“You’ve got to read this story!” Your friend yells at you through the internet, only to send you a link that’s blocked by a paywall, leaving you forever wondering ugh will I ever get to know if Obama is going to close Guantanamo or what? As writers and journalist types, we’re required to tell you that you that subscribing to your favorite magazines is a good way to support, but we know you’ve go to make tough financial choices sometimes, and there’s just so much to read.
But now you have a way to read almost every magazine you’d want for free, from the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Adbusters, The National Review, Bloomberg BusinessWeek and Sports Illustrated to Yachting Monthly, Primitive Archer Magazine and Australian Dogs & Pets. And it’s all through an app from the Brooklyn Public Library.
The library announced this week that cardholders get free access to Flipster, a subscription service that connects you with over 100 digital versions of magazines. The magazines can be accessed through an iPad or other tablet, phone or computer, and downloaded onto the app for offline (ie underground) reading. You get access to the back issues too. It’s kinda like in the olden days when you’d go to the library to read the public issues of the magazines on the display, except now you don’t have actually get up and go to the library or worry about finding a big wad of gum someone stuck the middle of that month’s Highlights.
Find out how to get access to the app here. And if you don’t have a library card yet, get that here, which you really should because it gives you access to lots of free stuff beyond magazines, including the occasional Toni Morrison reading.