After posting my decision to give up on TAS, I listed the 20 years or so of back issues I had for sale on a forum. Within the month they were picked up and gone. Three boxes worth, about 155 issues, and a happy new reader has them for a buck an issue.
And what comes in the next morning, a reminder from TAS that my subscription is ending and it's time to renew or lose....I actually chose to lose, I suppose. There goes a couple of decades.....
Apparently, I won't want to miss :
- Our expert reviews of top-performing products---in each price category
- Insightful features on audio components that redefine the state of the art
- Expert commentary on "what's hot" in high-end audio
- Upcoming coverage of must-have recordings
- Guidance to help you get the most out of your system
Yeah, but....do I have to listen to the same old stuff about audio shows six months after the event, or know that everything Magico (what happened to all that love for Kharma?) is great, MQA is the bees' knees, and cable companies can expect their advertising spiel to be repurposed for copy? Don't worry, there's a new Golden Ear award for something, an extract from the TAS History of X being presented, or hey, a manufacturer calling on a reviewer's new house to long-term-loan him another $100k component to enjoy (err... 'review'). Don't worry, don't measure, and don't complain, we mere mortals can't be expected to understand.
4 comments:
I still have my 1980's issues from when TAS was a true hobbyists magazine but none of their issues since 2000 interest me, they are just the yacht club version of Stereo Review now
After decades with TAS, as a reader in my 60's, like most of TAS readers, I reminded them that their magazine's text is hard to read (to small a point size and too light a font), so I switched to the digital version for a coupe of years.. While it was easier to blow up and read the copy, the thrill of flipping thru a physical issue was gone, so I stopped the digital subscription as well. I loved TAS, miss HP, prefer to use my ears and have never (ever) read the measurements Stereophile provides. The Thrill Is Gone.
Oddly, I miss HP too....towards the end I used to think they gave him too much space to self-aggrandize about 'Pearson's Rule of Thirds' and his super list of recordings. But within months of his departure I missed his writing and longed for his return. I think with S'phile, it's the writers that keep me reading. Mikey Fremer and Art Dudley are pure entertainment, the latter in particular having a wonderful turn of phrase, and Herb Reichert always makes me smile too. I realize now I don't really need the reviews, they rarely provide too much new info, I read the text for fun discourse about my hobby. Somehow, TAS failed to provide the same.
Survival makes these changes unavoidable for TAS and Stereophile too. But everything changes. Dumped all Stereophile issues but keeping TAS 1 and the early years when the reviewing was serious. Apart from Robert Harley there are no writers with a firm grasp of various technical issues and now more than ever such writers are needed.
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