While print publications dwindle and sputter out across the world, tablet-exclusive magazines attempt to take their place (with varying degrees of success). Now yet another company wants a shot at reviving the dying medium in the new digital fashion.

AOL launched on Tuesday its iPad-exclusive daily magazine, Editions, a daily newsmagazine personalized to the user’s interests. It’s something of a cross between The Daily — an iPad-only newspaper filled with original content from News Corp. — and Flipboard, the iPad-based content aggregation app that combines social network data and articles from partner web sites.

“It has a beginning, a middle and most importantly an end,” said AOL mobile director David Temkin in an interview. “It’s a 20-minute morning briefing, meant to be taken in with your cup of coffee.”

After launching the app for the first time, Editions asks the user to choose from 15 topic categories, from national news to music and culture. Every morning, the app creates a compendium of the days events based on the topics you’ve chosen. For instance, I chose technology, local news and business for my first edition, and was presented with pieces from The Oakland Tribune (my neighborhood paper), Pitchfork and, of course, Wired.com. I entered my zip code as well, and the cover page displayed local weather info.

Each page of Editions is laid out like a magazine, with three or four articles appearing on each digital page (complete with photos). While content from AOL-owned properties was readable within the confines of each page — lengthier pieces contain scrollable text — most articles launched a separate page when touched, like a miniature browser window within the app itself. It’d be nice if all of the pieces were readable without launching another page, but alas.

This is by design, says Temkin; it’s a compromise of using a partner’s content to populate AOL’s app without stealing pageviews away from the original site (and thereby angering the publisher).

As “the magazine that reads you” (according to the rather cheesy tagline), Editions conforms to your reading habits and tastes over time in order to decide which articles to compile each day. If the app finds you opening more Wired.com articles than Gizmodo ones, you’ll be seeing more of the former as you download each new issue. Or if you want to give Editions more specific info, you’re able to target specific people, terms or subjects — anything from the San Francisco Giants to John Boehner — citing whether you want to see more or fewer articles on the chosen topics.

Like everything else these days, it’s got social functionality built in. Too much ADD to continue actually reading? Tweet out a link to the New Yorker piece you’re browsing and impress your lit-snob friends. You’re able to toss it up on your Facebook page or e-mail it to others as well.

As with any good daily rag, a horoscope page flanks the back “cover,” letting you know you’ve hit the end. All it’s missing are the funny pages.

The big issue (as it were) is the lack of breaking news in the app. Instead of taking advantage of the digital medium and constantly updating the app with current stories, you’re not going to see new material until your new Edition is created the next day. In an age where breaking news goes viral in matters of minutes, you may not want to wait till tomorrow to read about what’s happening today. And if we’re using an app like The Daily to gauge whether or not people want an e-newspaper, the jury isn’t out quite yet: News Corp. is staying tight-lipped on its iPad pub’s circulation numbers.

Still, AOL says it isn’t trying to go after the newsfiend’s fancy. “All of these types of apps have their purpose, and their intended audience,” Temkin says. “It’s not a winner-take-all scenario.”

Editions is available in Apple’s App Store free for download. Check out the app’s trailer video below for a hint of what to expect.