subscription. Individual issues range in price, with an issue of Recipes+ priced at $2.99 whilst a yearly subscription will cost $24.99 but a copy of APC will cost $5.49 and a subscription will set you back $49.99 but no sign of the free cover disc that normally adorns the front.
If not already installed you can install the Google Play Magazines app onto your device from the Play Store although it does not seem to like lower resolution devices, the app is installed on my Nexus S however it does not show up in the App Drawer, happily on my Nexus 7 the app opens and works fine.
I personally am not a magazine person preferring to consume content from websites however my wife is a prolific magazine buyer so perhaps getting subscriptions this way will stop the pileup of magazines around our house. What about you guys? Are you excited for Magazines in the Play Store?
I will use this but all I want is music. How can I sell android to family and friends using apple until they an naiivley buy music. Its so bloody frustrating. It is good to see extra content here in a us tho. We are not at the bottom of the pile. TV shows and movie purchases (not rentals) are also on my list. Can we start a petition or something? Have Google even responded?
My review on the Wheels price..
Nick – October 11, 2012
ROFL KOPTER @ PRICE!
Good luck at selling digital copies at that price. Where do you guys think
you’re selling you mags? This ain’t itunes where developers/sellers rip
you a new one.. Drop the price to 99c and you’ll become instant
millionaires over night. – 5 *
Woopy-fucking-do, another thing to clutter up the main screen on the Play store app. Is there a way to go directly to the “my apps” screen? Probably not, since Google has a profit motive to show you all the things you can buy.
Sad to see the Australian mag pricing. Wheels Mag = $69.95/12 months…Motor Trend = $11.68/12 months. I’m glad we can purchase international magazines…wasn’t expecting that
Bring on Music for Australia already!
Worked fine straight away for me on my CM10 Acer A500. Glad to have magazines finally! I just wish they were interactive, like Engadget’s Distro magazine app or the magazines on the iPad. At the moment they’re basically just PDF’s that you can read, zoom in/out and turn the pages, but at least they’re here now.
I just downloaded the latest motor trend ( an American car magazine I normally pay 15 dollars for as in import ) for under 5 bucks. I now have a legit excuse to buy a tablet. Stoked! As for some mags not being available .. well its day one folks .. give it time!
I second. Wheels is the only one I want to subscribe…. but the price really pissed me off.
So this is what I had to do as it was not installing on my Nexus 7 (there was no install button).
I went to Google Play on my computer and did the whole “”Send to device to install” – promptly it started installing the application on my tablet.
However, the app still wouldn’t open – it said it wasn’t installed when I opened a magazine, but I could press “uninstall” in the app store. So, I pressed uninstall, and then it showed up as “Update.” I updated it, and it worked 🙂
Thanks! That worked for me too 🙂
An me to!
I’m currently a Zinio user and see little reason to change over. Zinio are always having specials and giving me vouchers to make things cheaper and their range of magazines is superb.
Also, what is it with AU magazine prices? I can buy the US PC Mag for about $2 per issue yet APC costs over $5 which is not much less than a paper subscription and doesn’t include the DVD. Zinio in this area is the same as they PC & Tech Authority for about $5 per issue.
On Galaxy S2 and no luck it just says unavailable, I installed app and then restarted, still nothing, very disappointing when they say hey new feature and it doesn’t work. Especially when it doesn’t indicate why!
With my Prime they’re showing as not available (although I haven’t rebooted). With my S2 (rooted running paranoid) they were available after installing the app without the need to reboot. Seems very hit and miss at the moment.
I can’t seem to be able to download the app on my nexus 7, but it’s working on my S2
I’m on rooted Galaxy nexus. I found the magazine app near to the bottom of the front page of Google play app. At first all magazines showed not available, after reboot all magazines are available to me.
I can see heaps of magazines with prices. Looks like overseas magazines too.
It says not available on all the magazines
At first all magazines showed not available, after reboot all magazines are available to me
I tested on my phone as well and they were available straight away. I’ll try rebooting the tablet later on. Very odd :-S
Every magazine I checked just comes up as ‘not available’. Hardly useful if I can’t buy anything.
The number of magazines is rather small at the moment too. I would love to see New Scientist, Focus, Linux Format and such. But all in good time hopefully.
At first none of the magazines were available, after reboot all magazines are available to me
I can’t see any download links to download the Magazines app. I’m on a rooted Galaxy Nexus running 4.1.1 – can someone else confirm if it’s because I’m on a rooted device?
No, I am on a stock nexus and I am getting the same message
Can you click the link : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.magazines&hl=en ??
Yup, I can see the app listing but there are no Install or Update buttons where they normally are.
I don’t really care for the magazines, although nice to see another choice. I am hanging for the music content as I no longer will purchase from iTunes