Critic's Corner

It is not a disagreement, but a matter of nuance

72.82.29.123

In Reply to: RE: Not exactly unprecedented posted by Sommovigo on May 22, 2008 at 08:29:39

I have said before that I consider the affair to be a terrible distortion of the ecology of the marketplace--what you call a shortcut to glory. That's bad, I agree.

My major problem, regardless of whether a product gets an award and when, is with a critic's private (or, in the case of the Pipedreams, public) feedback influencing the development of a product--in that case, the critic has an interest in the validation of his own tastes.

In that regard at least, Stereophile's multi-round nominating and voting procedure for its annual awards is more goof-proof. But the drawback of Stereophile's process is that an exemplary product that only one writer has heard really doesn't stand a chance.

My less-major problem, and I'd like some consumers to chime in on this with their experiences, is, how do they feel when they buy Product X, and within their first year of ownership, the manufacturer announces the X Mark II? My guess is that some will be hopping mad and others will say, so what?

Again, a magazine award to a prototype does distort the marketplace. But, truth is the daughter of time. If the product emerges as a real product, and real dealers sign on, and an installed base of happy campers develops, all to the good. If it turns into a comedy of errors, well, that's one reason there are mirrors--so people can look at themselves in the morning.

I went out on a limb even writing about the darTZeel amp, but that seems to have worked out to everyone's satisfaction--but it did not get a full reivew or stand for an award until it had a US importer and a dealer base.

Ciao,

JM

Follow Ups:

Mark 11 - lancelot 19:01:00 05/23/08 (0)
It's a good thing... - David W. Robinson 10:01:43 05/22/08 (0)

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