ROAR! app review: the App Store’s first free racing magazine

Introduction

I am a huge fan of the latest trend that is hitting the App Store, particularly the Newsstand apps. More and more companies and institutes are making their magazines available for free, as they want people to keep interested in the services and entertainment they have to offer. The first magazines that started doing this were actually sports magazine such as FourFourTwo and the FIFA Weekly, but now an increasing number of these apps are following the lead of these innovative new business models. The next app that is doing this is ROAR! the weekly NASCAR racing magazine. This app, designed by Alter Ego Engine, Inc, is developed for both iPad and iPhone and weighs in at just over 4 MB. You will need to subscribe to get access to any of the free magazines, though, which is a bit weird.

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What it Offers

First of all, the best thing about this app is the new business model it uses. The app is made available completely free and makes its money by the in-app ads it sells. The app is brought to you on a weekly basis and is completely free, though if you want to read even one magazine, you will need to subscribe, which means that you will need to share your details with the publisher of the magazine. Personally I have no problem with this, but there are people who feel a bit intruded upon when they have to do this. 

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Content

With the NASCAR races not happening on a weekly basis, but the magazine being released every week, the app can’t always focus on races that happened last week or the week following release. The app cleverly solves this by adding in interviews and articles focusing on the past of these races, making sure the app never runs out of content. There are tons of issues available at the time of writing, all available for free for anyone who subscribes to the service. You can’t just simply get a single issue, which it rather annoying, but so be it. 

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Pros and Cons

Pros

• Great design
• Always up-to-date content
• Fantastic articles about the past and future of the sport
• Tons of magazines available already

Cons

• You can’t download separate issues without subscribing

 

Conclusion

ROAR! Magazine is every racing fan’s dream. You will get a free magazine with all the NASCAR racing content straight to your device and you don’t even have to pay for it. If you would only like to download one magazine, you still will need to subscribe, which is a bit of a pain, but luckily this is only a one off thing. The app already offers tons of issues, all available to you after subscribing. The app is made compatible with both iPad and iPhone. The app itself is just about 4 MB but of course adds more to this when you download issues.