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In Reply to: RE: The purpose of a contract is to limit a person's freedom. posted by John Marks on February 02, 2008 at 17:25:22

tell us what you really think!

rw

Follow Ups:

Hey, be happy! ... at least - bjh 07:59:15 02/04/08 (0)
the windbag didn't sneak in a reference to the Latin Mass! That's gotta count for something!

Everything matters, don't forget to tweak your placebos!
My guess is that most audio writers have ruined a few napkins - John Marks 07:29:56 02/03/08 (22)
Doing the math on on-dead-trees audio magazine startups.

And as far as I can tell, it just doesn't work.

My educated guess is that Stereophile and TAS got in early enough and got well-enough established, and, most importantly, either didn't make fatal mistakes or found people to bail them out, and here we are.

AUDIO magazine was a great magazine, in its day. Tom Miiller's and Myles Astor's magazines were valiant efforts. Listener had its quirky charms. I miss them all! I even miss Stereo Review, from its golden days. Pick up a 1970s Stereo Review issue on eBay. There have to be at least 100 records reviewed per issue. Yes, the equipment reviews were jejeune, we all know that. But neither TAS nor Stereophile ever covered the breadth of recordings Stereo Review did.

I am speaking only for myself here, but, it looks to me as though a few generations (brief ones) of big-city management have painted Stereophile into a corner. Once a subscription costs $12, it's hard to get $28 again. At least hard to keep the circulation numbers up. If TAS is going down the same path (dirt-cheap subscription offers), IMHO that's too bad, it's a one-way path as far as I can tell.

Nothing lasts forever.

Cheers,

JM
- RE: My guess is that most audio writers have ruined a few napkins - rwiley 08:40:38 02/14/08 (0)
  John...thanks for reminding me of "Audio". I always looked forward to receiving my monthly issue. Especially enjoyed the "Audiomart" at the back. Edward Tatnall Canby? Never did "get" his articles/reviews but I'm sure some did.
- RE: My guess is that most audio writers have ruined a few napkins - galnat 02:12:39 02/04/08 (5)
  Mr Marks, your approach can be correct, from a strictly juridical point of view (the contractual tie) and economic (the profit for a publisher)..
  My opinion (perhaps banal and "romantic") it is that the business has ruined the original attitude of some magazineses (I refer to TAS and Stereophile, with HP and JGH practically reduced to the role of icons) and the same starting attitude of other magazines business-oriented (like Play/Audio Adventure and Fi, for example).
  On Internet, many web-magazine plays as an annoying advertising spot.
  Harry Pearson (for which, I believe, you don't have big liking) is - perhaps (I don't know him) - a man debatable but a genial reviewer; actually (without wanting to offend anybody) we have some HP-wannabe, but without his basic genius and vision.
  And this represent, IMHO, a loss for the chronic passionates.
  Personally, I would like that 15.000 passionates suffices to sustain is sustaining a magazine audio (but perhaps it is an utopia).
  
  Edits: 02/04/08 02/04/08
  - I hear what you are saying, but, the marketplace has spoken. - John Marks 08:38:47 02/04/08 (3)
    Could a different approach to "brand management" have resulted in a different state of affairs?
    
    Perhaps, but not inevitably.
    
    I subscribe to Sports Car Market magazine. It costs $58 a year. Their core readership is a few thousand people who can write the multi-million-dollar checks for classic cars. The rest of us a dreamers, or looking for advice on $2000 bargain classics. Why should SCM price a subscription at $12? Jay Leno wants to read the magazine, or not. He never sees the bill, he has people to do that stuff.
    
    No audio magazine seems to have managed the same thing. Perhaps because for a lot of people, they want information to make a purchase, and then they are happy, no need to keep up. Classic cars are probably more of a hands-on thing than stereo.
    
    Personal feelings or the lack of personal feelings aside, if I received a solicitation for a new magazine that would be all HP all the time, for the same money I spend on Sports Car Market, I would decline the offer.
    
    It's not hard feelings it's not sour grapes, it's just I am just not that much into his writing these days or for the past several years. IMHO, when Frank Doris was editing TAS and Michael Fremer was writing, there was a crackle of electricity to TAS that no audio magazine has had before or since, and HP was a sideshow. An interesting and sometimes informative sideshow, but the rest of the cast made greater contributions. NB I am not talking about myself, I wrote for TAS only at the end of the first regime, and for the first few years of AMM.
    
    I sincerely wish the best of luck to anyone trying to start an on dead trees audio magazine today. I don't think it can be done as a rational business model. That doesn't make me turn cartwheels of joy, but it seems to be the truth.
    
    Cheers,
    
    JM
    - So it's really all about you - LOL! (nt) - mkuller 13:33:37 02/04/08 (1)
      (nt)
      - Huh? - John Marks 14:53:15 02/04/08 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: So it's really all about you - LOL! (nt) posted by mkuller on February 04, 2008 at 13:33:37
        
        Huh?
        
        I never said it was all about me.
        
        I am saying that I am a if not the type of the target customer for TAS, and it's a non-sale, which is not something I'd say about Hi-Fi +.
        
        JM
    - [Sigh] nt - clarkjohnsen 12:00:47 02/04/08 (0)
      s
  - " ... reduced to the role of icons." - Dave Pogue 04:20:41 02/04/08 (0)
    I kinda like that :-)
- mr. pedant! c'mon! - luigi22 14:43:15 02/03/08 (11)
  'jejeune'? and don't even try with 'it's a typo'.
  - OK! It's just like the Pork Pig witticism! That may help me remember. - John Marks 08:44:35 02/04/08 (2)
    Je-june.
    
    n. P-porky P-pig's f-favorite m-month.
    
    # # #
    - Goo-goo good one! nt - clarkjohnsen 12:02:20 02/04/08 (1)
      z
      - :) (nt) - luigi22 16:08:06 02/04/08 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: Goo-goo good one! nt posted by clarkjohnsen on February 04, 2008 at 12:02:20
        
        .
  - No pay = no sleep-on and no spell-check - John Marks 18:00:33 02/03/08 (7)
    I burnish every word for Stereophile. Not for AA.
    
    Truth is, I have a terrible memory and I can't spell; I am alway fooled by homonyms and cognates. And I didn't look either of those up.
    
    I type "by ear," and I often find I type a homonym.
    
    Live with it.
    
    Anyway, Jordin Sparks sang well enough for the Super Bowl, but someone should really take her aside and convince her that she doesn't need to yodel, it is so "Ghost Riders in the Sky."
    
    JM
    - "I often find I type a homonym." So do you ever speak a homophone? nt - clarkjohnsen 00:41:13 02/04/08 (2)
      f
      - "You can homeapigeon, and you can homealoan... - David W. Robinson 09:44:25 02/06/08 (1)
        
        In Reply to: RE: "I often find I type a homonym." So do you ever speak a homophone? nt posted by clarkjohnsen on February 04, 2008 at 00:41:13
        
        ...but you need context to parse your homophone."
        
        --Probably anonymous
        
        ;-)
        
        david
        
        Buddy, are you homophonic? (Don't tell!) nt - clarkjohnsen 12:23:03 02/07/08 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: "You can homeapigeon, and you can homealoan... posted by David W. Robinson on February 06, 2008 at 09:44:25
        
        z
    - yeah right, 'live with it' - luigi22 19:56:14 02/03/08 (2)
      if it was anyone else, i would would care not a whit. you? correcting everyone around here with that annoying tone? not a chance i'll ignore it.
      
      btw, homonyms and cognates? why not leave it at bad spelling? what language is 'jejeune'?
      
      nice try with the jordin sparks deflection too.
      - RE: yeah right, 'live with it' - Ted Smith 20:27:00 02/03/08 (1)
        
        In Reply to: RE: yeah right, 'live with it' posted by luigi22 on February 03, 2008 at 19:56:14
        
        Howdy
        
        I actually like writers who attempt to be more precise and don't dumb down their writing to the lowest common denominator...
        
        -Ted
        
        i agree... - luigi22 21:50:57 02/03/08 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: yeah right, 'live with it' posted by Ted Smith on February 03, 2008 at 20:27:00
        
        but again, john marks can sound really grating with his 'lessons', hence my pleasure.
    - I was rather relieved - Bruce Kendall 19:35:17 02/03/08 (0)
      that she didn't attempt to turn it into a gospel song.
- It is incredibly difficult... - mkuller 12:27:04 02/03/08 (0)
  ...to make a profit publishing a special interest magazine.
  It takes an *average of 5* years for a new, successful magazine to become profitable. In recent history, Maxim was the exception to that rule and turned a profit in about 2 years.
  Word has it that the current owners of TAS have not made a profit yet in 7+ years.
  When I look back over the landscape from the late-1970s forward littered with failed audio publications, there were many that were well financed but failed nonetheless. Perhaps the owners didn't have the patience and fortitude to stick it out that long.
  I can still recall those days in the late-1970s when I looked forward to receiving Stereophile, TAS and even the Audio Critic, but they were published so irregularly that sometimes it was 6 months or more between issues.
  You named Stereo Review, Audio, Tom's Play, Listener and Myle's Ultimate Audio as some of the publications you miss - here are a few others that didn't make it:
  The Audio Critic (went sideways after a 7 year break, now internet)
  IAR (went internet)
  Audio Horizons
  Audio Alternatives
  High Performance Review
  Sounds Like
  Fi
  And still limping along:
  Audiophile Voice (the editor told me he can survive on 5000 subscribers)
  Sensible Sound
  I'm sure there are others I've neglected to mention.
  We should embrace Stereophile and TAS (such as it is) and enjoy them while we can.
  When they're gone we'll look back on today fondly as 'the good old days' of audio review publications.
  
  Edits: 02/03/08 02/03/08
- RE: My guess is that most audio writers have ruined a few napkins - Myles B. Astor 10:13:04 02/03/08 (0)
  John,
  
  About the music section and reviews. The funny thing is that people such as Larry Klein actually had ears back in the early days of the mag. Look at a list of his top sounding LPs (Connoissuer Society, Mercury, Elektra, some great DGGs, etc) and one would be amazed. Makes one wonder what happened to his ears down the line though?
  
  Myles
  Myles B. Astor
- RE: My guess is that most audio writers have ruined a few napkins - rdf 08:58:09 02/03/08 (0)
  "AUDIO magazine was a great magazine, in its day."
  
  Today's mags are just starting to approach Audio's tech chops when Heyser was on staff. On the other hand, I won't miss BV Pisha's bi-annual review of the Shure V15 or Jon and Sally Tiven's sophomoric music reviews.

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