What Hi-Fi buying guide?

matengawhat

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Aug 17, 2007
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just noticied the buying guide has completely changed in the back of the new issues - seems to have removed a lot of kit from it - i always found it a great source of information for buying second hand kit as used to go back a good couple of years and also great reference guide for me to dig out my old magazines issues with kit reviews.

wouldn't mind if they wanted to save space and all reviews were available on line but thats limited as well.
 
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Anonymous

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Great point. Almost all mags and websites are incomplete now and no-one seems to care about products (not just Hi-Fi) from a few years ago that are still valid and sometimes better than the (heavily cost reduced/optimised) items from today.

I would defend the mag on the grounds of eco friendly etc but no reason why it couldn't all be on the website.
 
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Anonymous

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Sonicaccuracyisall:
Great point. Almost all mags and websites are incomplete now and no-one seems to care about products (not just Hi-Fi) from a few years ago that are still valid and sometimes better than the (heavily cost reduced/optimised) items from today.

ÿ

ÿEh?ÿ

Sonicaccuracyisall:ÿ

I would defend the mag on the grounds of eco friendly etc but no reason why it couldn't all be on the website.

I think time and money are involved here. I'm sure over time the reviews will be up.

ÿÿ
 
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Anonymous

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Nope, my favourite speakers are Acoustic Energy AE1s, which I bought in the '80s and still love, but I appreciate the engineering behind a lot of KEF speakers (not all by any means).
 

Andy Clough

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matengawhat:just noticied the buying guide has completely changed in the back of the new issues - seems to have removed a lot of kit from it - i always found it a great source of information for buying second hand kit as used to go back a good couple of years and also great reference guide for me to dig out my old magazines issues with kit reviews.wouldn't mind if they wanted to save space and all reviews were available on line but thats limited as well.

Yes, we've redesigned the Buying Guide in the back of the magazine so that it now has far more technical data than before, as does the website. We had a daft situation in the old Buying Guide where, for example, it didn't tell you how many HDMI sockets a TV had or whether an AV receiver could handle the new hi-def audio formats. All that has now been rectified.

As part of that process we did indeed remove some of the older products that had been in the guide for a very long time. However, many of those products still exist in the content management system for the website and we can re-instate them on the web if required. The main issue we have with products going back four years or more is that we don't have the pictures in digital format, which is why they're currently not on the site.

We're adding new reviews to the website all the time, and when we have all the current products online, then we'll get round to maybe re-instating some of the older ones if people think that would be useful. However, with the Awards looming and most manufacturers bringing out their new ranges at this time of year, we're focussing on those first as it's what will be in the shops for people to buy.
 
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Anonymous

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If it is a problem that the older product have disappeared from the magazine, then perhaps hanging on to last months issue might solve that =)

A simple clear guide to currently available products will appeal to a large segment of the market who buy a few issues of WHF and make a purchase decision on that basis. The website is the right place for older reviews, but it takes time to get them on there.

I work for a scientific publisher and the balance of what goes online vs what stays in print is a hard one to strike.ÿ

Overall I'm happy with more detail about new products and fewer old products, though offering a means of allowing the community to help update the guide would be helpful for all, eg the old iPhone is no longer available to buy, yet still carries the old 269 price alongside the new iPhone at 159.

cheersÿ
 

Andrew Everard

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JohnDuncan:Andrew Everard:Sonicaccuracyisall/Octopo - will you two PLEASE stop this petty squabbling.

So *you* work for WHF?

Indeed, as is made clear in my signature.
 

Andy Clough

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JohnDuncan:Ah, 'Consulting' though. That sounds freelance and expensive (like me)..........

I can assure you Mr Everard is most definitely employed here full time, on a proper contract and everything. And I know he's in, because he sits right behind me
emotion-1.gif
 
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Anonymous

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Andy Clough:
We're adding new reviews to the website all the time, and when we have all the current products online, then we'll get round to maybe re-instating some of the older ones if people think that would be useful.

I have to say, with deepest respect, that I find it hard to believe this will ever happen, even with the best will.

I've worked in the photographic and now pre-press industry for 10+ years, and I've seen, and been involved with, a number of much larger organisations make the digital transition. Scanning and creating new work is SO much easier going forward, than backward. There is very little incentive, and the present day and constant 'new' material always takes priority. Even large stock libraries, for example Corbis who at one point had 3 drum scanners working 24hrs, couldn't keep up with the demands and balance of the old and the new material.....I know that's a much bigger example, but hopefully you get my point.

It's a shame, because I think the back reviews are really useful, even if some of it goes 3-4 years. Yes, in today's market the kit changes fast and we are all rushing along, but some of it doesn't - I got back into this mag by looking up Naim reviews I was suddenly interested in.

I really hope you you can manage to do it all Andy !
 

Andy Clough

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If we can source the pictures, then it's really not difficult to do, but of course it takes time. When we we're building the new site earlier this year, quite a few of the reviews of models which have since been superceded we're inputted into the CMS, so we can re-activate them relatively easily.

But for now we are concentrating on adding the new reviews. As others who have posted on here point out, that is probably what the majority of our users are interested in.
 

Andrew Everard

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SC:I have to say, with deepest respect, that I find it hard to believe this will ever happen, even with the best will.

Well, my colleagues on Gramophone are currently completing a project which will see the entire archive of that magazine available online, both as scans of the pages and as text. And Gramophone goes back 85 years.

So anything's possible...
 

Clare Newsome

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Andrew Everard:
JohnDuncan:Ah, 'Consulting' though. That sounds freelance and expensive (like me)..........

No, employed and a bargain at the price.

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