RE

I agree with much of what you are saying, it sounds like your research is leading you to think of how digital magazines should be designed differently, and that right now it's not necessarily happening yet. I also agree, the intimate nature of reading on an iPad is qualitatively different than reading on a computer or laptop.

When Dan Allan and Jeff Lynch first started reading about UX, much of what was being said seemed obvious to them. As they are finding, and as you point out, the User Experience is a subtle thing. Gates had 3 tries at a tablet PC, all were failures because Microsoft just isn't as interested in the User as much as Apple is. Things like weight, how the object feels in the hands, and the touch screen turned out to be the difference between success and failure.

So, as you research, I want to know more about why do Web magazines fall short? I went to the Wired web magazine, and had no interest in reading the stories and was irritated that a pop-up was trying to sell me something. My feeling was that this is an irritating experience. How can digital publishing improve my experience and capitalize on the new medium?

My hope is that digital publishing will 'feel' like quality publishing. On the web, everyone is giving it all away, how has that affected the experience of the end user? Once you clearly define the short-comings of a current medium, then it becomes easier to identify what the new medium should take advantage of. Wired will have to give me a reason to switch to the iPad magazine, are they doing that?