"Howard Ferstler" wrote in message
news:4422e3fe@kcnews01...
It has been months since I took a gander at this group, and as best I can
tell (baring a few exceptions) it is as pointless, ill-informed, and inane
as ever.

Man, am I glad to be "retired" from the business of audio. Those of you
who are still in the business (journalists, manufacturers, dealers, PR
agents, etc.) and are not retired have my deepest sympathies. Your futures
look bleak. Those of you who remain involved for psychological reasons
(tweakos, goofballs, etc.; you know who you are) should have my
sympathies, too. However, with me being an ungenerous person, you do not.
I can understand someone getting involved in this crazy enterprise for
money, but simply cannot see why a sane person who is not in it for the
money would bother to waste their time. I find it hard to have sympathy
for jerks.

I will drop back in in a few months to see who has either died and
therefore left, or left because they finally grew up. In the meantime,
soldier on, suckers.

Howard Ferstler


From Howard Ferstler, July 26th 2005:

-----
Dear group:

OK, after writing fast as hell this afternoon I have managed
(I hope) to respond to all of the messages dealing with my
previous comments. (No doubt some of you are typing
additional replies as I type this final message.) I needed
to do this in order to duck charges that I quit on the fly
and under pressure from you clowns and ran for cover, as if
a sane mane escaping a lunatic asylum is running away from
anything.


Yep, this is it. I stopped sending magazine drafts off to
publishers last month and will not do any more commentary
columns or product reviews. I also notified various record
distributors and companies that I will no longer be
reviewing recordings. I will get a few more record reviews
off to the publisher, because I still have a stack sitting
in my main listening room needing review. Also, some of my
product-review articles are in the pipeline and there is no
stopping them from getting into print. (Why should I? The
work is done.)


Last week I purchased a blood-pressure monitor for home use
(doctor's suggestion) and discovered that whenever I work on
magazine articles (those last few record reviews) my BP
rises. The very thought of receiving additional products to
review also pushes it up. It rises even more when I deal
with the nitwits here on RAO. Well, who needs that?


I leave the field to you people and to those whose world
continues to revolve around their hi-fi rigs. As of now, my
world no longer does. Finally, after all these years I am
going to enjoy the hardware I have on hand for what it can
do to entertain more than ever.


And now, on to reading those hundreds of old-fashioned books
I need to finish before my burial.


Howard Ferstler
-----

--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au