What is a magazine?

Flippingpages reporting:

...But what is a magazine, especially now that we have the option of producing novel digital forms? Since I’m posing the question, I have the luxury of not having to answer, which is fortunate, as for such an apparently simple question with at least one bleeding obvious answer, ‘a magazine’ is becoming increasingly hard to define.
What follows, then, are a few definitions we could use, but they’re intended as discussion points rather than definitive answers;

A magazine is a point of coalescence for passion
The magazines you read are always by definition about the things you’re passionate about, whether that’s explicit hobbies or objects, or about a lifestyle you have or aspire to. And they’re a reification of and focal point for that passion – something that will persist regardless of a magazine’s medium. (Note, of course, that magazines don’t have the monopoly on this.)
A magazine is something that makes you feel cooler/smarter/more interesting
The implicit or explicit lifestyle a magazine embodies is likely as important a factor in a purchase decision as the actual information it conveys.
A magazine is a treat
Of course, some people subscribe to magazines and journals for business reasons, but for the consumer magazine market, whether a reader subscribes or picks up a copy from a newsstand, they’re probably doing so because they fancy a small, comparatively cheap (and fat-free!) treat. Will this persist? What would happen, say, if everything were free to consumers, deliberately or through endemic piracy?
A magazine is something that informs, inspires and enriches your life...
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