Essay bashing Primedia, Stereophile - and Audiogon

I am not going to focus on Stern's comments about Audiogon and get all hissy, defensive and nasty about it. There are people on this site who are very opinionated without the knowledge or experience to back it up, and there are people who waste manufacturers' and dealers' time by pumping them for info then run off to buy used off the Internet. I don't think Chip meant that everybody here is an idiot, and you can't discount everything is saying just because you don't agree with a small part of his argument.

Stern's article made several very good points about Primedia and their bottom-line mentality. There are good things and bad things about Stereophile, but if it goes out of business, then we lose the good things too. Primedia is to Stereophile what the big multimedia giants are to radio broadcasting and newspapers. Big companies are buying-up all of the smaller companies and their radio stations. Then they fire a lot of (good, qualified, and in their opinion over-paid) people and install their own hacks and bean-counters in their place. They then take all the freedom out of broadcasting by enforcing and playing pre-programmed, target-marketed, overly-commercial, "popular" crap music content that can change at the drop of a hat. They also fire any intelligent life at the radio station or newspaper that has the nerve to disagree with their business strategies or editorial policy. (which brings ugly business and political alliances into the mix also!)
Primedia is alienating their own employees, manufacturers and retailers with their lies, their money-grabbing business strategies and with all of the other stupid actions that Stern is decrying in his article.

So, you may not agree with everything that Stern has to say, but I'll bet you that at least he might take the time to debate it with you intelligently.
Primedia, on the other hand, doesn't give a shit what you think or want when it comes to quality music reproduction and this hobby of ours.

Good post Golden Ears.

Thanks,

Rant and rave, rant and rave. What can we learn from this? We may spend a bit too much time on the "new" since the old has much to offer. But frankly, Audiogon does more good than harm. Members are very open to questions about midfi, hifi and ultrafi. Newbees are embraced. Music is the heart and soul. We learn. We teach.

Sorry that this is a hobby of nuances and marginal improvements. Sorry that this is a hobby of "non-mass market". That's life. At least, that's our life. It's a free country and a free internet. Rant and rave away! Just don't get between me and my music. And don't insult my friends and advisors who are helping me on my journey.

DITO- Unsound.
I learned more from other A-goners and got better equipment than I ever did from most dealers, In fact, most of the dealers give me B.S. just for the sale,
jb

The problem is that the used market,as well as Audiogon, depend on customers having some idea what the equipment sounds like. This is where the Brick and Mortar store comes in.

These are the guys that spend the time and money to set up displays and (hopefully) educate the customers. These are the places we go to hear the gear we lust after. How is it fair to use the salesman's time and then buy elswhere? The store has to stock the equipment; he pays shipping, insurance, power and everything it takes to keep a store open. For the most part they are not trying to cheat anyone but to simply make enough profit to keep their doors open.

In as much as store fails to educate its market (by not setting up superlative sound and theater rooms) it deserves to fail. But there are still a lot of old-school stores out there that deserve your business whenever possible or...or in a few years the high-end will simply dry up. No one will know, aside from the informed few, what real hi-fi is since they will never get to see or hear it.

I have no bitch with buying used gear on Audiogon since most dealers don't make their money from selling used gear but usually only do so as a service to their customer. Hell, I have enjoyed some great gear that I bought through here.

My bitch is the use of the Internet to cut the local store,the one that just spent 3 hours with you, out of his well-earned profit on new gear. If that keeps up, the stores will be history and lots of luck finding a place to sample gear. And lots of luck finding advice and service on the gear.

There are (they shall remain nameless) people on the net that sell high-end gear at a tiny amount over (and sometimes under) the store's cost. They are able to do so because they have no overhead; more often than not the gear is drop-shipped to the customer. The business is run out of a garage or living room. The guy that went through all the stress and expense of building and stocking a great soundroom is left out in the cold. I know a few dealers that are getting ready to say "screw it, I don't need this". You can tell when the "customer" (parasite) that just used up 3-hours of the salesman's time plans to get his new gear from the net.

The manufacturors and distributors (you know who you are) that tolerate this are pissing in their own water bowl and don't seem to know it (or maybe they just don't care). When, in five years, when there are no places to show your gear, how are you going to sell it?

No sane man is going to pour money into a store when he can make more profit by just putting his money in a mutual fund.

Again, this is not against the used market on Audiogon or elsewhere. (Did Chip forget that the audio mags have classified ads?)