WHAT HIFI LASTEST EDITION

[Hi-FiOutlaw]

I agree with Woodster and other post here. I used to wait for WHF, it used to be exciting in some ways to open letter box and find new edition and prepare for a proper, long Saturday read with favourite music in the background. Unfortunately what is left now is only my favourite music.

I have dedicated shelf for WHF mags and I like to go back and read previous editions . However I find it becomes a very rear occasion now. New editions are full of repeats, the same articles, same TVs all over and over again. I appreciate that seasonal new product arrivals dictate the content of the mag, but filling pages with repeats shows that ideas had run out. I still read 2011 editions sometime, but last 6 mags stand dusty in far corner making more room for Hi-Fi choice and other mags. Shame.

+1

I feel quite the same...

Hoping and praying for less TV's and more cool tests, like new AV's from Yamaha V73...

But still buying it... Just have to wait for 1 and half week to arrive to Portugal! Although i've an ipad i still like the smell of fresh mag paper and the touch.

Some things never change...

 

[ID.]

Next time I'll thumb the magazine in the shop, read the few pages of interest and put it back on the shelf.

Amazingly, in the supermarket this aftermoon, I witnessed a woman taking a can of spray deodorant from the shelf, sticking it up her T-shirt to spray each armpit in turn, then puttng it back on ths shelf. Some people, eh?

When I worked at a shop selling magazines, etc. the orders from the boss were to never make an issue of this with magazines. Admittedly, the same didn't apply to things like the stationary (and we didn't sell deodorant), but letting people browse magazines is the most effective way to actually sell magazines and use the store. Try sealing all magazines so all you have to go by is the cover and see if it makes a difference.

Allowing browisng is a bit of an honor system, and there might be some slight abuse of it, but surely there are benefits to the publisher and store as well, so I don't think it is quite analogous with deodorant and all other products.

 

[NHL]

The latest issue had its gems: Dragonfly and new cable kings. What a mini system one can build out of the Dragonfly! Also, checkout their website for recommended settings, iTunes. Is there some similar small class D amplifier?

 

[eggontoast]

But on a serious note, if your magazine has good content it will sell. This can be determined from a 30 second flick through which for the last 20 years I have never done with WHF. Since there seem to be a lot of long time readers saying the same perhaps WHF should take note.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Must have been Tesco, Asda customers wouldn't dream of using deoderant.

Neither of the above

 

[Andrew Everard]

Since there seem to be a lot of long time readers saying the same perhaps WHF should take note.

I shall as ever pass on your comments, and those of other contributors to this thread, to those in power.

 

[toyota man]

Since there seem to be a lot of long time readers saying the same perhaps WHF should take note.

I shall as ever pass on your comments, and those of other contributors to this thread, to those in power.

Hi Andrew could you do a forum survey so we could give our ideas to you and maybe some one will come up with some good suggestions:cheers:

 

[Andrew Everard]

Hi Andrew could you do a forum survey so we could give our ideas to you and maybe some one will come up with some good suggestions:cheers:

We already do reader surveys, conduct focus groups and so on, as well as other research both with readers and non-readers. But if you have ideas and suggestions, you're welcome to mail them to the usual contact address, and I'll make sure they're passed on to the relevant people.

 

[Covenanter]

I bought the latest edition this morning to see what I thought. I guess my general impression is that it's a bit unfocused. I wish it were more focused on hifi and music but that is of course a personal view and others will have wider / other interests.

I was interested in the review of the new Google tablet because my son brought his when he came to see me yesterday but am not convinced it should be in a hifi magazine.

Chris

 

[busb]

Next time I'll thumb the magazine in the shop, read the few pages of interest and put it back on the shelf.

Amazingly, in the supermarket this aftermoon, I witnessed a woman taking a can of spray deodorant from the shelf, sticking it up her T-shirt to spray each armpit in turn, then puttng it back on ths shelf. Some people, eh?

That's the pits!

You should have filmed the event with a digital camera for YouTube (before placing it back in it's box on the shelf).

I was having lunch in a Moroccan restaurant down the Royal Mile with the friends I was visiting. A young couple at an adjacent table decided that they didn't like one course so refused to pay for it - having eaten it. Yup some people. We all walked out in disgust.

 

[Ajani]

Next time I'll thumb the magazine in the shop, read the few pages of interest and put it back on the shelf.

Amazingly, in the supermarket this aftermoon, I witnessed a woman taking a can of spray deodorant from the shelf, sticking it up her T-shirt to spray each armpit in turn, then puttng it back on ths shelf. Some people, eh?

When I worked at a shop selling magazines, etc. the orders from the boss were to never make an issue of this with magazines. Admittedly, the same didn't apply to things like the stationary (and we didn't sell deodorant), but letting people browse magazines is the most effective way to actually sell magazines and use the store. Try sealing all magazines so all you have to go by is the cover and see if it makes a difference.

Allowing browisng is a bit of an honor system, and there might be some slight abuse of it, but surely there are benefits to the publisher and store as well, so I don't think it is quite analogous with deodorant and all other products.

Actually I think Andrew's comparison is spot on in this context. eggontoast's comments implied that he merely intended to read the few pages for any review he might be interested in and then toss the mag back on the shelf. It would be different if he said he planned to skim through the mag to see if it is worth buying.

Something I don't understand is why anyone would need to read a WHF review in the store. If you don't feel the mag has enough content to be worth buying, then simply read the reviews online. That way you still support WHF in some way (since they make ad revenue online), but you can avoid spending money for the entire print edition just to read one or two reviews.

 

[chebby]

I've started buying issues of Hi-fi News & Record Review...

...from the 1960s.

Fascinating.

On their website it says that their subscribers get access to their archive. If it really is their full archive (every issue from 1956 onwards) then I could be tempted to invest just for that alone! (And, effectively, get the current mags free as a bonus.)

The 'sample' issue from 2011 looks nice and big and crisp and clear (unlike Gramophone's archive where the actual pages are tiny and unreadable and are accompanied by text that is ridden with scanning errors).

If anyone reading this has a HFN & RR subscription, can they tell me if the online archive truly is a full archive? (Or at least covers the 1960s and 1970s comprehensively with clear text and photos.)

Thanks.

 

[mykspence]

Must have been Tesco, Asda customers wouldn't dream of using deoderant.

Neither of the above

Jeez, I bet you're a bundle of fun at a party.

 

[floyd droid]

If anyone reading this has a HFN & RR subscription, can they tell me if the online archive truly is a full archive? (Or at least covers the 1960s and 1970s comprehensively with clear text and photos.)

Thanks.

I have a subscription Chebby so i registered to the webby doodah to find out for you. Erm, teeny problemo with it recognisisng my subscription number. So ive emithered them to look into it for me. Will let you know whats what regs the archive as soon as hfn sort things out their end and get back to me.

 

[DandyCobalt]

Must have been Tesco, Asda customers wouldn't dream of using deoderant.

Neither of the above

Please don't say it was Waitrose? The horror!! I will send a letter of complaint and ask them to step up their door security.

Our Waitrose is next door to Iceland, and even shares the same car park...that's bad enough.

It is ok to squeeze the fruit and sample a grape or two though?

 

[chebby]

If anyone reading this has a HFN & RR subscription, can they tell me if the online archive truly is a full archive? (Or at least covers the 1960s and 1970s comprehensively with clear text and photos.)

Thanks.

I have a subscription Chebby so i registered to the webby doodah to find out for you. Erm, teeny problemo with it recognisisng my subscription number. So ive emithered them to look into it for me. Will let you know whats what regs the archive as soon as hfn sort things out their end and get back to me.

Thanks.

 

[floyd droid]

Ok Chebby. Got totaly fed up with a non reply so i picked up one of these new fangled telephone things. Brilliant,needed a new subscription number. So after a load of faffing around the answer to your request is.

Waste of flippin time mate. Only goes back to Jan 2008. Shame really as i would have been interested in going way back when too.

 

[chebby]

Ok Chebby. Got totaly fed up with a non reply so i picked up one of these new fangled telephone things. Brilliant,needed a new subscription number. So after a load of faffing around the answer to your request is.

Waste of flippin time mate. Only goes back to Jan 2008. Shame really as i would have been interested in going way back when too.

Thanks FD. I appreciate your efforts. Shame about that.

I've saved the cost of a subscription but would rather have had the HFN archive to enjoy. Never mind.

 

[floyd droid]

No problem Chebby.

 

[chebby]

Well this arrived today...

...from 28 years ago.

So I have some time travel reading matter this evening.

 

[floyd droid]

Dont forget to enter the competition ,lol

 

[Son_of_SJ]

I was having lunch in a Moroccan restaurant down the Royal Mile with the friends I was visiting. A young couple at an adjacent table decided that they didn't like one course so refused to pay for it - having eaten it. Yup some people. We all walked out in disgust.

I realise that this is a bit off topic, but the young couple you mention were maybe visitors to Edinburgh during the Festival. I can't believe that Edinburghers would behave so badly, ha-ha! Still, I'm not sure how it helped the Moroccan restaurant by you and your friends walking out ...??

 

[chebby]

Well this arrived today...

...from 28 years ago.

I have these on the way from 1978 ...

... They should arrive in a couple of days hopefully.

The What Hi-fi? September 1978 issue should be particularly interesting for the budget turntable review.

It pre-dates my interest in hi-fi by a couple of years (i'd only just left school) but I think some of those TTs were still being sold when I bought my first system a couple of years later. (Hard to tell for sure from the small pic.)

Comparing the editorial content/writing/reviewing with a recent issue of What Hi-fi? - thirty four years later - is going to be interesting.

 

[idc]

I don't think/know if this is intended by WHF, but I see the magazine as something to purchase occasionally for specific reviews and product information if you are in the market for something. It is the best magazine for beginers to hifi or those looking for a new TV or DVD player or whatever and want to do some research.

I do not see the magazine as one to subscribe to as it lacks detailed articles by professional hifi journalists such as Jimmy Hughes. Instead WHF has more professional hifi reviewers, I hope you see the difference I am getting at. So it is the best for overall info, but lacks fine detail. That is not ment as criticism, it is just my observation on market positioning (which may be wrong anyway!)

 

[Andrew Everard]

I don't think/know if this is intended by WHF, but I see the magazine as something to purchase occasionally for specific reviews and product information if you are in the market for something. It is the best magazine for beginers to hifi or those looking for a new TV or DVD player or whatever and want to do some research.

I do not see the magazine as one to subscribe to as it lacks detailed articles by professional hifi journalists such as Jimmy Hughes. Instead WHF has more professional hifi reviewers, I hope you see the difference I am getting at. So it is the best for overall info, but lacks fine detail. That is not ment as criticism, it is just my observation on market positioning (which may be wrong anyway!)

Absoloutely right on your first point: historically a large proprotion of the readership of the magazine has always been 'dip in, dip out', buying issues around the time they're considering a purchase rather than reading every issue. The same goes for some of our stablemates, such as What Car?

Yes, there's a sizeable core of regular readers – and indeed susbcribers – but in common with many 'buying guides', the sporadic nature of most of our readership does mean the magazine does have to have more explanatory content (the 'new readers start here' stuff), as we really can't assume someone buying the magazine in order to research a purchase of a TV, AV receiver, pair of speakers or whatever has a significant amount of prior knowledge.

One of the advantages of the website is that it gives those of us who want it more space to write more 'featuresy' articles – show reports, opinion pieces and so on –, which perhaps wouldn't sit so well in what is, after all, a reviews-driven print magazine.