Computer Shopper Ceases Publication

Got a copy of Esquire in the mail yesterday, which was weird, since I hadn't subscribed. Turns out that Computer Shopper has ceased publication after the April edition and they are substituting 3 issues of Esquire for every remaining issue of CS. Talk about the end of an era! I remember when Computer Shopper was the locomotive pulling the Ziff-Davis gravy train. What could be better than a business model that has a magazine made up almost completely of paid advertisments? The internet giveth and the internet taketh away, I guess. R.I.P.

Ah...I loved that magazine too!
Thanks for posting.

Aw, that sucks! I remember the days when I'd tear through that magazine, watching the configuration I wanted drop in price month after month...

Now, of course, you can do it in realtime...

Ah, those old phonebook sized magalogs were the bomb....sadly, the last one I looked at was less than 1/4" thick...

I have never heard a word from them, i found out they ceased publication in a tech forum story. My sub was good till 2016 but like a good FW type it was all free. Does anyone have any contact info on the esquire switch ?...

Thanks fuzzymello, the stumbling block is always the "authorised agent", i have no idea who provided all those free subs for me.

Just like PC Magazine -- no more print version. No doubt PC World will fall at some point, too.

My PO used to make a special trip just to drop it off.

I remember those old, phone book-sized issues printed on cheap newsprint. I found a great deal on my old 486-based PC from there.

Computer Shopper was a great magazine, but it also taught me one of my first harsh lessons on buying PC's mailorder in the early 90's... Vendors that only accept COD *might* be shady...

FYI, I just called Esquire (800-888-5400) and asked if I could swap my Esquire subscription for a Popular Mechanics subscription. She said sure, no problem. Now I have 84 issues of Popular Mechanics on the way. Not too bad.

handyguy said: My PO used to make a special trip just to drop it off.

I guess this says something about me, but I read this as 'your Parole Officer used to make a special trip just to drop it off.'

oh, to be on the outside again.

peanuty, they will tell you to get in touch with the agency you placed the order with, and ask for a refund. Good luck finding which agency offered the "free" sub.

Esquire? I heard Megan Fox runs both Linux AND Windows. I think she just says that to get attention, though.

Yes, dkong...that was the good old Computer Shopper. Lots of BBS listings. Along with actual classified ads for hardware and software, pre-dating Craigslist by several decades.

I had a very strong um..."connection"....with original Computer Shopper when it was still owned by Glenn Patch, the founder. In fact, I still have a pile of those newsprint versions from the early '80s around here somewhere.

I agree with the sentiment that Computer Shopper was ultimately a victim of "the Internet" and also a victim of the recent downturn in the economy.

There have been several such PC publishing "victims" over the years, including Byte, PC Magazine, PC Week, etc. For Shopper to have survived this long is actually more surprising than to see it cease publishing. There was a time we could not have imagined a world without some of those big PC print magazines. Yet those that remain are often a shadow of their former selves.

Shopper seems to has limped along over the last 10 years...longer than many others...getting thinner all the time. Almost kind of sad, but also fun to read on occasion. I think it's a real testimony to the loyal reader and advertising base that survived as long as it did.

But the latest economic meltdown, which hit all advertising revenues pretty hard, seems to have hit print publishers especially the hardest. Perhaps that was the straw that broke Shopper's back?

No you didnt.........................