Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
Sat, Sep 4 2010, 9:44AM
#2
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
So, the cover CD is to be dropped on all versions... I would like to think the cover and particularly the subscription price will be lowered, but cynicism tells me otherwise. In the UK the subscription price compares very unfavourably with BBC Music Magazine which even has a CD with it. I think of gramophone as slightly more authoritative, if only because one can buy books of old reviews, but it is not 2-3x the quality. It doesn't matter to me what gramophone thinks of itself. I am only a casual reader with a rather narrow sphere of interest and I could suffer the loss of CD, but , if gramophone does not drop the subscription price, it's on a hiding to nothing and merely deluding itself.
Mon, Sep 6 2010, 12:15PM
#3
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
I have sympathy with the last two comments.
That's not because I'm a dinosaur or a luddite, it's simply that living in a rural area I'm lucky if I can receive a listenable stream at 128 kbs so there's no hope for 256 kps.
I do download files but have given up trying to opt for any of the "better than CD" quality files available from some companies - the download is just too long and too unreliable.
Tue, Sep 7 2010, 6:55AM
#4
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
So, the cover CD is to be dropped on all versions... I would like to think the cover and particularly the subscription price will be lowered, but cynicism tells me otherwise. In the UK the subscription price compares very unfavourably with BBC Music Magazine which even has a CD with it. I think of gramophone as slightly more authoritative, if only because one can buy books of old reviews, but it is not 2-3x the quality.
Not quite sure where you get this huge difference in subscription prices from. BBC mag offer is £20 for six months = £40 pa. Gramophone offer is £43.20 pa. Not a big deal.
Wed, Sep 8 2010, 10:16PM
#5
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
Just to let everybody here know that the Gramophone Player is now online for previewing. For more information see http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/the-gramophone-player-i... . I hope you all like what you find, and I do mean what I write about welcoming feedback. Good evening.
Thu, Sep 9 2010, 4:02AM
#6
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
Thanks for all you do on behalf of Gramophone and the wider apprecation of classical music. For many people whatever you do will not be enough as you must appreciate. So let's salute some very lauadible changes. The Gramophone Archive is really quite remarkable for the access it gives us to the magazine's entire source of information. Like others, I regret the loss of PDF access but even so, it is an exceptional resource. I welcome the loss of the attached covermount CD for it has not, to my mind, persuaded me to purchase any discs at all. Rather more, the recommendations of your reviewers sway the balance.
I for one appreciate many of the considerable improvements which have been made and endeavor to support Gramophone as the leading UK publication for classical music lovers. Would that people would appreciate what they have got.
Thu, Sep 9 2010, 12:27PM
#7
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
Hello - quick question. Are you going to be reducing the price of the magazine now that we don't have a CD? Presumably so?
Thu, Sep 9 2010, 1:07PM
#8
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
Hello. I'm afraid we're not reducing the coverprice of the magazine. We strongly feel that what we're offering is an enhancement, in terms of content, on what the CD could ever allow us to bring to you before – and in terms of the work by the Gramophone team in sourcing and preparing the increased amount of music, plus bandwidth costs, I can assure you it's far from cost-free for us, and one part of a large ongoing investment in developing the Gramophone website.
Thu, Sep 9 2010, 2:57PM
#9
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
The Gramophone Archive is really quite remarkable for the access it gives us to the magazine's entire source of information.
But what is going on with uploading current issues to the site? According to the Archive the current issue is August 2010. I received October 2010 some days ago, so at the very least September 2010 ought to be up there.
Thu, Sep 9 2010, 3:04PM
#10
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
Hello Rogere,
There is an embargo of three months before an issue appears on the Archive. Sorry for any disappointment.
Martin
Thu, Sep 9 2010, 5:02PM
#11
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
Hello Martin,
That's very strange, unless this is a new policy. I am pretty sure that the August issue went up in mid-July.
Roger
Thu, Sep 9 2010, 5:07PM
#12
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
Sorry to butt in...
Update on Gramophone Player/iPad/iPhone non-compatibility here
Thu, Sep 9 2010, 5:35PM
#13
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
OK - well, £4.60 it is, then. But the thing is, my computer is up in my study, and my hi-fi and comfy chairs are down in my sitting room, which is where I read magazines and listen to music. There's a lot of talk of getting hold of new kit - which would cost me several years' of Gramophone subscription - but quite frankly, I don't want to keep going upstairs to hear something when I could have it on my stereo while I read an issue.
I'm also slightly flummoxed by the idea that a magazine, which supposedly champions the CD format, has taken the decision to get rid of it. A bit of a kick in the shins for the record labels, no?
Thu, Sep 9 2010, 6:08PM
#14
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
On the contrary - I suspect record companies might be secretly rather pleased that a listener to the Editor's Choice now has a button right in front of them that allows them to buy the disc from Amazon with one click...
Fri, Sep 10 2010, 2:03AM
#15
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
I now have hundreds of Gramophone cover CDs, and am sorry to see them discontinued. I mainly listen to them on the four hour drive between Sydney and Canberra. The tracks I like then get an audio checkout on my big Quad speakers (plus 18" Velodyne subwoofer) and then its off to Abels on a shopping mission. Sadly I hear Abels is probably going on-line only, so I might have to actually subscribe to Gramophone after buying it locally for fifty years.
As a home-based IT professional, I have fast internet access and surprisingly good PC speakers but that is not where I read Gramophone! It seems to me that if Gramophone provided a downloadable CD format in addition to streaming, then people like me who want portability and / or quality could easily burn their own monthly CD and / or DVD and / or Blue-Ray. Sadly can't do SACD though, as far as I know.
I second every comment made by Mr. Jones in his initial message. I also have a very expensive high-end system (e.g., a Meridian 808.2i CD player) and I refuse to listen to poor quality streaming. I also buy 5-10 CDs every month, based on what I hear on the Gramophone CD sampler and read in the Reviews. One of the criteria I have for buying a CD is its sound quality, which varies greatly and is often not well represented by Reviewer or Editorial comments.
I am terribly annoyed that Gramophone is doing this, without offering individual subscribers a choice. For instance, I would be very willing to pay an extra surcharge for the privilege of receiving a CD, or 2 CDs if needed, with extended samples every month at 44.1KHz/16bit. Could you please consider that option?