"Robert Morein" wrote in message
...

"Iain M Churches" wrote in message
...

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ups.com...

jeffc wrote:
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Given that SP subscriptions are cheap, I may subscribe again
eventually.

It's a catch 22. Magazines that charge very low prices for
subscriptions
do
so for one reason - to get higher circulation. Do you really think
they
can
hire a staff of expert, objective reviewers, print a glossy magazine,
and
mail it to your house for $1 each month? Ha! Of course not. All
their
money comes from ads. Higher circulation = more ad money. More ad
money
means less objective reviews. Less objective reviews means less
circulation, unless they lower the cost. etc., until they pay you to
take
the magazine, at which point it becomes beyond worthless.


IMO, Stereophile crossed the "beyond worthless" threshold quite some
time ago. It is now simply an advertising vehicle for the
manufacturers. Period.

I don't have the opportunity to read Stereophile, as I live on the
other side of the world, but generally speaking, magazines on
any topic are only as good as their readership demands them
to be. If you are not satisfied, then a letter to the editor is the
best solution. Any editor who receives letters from dis-satisfied
readers in large numbers will certainly not ignore them.
But, an editor who receives little or no feedback will assume
that the readers are happy with the magazine, as long as
circulation figures are maintained.

Iain

Iain,
Writing letters to the editor complaining about Stereophile is a sort
of
a sport, and surprisingly, Atkinson publishes many of them.

Robert,
Why is that surprising? I see it as an open approach, which few
editors would choose to follow. Have the readers ever told the
magazine what they would like/expect it to be?
It is clear that no magazine can please everyone.

Iain