Readly review: It’s like Spotify for magazine readers
If you want to read thousands of the world’s best magazines for a flat monthly subscription, Readly could be the service you’re looking for, writes DAVE BULLARD
The magazine is not dead! True, the world has lost a number of fantastic titles through changing reader habits, mismanagement by inept publishing execs and a general reluctance by the public to actually pay for any media, but there are still any number of great mags on the market. And, if not in print, then at least in digital format.
There’s a world of difference between reading a professionally written, curated, designed and produced magazine and trawling the web or social media for odd bits and pieces written by half-informed idiots with an eye on an easy buck.
Readly is a platform that, for $14.99 a month, gives you access to almost 5000 magazines from 25 countries – Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.
There are also a handful of British, Irish and German newspapers available, including The Guardian, The Independent, Die Welt, Bild and Irish Sunday People. And some comics, like Beano and Commando.
The titles can be read on phones or tablets via the Readly app – which is available from the Apple App Store, Google Play, the Amazon Appstore or Huawei’s AppGallery – or online through any browser at au.readly.com.
One subscription gives you access to the service on five different devices, regardless of operating systems. So your whole family can use one subscription, with each member creating their own profile and preferences. There are simple parental controls available.
Hands-on with Readly
I’ve been trying Readly out for a couple of months and reckon it’s one of the best mag platforms out there.
The number of magazines you can access is fantastic. I went straight to my all-time favourite, the UK’s Classic and Sports Car, but found myself browsing the other titles on offer and found some real gems.
The interface is very simple. If you’re using the app on a phone or tablet, you tap to open a magazine and it will display as a single page if your device is vertical, and as a double-page spread if you’re holding it horizontally. You turn pages by simply swiping left or right. Readly uses a well-designed page-turning animation that makes it seem as if you’re flipping paper – or you can just look at it as a series of images.
Tapping on a page brings up a thumbnail browsing bar and an options menu which includes the ability to bookmark your place, favourite a magazine, search the issue you’re reading or share it with others.
It’s very similar on a web browser, but pages are flipped forward or back by clicking on arrows. The only drawback with the web reader is that I couldn’t see anywhere to access the options menu, including the magazines I’d saved on the mobile app. This changed when I favourited another publication on the browser and the menu magically appeared on the left of the screen. Must be a glitch somewhere.
That said, while writing this review I got a pop-up alerting me to a new version of the web browser – gonext.readly.com. The interface looks pretty good, but it seems to present the pages of a magazine as a long string of single pages on a slider, which I’m not sure is an improvement, and it recommended UK and US magazines rather than the Australian lists I got on au.readly.com.
Something I really like is that you can fill in crossword and sudoku puzzles on the mobile app. That’s a first for me.
The bottom line
All in all, the best way to describe Readly is like Spotify for magazine readers. It’s not the first magazine subscription service and reader of its kind, but it’s definitely one of the best I’ve used. The simple interface is excellent, which is great for all readers but also means that Readly is well suited to older magazine lovers who aren’t that comfortable with technology.
THUMBS UP
- Thousands of magazines to choose from
- Easy to navigate
- Five can share one subscription
- Can fill in crossword and sudoku puzzles
THUMBS DOWN
- Both of the web interfaces have their flaws
Readly magazine subscription price
A$14.99 per month
The subscription can be paused or cancelled at any time and without any additional cost.
