When the Kindle Fire originally released, Amazon stepped up the free trial on selected magazines to a full 90 days, rather than the 14 days you get on most Kindle subscriptions. Some of these are for Kindle Subscriptions, even though they only worked on the Kindle Fire, while others are for subscriptions using the Android App on your Kindle Fire (which might mean you could also view that magazine on any Android device, if you can get the app to load; most, however, are Kindle Fire apps only). From what I understand, today is the last day to sign up for the 90 day free trials on these, so you might want to grab as many as you are interested in today (after all, you can change your mind on them anytime in the next three months).One that I jumped on (and that is no longer available) was for Bon Appetit magazine. It was a Kindle Subscription option, so downloaded as an AZW file to the Kindle Fire and which I luckily backed up (as you'll see in a bit). I received an email that they were discontinuing this edition and that I should resubscribe instead using the Bon Appetit Magazine Android App. In addition, if I did so by today, I'd get another 90 day free trial. So far, so good, seems like a real win (90 days before, 90 days now, means 6 months free total!). It's the same price (and even a discount if you pay by the year), so, I canceled the old subscription and started the new one. The magazine downloaded fine and I actually like it a lot better as an App, versus as a Kindle Subscription. For one thing, there are live links everywhere, you can email yourself a link to the recipes with a couple of clicks (you can't clip anything in the subscription version, just look at the pretty pictures), and the layout is designed more for the Kindle Fire screen size (instead of having to fight to get the print large enough to read). I did have to enable in-app purchases (you can turn this off after subscribing) and use my PIN to get the subscription started, even though I won't be charge for the first three months.
There was only one problem -- although all the issues that I had marked to keep are still on the Kindle Fire (and I have them backed up, at least for this one device), the five issues that I had (three free, plus two paid) are now all gone from my archives. That's right - if you cancel a subscription on the Kindle, you lose ALL the back issues (at least, with this magazine, you do). Yet another reason I hate the subscriptions at Amazon and avoid them in most cases. I'd love to keep a digital archive of several magazines, but losing them if you cancel at any time, isn't acceptable. Zinio doesn't lose your content (and I can read it on nearly any device), so I use it whenever it's a choice. I'll have to wait and see if that's a problem with the Bon Appetit app, as well, but I'm starting to think it won't be. It seems that you get free access with a print subscription (just as I now do with Cooking Light - as soon as I installed the app, I had access to both of this year's issues); it turns out, it's cheaper to sign up for the print magazine (at least, currently) than to get the subscription via the App -- so after my free 90 days, I'm canceling and buying in print, which should give me the best of both worlds, at the lowest price.
The one subscription that I just started, that I don't mind having only digitally and don't care that past issues won't be retained, is TV Guide Magazine. It comes out weekly, isn't of much value after it's old and is only 99 cents a month. You can view this one on the Kindle Fire, but it's a bit tiny. I can zoom out with it in portrait mode, but have to move around the page to see anything (Why can't the landscape view to a zoomed 1/2 page, like Kindle books, instead of 2 pages side-by-side? If it did, it would be large enough to read!). However, this particular subscription allows you to view it on the iPad, as well, with the latest Kindle iPad app. There, it's large enough to read. It's also eligible for the 90-day free trial, so you'll get three months of it to decide, rather than just a couple of weeks. The only problem getting the longer free trial might be if you don't have a Kindle Fire, as one page at Amazon implies you need one to get the 90 days free, but I signed up for this one with an iPad as the primary device and got the 90 day free confirmation email (however, I do have a Fire on my account). Best of all? Since the subscriptions now show up in the archives, I can have it on the iPad and KFire (and Mom can view it on her iPad, as well).
