Engineeringtalk: one of the largest design engineering publications in the world

We're quite excited here in the Engineeringtalk offices because the next few days will probably see the circulation of the newsletter reach 50,000, which is quite a milestone. While that figure makes us one of the largest design engineering publications in the world, we're well aware that it's still a long way behind, say, a paper-based giant like "Machine Design" (which will be familiar to readers in North America). However, in the fragmented European market, it's unusual for any business publication to have this many readers, and rare indeed in the engineering sector.
What's particularly gratifying however is that we know you all want to receive this newsletter, because turning it off is only a click away, and that's a big difference from all the paper-based stuff which pours through your letterbox or into your company mailroom. I probably get about ten free magazines a month, of which I (avidly) read two or three, but at least half of them never get unwrapped. Sure, I should do my bit for the environment and cancel them. How many of us do that though? It's ironic that with Engineeringtalk there's far less "waste", when unread copies wouldn't be a waste of resources anyway.
I'm still convinced, five years on, that electronic and paper-based publications will soon "converge". The only question is how. Will screen technology develop to make it as nice as paper, or will personal printing technology develop to make it cheap and convenient enough for us to print out electronic publications to magazine quality? I know Engineeringtalk readers who are working on roll-up, wireless screens, and I know others who are working on an amazing next generation of printers. Then it'll all be about commercial pressures on cost, and developments in communications infrastructure, to see where we go from there.