Magazine

Cooking Light (1-year)
$49.50
Wonderful magazine! These are keepers, which makes it a good deal whatever the price, but at this price, it's a gift giver too!

Popular Mechanics (1-year)
$47.88
This PM subscription was described by Amazon as being either a new subscription, or a continuation of an existing subscription.
In the past, PM has always just added 12 months to my current subscription. This time however, a new subscription was started with the same name and address.
As yet I've had no response from PM apart from an automated acknowledgment (no 800 number any more so all contact is either by email or post), so I've currently no idea whether it was Amazon or PM that messed up.
If my subscription gets extended as it should then great, if not then it was a total waste of money.
The magazine itself is fine, although the content assumes the reader to be a lot dumber when compared to issues from twenty years ago (more pics, less text, and an apparent assumption that the reader has a lower IQ).

Should the subscription issue be resolved I'll amend my rating accordingly.

National Geographic
$71.88
In an era of declining journalism, National Geographic shines above all else as a benchmark for quality, and photojournalism. They have recently won multiple ellie's the equivalent of the Pulizer prize in the magazine industry.

Each issue includes one or two features articles from around the world. While the magazine contains advertisements, they have placed ads in the front and back of the magazine so that feature articles are not interrupted by an annoying, gaudy ad, a practice often seen in other magazines. The quality of the photos is simply amazing, the magazine uses a high quality paper to deliver a better reading experience. In addition, the magazine occasionally features large folded photos.

It is not fair that other reviewers, provide a lower rating for this magazine because it can be found cheaper elsewhere. National Geographic provides a lower introductory rate. However, once you get past the first year, subscribers need to pay the default rate of $34.

Wired (1-year)
$59.88
I have been reading Wired for several years and it has always been a good read with interesting articles and neat little tid bit pieces. However, the last few issues have been filled with advertisements. It got to the point with the latest isse that I ended up halfway through and quit reading the magazine and just started counting the ads. There was an advertisement on every other page. Sadly it is time to let this subscription lapse and move on to something that puts more effort into filling the pages with content.