Subscription blues

[Ken McDaniel]

I mean really, is it too much to ask? In the old days I used to subscribe to everything under the sun. SI, Time, Home Theater, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics...., the list goes on. These days there can be only one:

Stereophile Guide to Home Theater

It's not like it's the only show in town. As a matter of fact 90% of everything they write is old news by the time it hits the stand.

The problem is that when I was at the local store today, I was perusing the usual suspects of audio and video mags. Sitting there before me was my beloved magazine. Nothing frustrates me more than waiting for my magazine to arrive when it's already sitting on the newsstand.

Bad enough it's late. Worse still is the nice pic and review of the new Rotel pre-amp on the cover and inside. Just the thought of opening it up would make my subscription a phenomenal waste of money.

Wasn't the entire point of the subscription to get it as it hit the newstand? So I wouldn't have to wait? Damn, this is the third month in a row they've pulled this crap. It's not like I live in Canada (Bet y'all like that one).

Anyway, I'm just venting. Oh, by the way, I'm back.




Ken

[Lex]

Yeah Ken, that's a drag. It got to be the same old stuff to me, and I have so little time for Mags, that I only took a free Sound and Vision last year, , dropped SGHT and Home Theater. I will probably start SGHT soon though.

Lex




Cable Guy DVD Collection

[John Holmes]

I dropped all of mine for that very reason. Yes, the home pricing is very attractive however, it seems all too often that a delivery problem flares up.




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[Andrew Pratt]

I find I get more out of the online sites like this then I do from the Mag's so I don't subscribe to any. When I do get the urge I just head down to one of the big bookstores like chapters and sit in thier coffee house drinking and quickly flip through the ads...there's usually only a little in them these days worth ready

[SiliGoose]

I'm with Andrew...I don't subscribe either. The Internet has replaced magazines as my source of info.

SGHT is easily one of the worst magazines I have ever come across. The reveiws get worse with every issue. When I do pick up an issue it's more for the ads than the content.




-Sili

[George Bellefontaine]

As an ex publisher I still love to read and look at the pretty pictures on shiny paper, but I have to admit that something is wrong in magazine land. There is absolutely no reason why any title should be on the street faster than it it should be at your door.I can't speak for other publishing companies, but ours took care of the mail the minute titles rolled off the press.
But the biggest gripe I have is with missing issues. I subscribe to most of the HT magazines and the worst for missing issues is The Perfect Vision.The last two issues have gone astray and they assure me my subscription is good and name and address is correct. So where do these missing ttiles end up anyway ?




My Homepage!

[KennyG]

George, I think all those lost issues go to subscription hell
I suppose I've been lucky, I don't think I've ever had an issue come up missing.
I'm beginning to think about cancelling my subscriptions to PV, SGHT, and HT. I used to read them but, it seems they are not really pertinent to my system anymore. About the only thing I really read are the disc reviews.

[George Bellefontaine]

The Perfect Vision of a few years ago was an excellent magazine that not only focused on equipment, but the cinema as a whole. There used to be good articles on film restoration, telecine tricks, etc.The mags you mentioned also seem to give a lot of space to Audio hardware, and rarely get into articles of the home theater in general. I have to admit I don't enjoy these titles as much as I use to, but I subscribe anyway, hoping for that special article that may pique my interest.




My Homepage!

[GregoriusM]

Well, being relatively new to Home Theater, I still like the glossy pictures! I was buying them at Chapters, but then decided...... DUH! too pricey!

On another forum, they discussed which mags they thought were the only ones worth subscribing to anymore. SGHT, WR, and PV were the ones most recommended. I hadn't seen PV, so I bought a copy. But, I did just subscribe to SGHT and WR.

So, for the next year, I'll get my magazines well before the newstands!!! Yeah, sure, eh?!!!

By the end of the subscriptions, I'll probably be less inclined to subscribe.