5 Great (and Free) Magazines for Your iPad

If you love your iPad (and who doesn't?), there are plenty of great magazines you can get to add to your enjoyment. The best part about a lot of them is that they're free. That's right. Free. You can download, access, and read them without having to pay anything at all. That's great news for people who love to read but who don't really have the money for a lot of magazine subscriptions. Reading on your iPad also cuts down on clutter, because you won't have a bunch of magazines taking up space. With that in mind, here are 5 great (and free) magazines to read on iPad.

1. Flipboard
   This isn't technically a magazine. It's more of a news feed, but it provides you with ongoing news and information, your RSS feeds, and your Facebook and Twitter accounts, along with a professional photostream and any sources that you decide you want to add to it. It's hard to get any better than that, and having everything all in one place is very valuable.


2. Discover
   Needing a wealth of information quickly is frustrating - unless you have immediate access to that information. With Discover, you can take the encyclopedic knowledge of Wikipedia and put it right there on your iPad. Then you don't have to worry about not having the information you need when you need it. It's great for travelers and for people who just crave knowledge.


3. Website Magazine
   If you have an online business, you need this information. You can learn more about websites, SEO, and all kinds of other things that matter to the businessperson of the future.


4. Net-a-Porter Magazine
   If you like to shop, this is the magazine for you. You get shopping resources, editorials, news, and fashion-forward articles. Staying up on the latest trends and fashions has never been easier. This is a must-have for busy people on the go who need to keep up with what's going on in the fashion world.


5. Slate
   Slate provides video, textual information, podcasts, and news. In short, it gives you a little bit of everything - which can really help you stay on top of the latest happenings and the events that are taking place around the world today. If you travel a lot or you have business contacts who keep up with these kinds of things, you can make sure that you're not falling behind or missing out on any of it.

The editorial world is not limited to paper anymore. There are advancements in mobile development everyday (so much so that you can even study it in college now). There are plenty of magazines out there, and some offer free subscriptions to the online version of the magazine if you get the offline version already. These, however, are free. Others must be purchased, but some do offer a few free issues - and some have deeply discounted prices. No matter what kind of magazines you're looking for, you can generally find them for the iPad. You can enjoy what they have to offer wherever you are.

Guest contributor Cathy Pierce is a business professional turned stay-at-home mom. She loves her kids, good TV and the Web. Follow her on Twitter @mrscathypierce.