I sometimes spend hours digging thru an MR - but like you I found absolutely nothing in this last issue - paged thru the whole thing in 15 minutes or so.  Even the photo backdrops... there's been so much more, and better, information recently on YouTube and elsewhere on the 'net.

Sometimes MR has a number of good articles, but sometimes they just miss, like this month.

After 10 years, I realized that there was little that I could really use, and I decided to drop the subscription and just buy it on the newsstand if there was an article that I wanted.  I have bought 1 or 2 issues a year since.  Interestingly, I recently cut up my old MR, RMC, and Mainline Modeler magazines to put the articles that I want to save for reference in three ring binders and throw out the remaining paper.  I put 10 years worth of magazines in 3 binders and didn't fill the third one.  There was probably less than 12 issues of Mainline Modeler, since I never got around to subscribing to that magazine, yet I probably saved as many pages from Mainline Modeler as I did total from 10 years of MR! 

Dropping my subscriptions to MR & RMC also had a wondrous affect on my marriage since my wife found Kalmbach & Carstens aggressive marketing philosophies very offensive and frustrating.  When we renew a subscription to a magazine, we expect that the publisher will actually take note and not bug us to renew again until 2-3 months before the subscription is ready to run out.  With MR & RMC I could renew for 3 years and then get two or three notices in the mail per month telling me that the subscription was about to run out for the duration of those three years.  My wife almost renewed subscriptions that were already renewed a couple of times because of those notices!  When I told her that we had 21/2 years to go on the three year subscription that they had sent a renewal notice on, she decided that  those two companies were simply run by dishonest crooks.

My wife almost renewed subscriptions that were already renewed a couple of times because of those notices!  When I told her that we had 21/2 years to go on the three year subscription that they had sent a renewal notice on, she decided that  those two companies were simply run by dishonest crooks.

Nah, old-school paper publishers aren't dishonest - it's just that they're a bit slow to realize with the internet marketing is changing. It used to be you blast everyone with as much stuff as you can to interrupt their life and get them to look at you.

Old-school "outbound marketing" techniques have become less effective because the noise ratio has become so high. The old-school marketing guys think they now have to throw even MORE stuff in front of you, which is only compounding the noise problem and makes you even more annoyed with them.

With the internet, if you're paying attention, it's inbound marketing that matters now. You help people who are looking for answers to find your products (solutions) faster, easier, etc.

In bound marketing is MRH's philosophy, and our new Marketing Assistant, Daniel Nava, is off in a 3-month serious inbound marketing internship right now.

So they're not dishonest, they are just behind the times.

Kalmbach & Carstens aggressive marketing philosophies very offensive and frustrating

OK, so it isn't just me. I must say I am a bit put off by receiving renewal notices when I have 2 years left on the current subscription. Considering today's automated world it seems a little cross checking against the subscriber database isn't asking much not to mention the wasted postage and landfill space.

But honestly I think it's gone downhill under the current editor and the one before him. The last time I can say that I really enjoyed it is back when Andy Sperandeo was the editor. I'm also disappointed with their decision to go with Zinio to carry their digital edition. I once subscribed to an RC helicopter magazine through Zinio and was not very pleased with the interface they use.  I was skeptical of MRH when it first came out because of my experience with the RC magazine on Zinio but I must say the MRH interface absolutely puts the others to shame! I love it!

Michael

I have been a subscriber to MR since 1995 but I will probably ignore all these wonderful renew notices and let my subscription run out. There is just no real information in the magazine these days. Compare a current issue to one that's 15 years old: a lot thinner than it used to be!

You are spot on though, I think this issue is very under whelming...  I usually flick through front to back and scan for things of interest and read them as I go or save the good ones for a quite time when I can concentrate on the article.

I decided to renew this year and go with just the digital version (I'm glad I did) because I couldn't justify spending the money for the print version and try and find a place for them all.  I think they have gone down hill, but then they still have some really good articles, builds & projects hence the reason I wanted to subscribe.

Jas...

My MR sub expires in September. I doubt that I'll renew. The Zinio interface is a real stinker. I have a 22" HD monitor and I can still barely read the text, plus there's no way to save back issues without the Zinio software. I may give RMC another year, but even that's debatable...

Since MRH went monthly its my #1 choice! Nice job folks!

I had subscriptions to MR, RMC and others until about mid 90's when I got my first PC, then scanned everything of interest, gave away all the paper ones and never looked back. As I am not very interested on modern railroading (anything newer than mid-50's) I very seldom buy a single issue of them. Still look at Model Builder for inspiration, and MRH to keep in touch with "modern times". As for all the renewal junk, get a big trash can.

I used to subscribe to MR and RMC year after year even though I was not in a position to model anything.  But eventually I let my subs expire because, as stated above, I wasn't seeing anything new or useful.  I still pick up a copy and thumb thru to see if it is worth buying, but I probably have only bought 1 or 2 in the last 5 years.  I do try to buy the annual "Planning" mags but even those are getting to be uninspiring to me.

I was about to say that I have been spoiled by MRH as well, but that is not really true.  I have learned so much from ya'll that this must be graduate school.

As for the aggressive marketing - it is not just the model railroad mags.  My wife subscribes to a number of health related magazines and they do the exact same thing.  A couple of months after renewing, we get another notice.  We were actually paying for the same magazine twice for a few years - we would get a renewal notice from the national office in DC and another from the St. Louis office.  They came at different times during the year so it took me a while to finally catch on that it was the same magazine (because I never read any of them) but the renewals were disquised as "donations" rather than subscriptions.

Just my .02 worth