I publish magazines, so let me respond.

First, let me say that I'm in the business of publishing both print and digital publications and own a Kindle and love many things about it (however, I hate some of the design flaws of the hardware). I've read about a half-dozen books on my Kindle and I think its epaper is a great replication of the print book-reading experience (although my wife thinks the "clicking sound" when I turn pages is too loud for when I read in bed).

However, reading "magazines" on the Kindle is in no way a replication of the print-magazine experience. Indeed, what you get via the Kindle/Amazon subscription is NOT a magazine. It is the text of articles from magazines -- articles that are free via the web in most cases. Also, your National Geographic comparison is especially dubious as photo-journalism-driven publications are perhaps the worse example of the type of periodical that works on a Kindle. Academic journals, however, would seem a perfect type of publication suited to the Kindle.

As for the "green-ness" of digital content:

Read this post from Chris Anderson about the relative 'carbon footprints' of print vs. digital content: http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2007/12/a...

Another resource to review is a "life cycle analysis" between printed newspapers, web-based newspapers and e-paper newspapers (using the iRex iLiad). As reported by treehugger.com ( http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/11/epaper_... ), the report reveals that "reading a paper online on a PC for more than 30 minutes used more energy than production of the old-fashioned dead tree version." eBooks, which have the least impact due to their efficient energy usage, still have significant environmental impact in their production and eventual disposal. (Again, this was a comparison of newspapers, not magazines.)

To me, the arguments for using an eBook reader are more convincing when focused on their inherent and obvious attributes: accessibility and portability of a vast library of books etc. than in the hard-to-defend stance that they are eco-friendly and print publications are not.

All that said, as someone who is firmly planted in both the digital and print worlds, I'll always come back to one core belief: Publishers should provide their content to readers in whatever format readers want.

Great idea! I haven't explored magazines on my Kindle yet (too busy reading books,lol)

Susan