wjm@whuxj.UUCP (MITCHELL) (06/12/84)
----- News saved at Tue, 12-Jun-84 16:54:39 EDT <chomp chomp chomp> I am not too happy with the latest trend in audio magazines, specifically "High Fidelity" and "Stereo Review" to move toward very slick, glossy, paper editions of MTV. It started last year when HF decided to cut the size of the magazine, add more video information, cut back on the record reviews (all types of music, but especially classical), and adopt a very hard to read type face. (Not that I have anything against video magazines in themselves, but leave the video in a separate magazine that this videophobe can leave on the newsstand). So I dropped my subscription to HF when it expired this past May. Now I notice that "Stereo Review" is going down the same road. To the editors of said magazines (if you are on Usenet) - Don't forget your traditional audiophile, music-loving audience in your search for new readers. Needless to say, my SR subscription won't be renewed if they continue down this road. To fellow Usenet readers: What do you think??? Comments, please but send flames to a) the editors or b) /dev/null Regards, Bill Mitchell
wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (06/13/84)
Another defect of the new-style HIGH FIDELITY is the games they are playing with reader-service "bingo" cards. They dropped the cards when they went to the new format, and since then have brought them back every now and then, irregularily. (It might be that they are "test-marketing" different areas of the nationwide mailing or newsstand distribution, but I doubt that, as they would have to have some issues printed with the "Circle No. 55" legends on the ads and some without; it's not just a matter of binding in the cards or not, which would be simple.) Anyway, I have always felt that one of the prime purposes of these "quasi-technical" hobby magazines is to serve as a conduit of info between the advertising manufacurers/dealers and the readership, and having Business-Reply-Mail reader-service was the best way to fulfill that function, in addition to the reviews and product-survey articles. Dropping the "bingo" cards leaves a gap in what the magazines offer to the readers in return for their subscription or newsstand money, and the information conduit is either broken or constricted. If you subscribe to or buy High Fidelity, and are writing to them anyway, complain about the missing reader-service cards. A few letters will probably make a big difference. Will
jho@ihuxn.UUCP (Yosi Hoshen) (06/19/84)
I concur with Bill Michell. There is not enough reviewing of classical music in the traditional audio magazines, Hi Fidelity Stereo Review, and Audio. What are the alternatives? The British Gramophone magazine has many classical reviews including CD recordings. The problem is that it is not easy to find this magazine on the news stand, or in libraries. There is another problem, the magazine is heavily advertized by the record companies, which may cast doubts on the objectivity of its reviewers. However, the Gramophone is probably offering the most comprehensive reviews on classical recordings. -- Yosi Hoshen Bell Laboratories Naperville, Illinois (312)-979-7321 Mail: ihnp4!ihuxn!jho