Usually you can download them as pdf where they live on your computer and you can access them at any time for ever and ever. You can also print any part or all of the magazine if you want. I don't usually print the whole magazine--only print the patterns I like. Some subscriptions use Adobe Air which I hated because it's not necessarily user friendly for me--clicking on the little space at the end of the page to turn pages (that page turning sound drives me crazy
! Then there's the zooming in and out (I have eye issues). You can download it to your computer but you still have to enter a password to be able to look at it. I did however, find a button all the way at the bottom of the screen that enables you to download it as a plain pdf--boy was I happy to find that! Can you tell I hate Adobe Air? Seems like a lot of the digital magazines are using it but so far Quilters World is not and I also downloaded my copy of Quilting Quickly as a plain pdf. That being said, I love my digital editions even if they are using Adobe Air.