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Post by ChrisB on Aug 18, 2014 0:09:47 GMT
A while back, I gave up with the magazines because I just didn't find enough of interest in them and I kept seeing evidence of lazy journalism. So, after about 28 years of buying about 3 titles per month (a not insignificant investment), I gave up. So, do you bother anymore, do you buy the odd one every now and then, or are you a prolific devourer of the magazines. If you do read them, then which ones do you like and why?
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Post by jammy on Aug 18, 2014 0:37:40 GMT
Like yourself Chris i was an avid reader of them at one time. But the prices of mags kept rising (bloody ridiculous now) and the content went down hill. (More & more AV cinema mp3 digital computer dac crap).....Im a Ludite Dinosaur. Not to mention the stuff on review seemed to be getting more expensive etc.
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Post by John on Aug 18, 2014 4:13:44 GMT
I get the odd one every now and then
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Post by Chris on Aug 18, 2014 4:17:39 GMT
Nope. Used to read one,once in a while but found the articles having less and less to do with my interests. The lack of anything s/h made it all pointless really and forums tend to provide much more honest opinions. I've gone this route with all mags/reading not just hifi. As stated the prices are just daft now as well.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2014 6:21:24 GMT
When I was last in the UK I bought a couple to see what was happening.
Not a lot was the answer. Same old stuff with the desperation to fill the column inches showing. Any info that might have been provided is available on-line now, either through something like HiFi Pig or the forums.
Buying them previously was just a habit and a way of passing the odd hour or two at lunchtimes or train journeys. I used to buy loads of car magazines too. I catch up with them occasionally as they appear (a couple of years late usually when a Brit dumps them) in the Dr's waiting room over here. Same stuff, mostly replaced with on-line info. The paper magazine industry can't have long to live now surely.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2014 8:08:20 GMT
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Post by dvh on Aug 18, 2014 8:15:54 GMT
HiFi+ is the only one I still buy, more out of habit than anything else, as there's often not much of interest in there. Haven't read any of the others for many years.
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Post by MikeMusic on Aug 18, 2014 8:16:16 GMT
Haven't bought won for more years than I can remember.
Can't see why I would when we have TAS !
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Post by danielquinn on Aug 18, 2014 9:13:35 GMT
hifi journalists have wives,children, mortgages , bills to pay and friends in the industry. Why therefore should I trust they will put my interests above their own ? Are our interests aligned ?
What purpose would therefore a magazine serve ?
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Post by DaveC on Aug 18, 2014 9:48:43 GMT
That old chestnut again !
Forum people by their very nature do not buy magazines. The rest of the world do and that's why for instance HiFi News sold for a good price a couple of years back.
Reviewers and editors have access to nearly everything and go to Munich to see what is really out there.
Me; well I read forums and I read magazines, and perhaps the other silent 120 people here do the same ? But who cares ? Why would a forum want to dis a magazine, what is the point ?
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Post by AlanS on Aug 18, 2014 9:57:39 GMT
Used to read HiFi World. Far from an avid reader. Just faded out of my world.
I discovered forums which were confusing as they are not magazines, but are informative some times. You have to dance around those persons who MUST post something even if nothing to say of any value others just to themselves.
Some useful experiences can be found and distractions by those who hear something different in everything.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2014 9:59:01 GMT
If there was a decent magazine available that had a reasonable amount of content about vintage gear and employed real journalists then I might buy it. The difficulty is that magazines survive on advertising revenue and product manufacturers aren't going to advertise in a magazine that is honest in its reviews, and manufacturers aren't going to supply items for review unless they are pretty much guaranteed a favourable review.
There's a big market out there that isn't being catered for, but the economics just don't seem to work.
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Post by danielquinn on Aug 18, 2014 9:59:43 GMT
Dave , That's analogous to asking why would the Guardian want to dis the Sun ? The problem with subjectively based magazines and conflicts of interests as been well argued . The problem remains .
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2014 10:18:50 GMT
So what's the least bad hifi magazine at the moment?
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Post by danielquinn on Aug 18, 2014 10:26:57 GMT
WHF , it doesnt pretend to be anything but the superficial commercially driven comic that it is .
The worst is hifi news and record review , in my opinion the editor is a knob and the magazine has delusions of grandeur .
I really like Alan Sircom , but i find the mag boring . There is little in it but equipment reviews for product i will not be buying ever.
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Post by dvh on Aug 18, 2014 10:30:38 GMT
WHF , it doesnt pretend to be anything but the superficial commercially driven comic that it is . The worst is hifi news and record review , in my opinion the editor is a knob and the magazine has delusions of grandeur . I really like Alan Sircom , but i find the mag boring . There is little in it but equipment reviews for product i will not be buying ever. And however expensive the item being reviewed is, it'll still be described as 'something of a bargain'. From Alan Sircom's comments, the major problem facing the mags these days is segmentation of the target audience. Some people only want to read about expensive esoterica, some people only want to read about headphones, DACs and streamers, some love cable reviews, others can't stand them, etc etc. In the olden days of, for example, the A5 format HiFi Coice, you got a panel of experts listening to a shedload of components, then ranking them according to the majority's opinion. It was, if nothing else, a good way of eliminating 'worst of breed'. Now, you get single components reviewed by one person (and you can normally guess who will do the review based on the manufacturer of said component), nothing gets anything short of a good review, and the punter is none the wiser about narrowing the choice down from the dozens/hundreds of available options.
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Post by julesd68 on Aug 18, 2014 19:00:45 GMT
If there was a decent magazine available that had a reasonable amount of content about vintage gear and employed real journalists then I might buy it. Nail on head. I would guess that most people on forums are more interested in getting more 'bang for buck' by buying quality second-hand gear, whether vintage or modern, and are not so interested in reading about the latest 'audiophile' USB cable or whatever ... I honestly cannot remember the last time I bought a hi-fi mag.
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Post by Paul Barker on Aug 18, 2014 19:02:50 GMT
No
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Post by shuggie on Aug 19, 2014 6:44:30 GMT
That old chestnut again !Forum people by their very nature do not buy magazines. The rest of the world do and that's why for instance HiFi News sold for a good price a couple of years back. Reviewers and editors have access to nearly everything and go to Munich to see what is really out there. Me; well I read forums and I read magazines, and perhaps the other silent 120 people here do the same ? But who cares ? Why would a forum want to dis a magazine, what is the point ? Well said! I subscribe to two magazines and am happy to continue doing so, and occasionally buy HiFi+ via Apple if the table of contents looks interesting.
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Post by ChrisB on Aug 19, 2014 7:27:30 GMT
That old chestnut again !Forum people by their very nature do not buy magazines. The rest of the world do and that's why for instance HiFi News sold for a good price a couple of years back. Reviewers and editors have access to nearly everything and go to Munich to see what is really out there. Me; well I read forums and I read magazines, and perhaps the other silent 120 people here do the same ? But who cares ? Why would a forum want to dis a magazine, what is the point ? I disagree with almost everything you say Dave. Who cares? Well I do. That's why I asked the question. This forum isn't 'dissing' a magazine - I would love to have an audio magazine to buy every month if it met my requirements, and it looks like others would too.
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