Our favorite weekend pastime — browsing magazines at the bookstore — just got way easier: Digital publisher Zinio (VIVmag‘s sister company) recently unveiled its new Zinio INSIDE feature so you can hang out at the digital newsstand, flipping pages. This handy innovation lets users peruse thousands of magazines online for free, so you can digitally thumb through such titles as SmartMoney, U.S. News & World Report and Metropolitan Home.

The catch? You’re allowed three page zooms (to read better); to keep enlarging articles beyond that, you’ll have to pony up. But even then you can still click through every spread for free and do keyword searches to see if the magazine has other content you want to view. Another bonus: Articles found via search can be emailed to friends and family, and you can even embed a copy of the spread on your Facebook page or website, all at no charge.

Like all smart consumers, we love having the option of trying before buying. What’s the last product you tested before purchasing?

Tags: AMP Energy, Facebook Inc, Newsagent, Publishing, SmartMoney, Technology/Internet, U.S. News & World Report, VIVmag, Zinio, Zinio Systems Inc, Zoom Corporation