Hey you guys, quick little lesson. I personally collect issues of PSM, though I am a fan of other PlayStation related mags as well. Sometimes when people offer me issues of PSM, they are confused and actually own a different mag. Here's a quick rundown of what I'm talking about. These are three major PlayStation magazines that were available in the US. There's others in the UK that maybe I'll outline some other time.
PSM Years: 1997-2007
Publisher: Future Publishing
PSM's thing was that it was independent. I like that a lot because it seemed like a lot of the reviews were a little less press release-ish. They also used to give away free crap that they'd make like stickers or memory card labels or posters. Really cool. And one of the major things I love is that PSM always used original art for the covers. Though a lot of the art was bad, it gave it a very unique and unified feel over the years. This is the magazine that I actively collect (so if anyone has any issues they want to get rid of please DO let me know).
Official PlayStation MagazineAKA: OPM
Years: 1997-2007
Publisher: Ziff Davis Media
Ok, so this was PSM's main competition. And I do like this magazine a lot too. I have a little pile of these as well. This was of course the officially endorsed by Sony magazine. What it's most known for is that every issue was packaged with demo discs. These demo discs followed the generations, so there were PS1 discs, PS2 discs, and correct me if I'm wrong here (I didn't pay close attention toward the end of the mag's life) but I'm pretty sure there were PSP and PS3 demos. Fans of 1UP.com should also take notice that much of that site's website worked on OPM.
PlayStation: The Official MagazineAKA: PTOM
Years: 2007-current
Publisher: Future Publishing
Now here's where it gets really confusing. PSM and Official PlayStation Magazine both died off in 2007. However, the staff of PSM started a new official magazine to cover all things PlayStation and called it PlayStation The Official Magazine. See? That's confusing. The independent mag became the official mag, and used a very similar title as the mag they used to be in competition with. Anyway, this is the magazine that is still on newstands today, and it does not come with demo discs.
You guys got all that?
