Reader's Digest

Time Inc. is offering a freebie to the first 25,000 people who sign up for its new experiment: Mine, a magazine with articles that will be culled from a handful of publications - TIME magazine, InStyle, Real Simple, Travel and Leisure, Food and Wine, Money, Golf and Sports Illustrated. They're calling it "my magazine, my way": You get to choose the five magazines you're most interested in and they'll come up with a package customized just for you (and anyone else who signs up for the same five magazines, I'd guess).

Go to this site to sign up. But be prepared for some random questions; I was asked, for instance, if I prefer sushi or pizza, or if I'd rather spend time with Leonardo da Vinci or Socrates. Anyway, sign up fast if you want to receive the print edition (five issues over 10 weeks) - they're taking the first 31,000 responses, according to USA Today. You can also get an online version, which will be available to the first 200,000 who sign up.

What happens to my subscription when a magazine goes belly-up?

I'd gotten exactly one issue of my gift subscription to Domino - "The Guide to Living With Style" - when I read that Conde Nast was dumping the magazine after the March issue. Its circulation was good, and ad sales were decent enough, given the way the housing market's been going. But not decent enough, in the eyes of Conde Nast:

It was highly disappointing news, since I liked the mix of merchandise Domino had - things I didn't come across elsewhere. Plus, it had articles like "How To Cozy Up Your Living Room in an Instant" and "Help! I want to break free of beige!" Someone should pick up the shelter magazine slack. O at Home has closed, too, and the things in Elle Decor aren't so much what I like.

Anyway … I went to the Domino Web site to see what it said about unexpired subscriptions, and it said nothing. No number to call, no address to email, etc. Finally, in the magazine itself I found the number for subscription customer service: (877) 356-9904. I called, and it turns out that Conde Nast will fulfill the defunct Domino subscription with a subscription to another of its magazines via a firm called Great American Opportunity. You can choose a subscription up to $15 in value (although it sounded like there might be wiggle room there). Now I've got a year's worth of … GQ.

for making it hard to find the info I needed
for helpfulness once I found a person to talk to. (Four stars, that is, assuming my GQ starts arriving in 10 to 12 weeks, as promised)