I forget what I paid for the Edge card, but it ended up being a really good deal because I got even more credit for all my trade ins--plus I'm at Gamestop like every other week anyway. And I like that you can just put your store credits on the Edge card too. (I think I paid like $10 for it, but I don't remember.)
I also don't mind getting Game Informer. I used to get PC Gamer magazine, but it started getting a lot thinner every month, and it was like 2/3 ads and 1/3 actual content. Game Informer has ads too, but it's not nearly as much. Plus, they talk about ALL games, not just PC games.