MacAddict is a now-defunct Apple Macintosh magazine. Its predecessor was CD-ROM Today, a magazine published from 1994 to 1996 which specialized in software and hardware reviews, also including a CD with software trial versions for both Windows and Macintosh. In 1996, it was split into two similar magazines targeting each OS: MacAddict for Mac users, and boot for Windows users. boot was renamed to Maximum PC in 1998 and has continued ever since. MacAddict was Re Tooled in 2007 as Mac|Life, a more serious magazine.
Tropes associated with MacAddict include:
- April Fools' Day: The first April Fools' Day issue came with a fake letter to the editor saying that they had switched their focus to Windows. It also included a two page, The Onion-esque fake news section.
- Cerebus Syndrome:
- The original letters section was downright wacky, with things like "I love the sticky stuff that comes on the Macintosh", and "Did you know that Macintosh spelled backwards is Hsotnicam? I could make a new video-capture product with that name. —Ed Latimer, Hsotnicam Director, Founder, and President".
- Early on, the magazine was very bright and colorful. By the 2000s, it got a sterile, white makeover.
- Four-Point Scale: Zig-zagged. They originally used Max in a four-tier rating system: "Freakin' Awesome", "Spiffy", "Yeah, Whatever" and "Blech!". In the general reviews, anything below "Spiffy" was rare; in the interactive CD-ROM section, anything above "Yeah, Whatever" was rare; and the children's software section ran the gamut. Upon switching to a straightforward five-star system, they came to avert this.
- Mascot: Max. Notable because he's the icon for Wild Mass Guessing.
- Take That!: To Microsoft, Macworld and much more.
- Theme Naming: Early on, the sections were named after Macintosh commands and functions: for instance, the news section was "Get Info" and the final page was called "Shutdown".
