''MacLife'' (stylized as ''Mac, Life'') is an American monthly magazine published by Future US. It focuses on products produced by

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

, including the

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

personal computer, iPad, and

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

. It was sold as a print product on newsstands, but is now a digital-only product distributed through Magazines Direct and the Mac, Life app, the latter of which can be obtained via the App Store. From September 1996 until February 2007, the magazine was known as ''MacAddict''.

History

''MacLife'' is one of two successor magazines to the defunct '' CD-ROM Today''. First published in 1993 by Imagine Publishing (now Future US), ''CD-ROM Today'' was targeted at both

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

and

users, and each issue shipped with a

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer. ...

and demo programs. In August 1996, ''CD-ROM Today'' ceased publication, with two magazines taking its place: ''MacAddict'' for Macintosh users, and ''boot'' (now '' Maximum PC'') for Windows users. As was the case with ''CD-ROM Today'', ''MacAddicts discs included shareware and demo programs, but also came with other added features, such as staff videos and previews of content inside the magazine's hard copy. The ''MacAddict'' website was updated daily with news relevant to

products. ''MacAddict'' also had a mascot, a stick-figure named Max. By 1998, ''MacAddict'' had surpassed '' Macworld'' as the Macintosh magazine with the highest consumer newsstand spending due to its $7.99 cover price. In February 2007, ''MacAddict'' was relaunched as ''MacLife''. The new magazine had physically larger print editions than the old magazine, was focused on the creativity of Mac users, and no longer came with a CD-ROM. In April 2023, ''MacLife'' issued its last print edition and switched to a digital-only format. In Germany, an unrelated magazine of the same name is published by '' Falkemedia'' from

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

().

Reviewing system

From 1996 to mid-2002, there were four rating icons, which depicted Max. There was "Blech" (the lowest), "Yeah, Whatever" (a mediocre product), "Spiffy" (a solid yet imperfect product), and "Freakin' Awesome" (the highest). From 2002 to 2009, it was replaced with a more conventional five-point system. In 2010, ''MacLife'' adopted a 10-point system that included half stars.

References

External links

* – official site * Archived MacAddict magazines on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maclife Future plc Computer magazines published in the United States Monthly magazines published in the United States Macintosh magazines Macintosh websites Magazines established in 1996 Magazines published in the San Francisco Bay Area

History

Reviewing system

See also

References

External links