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I get Gramophone and love the CD that comes with it. It really connects me to the top reviews of the magazine.

Now that JA and team don't have that much to do . . . Why don't they product a CD of 10-14 tracks representing the what is spinning that month? I know it would be a license nightmare, but somehow Gramophone does it.

It is indeed something that we have thought about a lot, and I have actually discussed how Gramophone does it with Ivor Humphreys, who compiles their covermount CDs for them at length. (IH used to be my deputy at H-Fi News in the late 1970s and early 1980s.)

The problem is not so much licensing (though that is complex) as the fact that Gramophone, like all UK magazines, gets almost all its circulation through newsstand sales. The CD is thus an effective tool at generating such sales and the costs of the covermount CD can be spread across almost all their print-run. By contrast, Stereophile's circulation is 90% subscription, which is not affected by cover-mounts. If we only put CDs on newsstand copies of the magazine, that would be a cost-effective promotion, but it would deprive subscribers of the CD, which I would not want to do. :-(

So, still thinking.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

Great idea. After reading JA's comments, I was thinking maybe once every quarter might be more appropriate. Also, a single lossless download a week/ month might be interesting...

John, interesting comments about a cover CD. I noticed that a relatively new and intersting music mag called Paste does a CD and a DVD with each issue for both news stand and subscribers.

Here's another thought. How about doing a CD for news stands and make an ISO of the CD available for download on your web site for subscribers. You could use the Stereophile subscriber ID on the label to verify subscribers. Those that want it and have broadband can download it. Those that don't won't be put out. Of course there's the issue of bandwidth but maybe adverstisers would be interested in picking up the tab. You could use a lossless format like FLAC to reduce overhead. You could use Bittorrent to further reduce overhead. I would think the smaller labels that you often feature in reviews would be interested in a way to advertise their catalog.

I'm also interested in the possibility of a Stereophile podcast. Seems that lots of possibilities could open up?

-CB

It comes down to marketing, something the big lables still don't get. If each of the major labels made a sampler disc of their latest artists/releases and offered "Phile" a stipend and the discs to stuff in each issue, maybe we audiophiles might buy something we have not heard.

Just like the Beck's beer commercial. Put a CD in an audio magazine? Brilliant!!!!

I'd love to have the cd of the month automatically sent to me. Does someone offer that?

Jeff

I like nunhgrader's idea of integrating downloads on the stereophile website. Wouldn't this drive traffic to the site? It's not an exact analogy to what makes this work for Gramophone, but it does seem very similar to me. For comparison, I do visit the iTunes Music Store _every_ Tuesday for their free downloads. This could take various forms.

I'd think the simplest, from a licensing point of view, might be a periodic podcast where the writers discuss new albums along with 'fair use' excerpts of passages. This would substantially beef up the music review part of stereophile and it gives some feeling for the 'sound' of a particular CD/band/artist. I would have loved this as part of r2d4 where there were all those artists I'd never heard. No doubt this is considerable work to produce.

Another natural for podcast are the interviews. It would work really well, as a sidebar to one of the articles about recording music (e.g. Cantus). Wouldn't a podcast be great for an interview with Ray Kimber about his isoMike? Or remember that article "The Boy and The Bubble" about Ry Cooder? Perfect for a podcast with excerpting. I think this could work, too, with the technical articles; one could give 'in-line' examples of compression, different kinds of distortion, out of phase sound, time-layed reflections added to signal, and so on.

A selection of sample tracks would be great, of course. I can't comfortably disclose how many CDs I buy each month when I get the Gramophone sampler. Often, the works I select from this source take me outside of my usual buying pattern. For example, I had never listened to Marc Andre Hamelin before I was introduced to his recent Alb

There is a clasical music magazine and Jazziz that include a cd each month. I have found the classical ones very good. The Jazziz are usually compilations of many artists that does give you a chance to hear someone you may have missed. I'm sure there are others. Borders usually carries them.

If people are not outraged over $3 gas here, maybe a free CD in your new Stereophile subscription at $120 a year is not totally out of the question? LOL Of course it is! It just makes CDs from smaller labels more interesting. I sure did enjoy that B&W DVD in "Phile".

$120 for a yearly subscription ?!?!?!?!?!? I pay $52 for 2 years and i am in Cyprus ! Anyway,a free cd would be nice ,even once or twice per year.let's not be greedy lol
p.s. Gas here is $5.50 so stop complaining ! rotfl

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$120 for a yearly subscription ?!?!?!?!?!? I pay $52 for 2 years and i am in Cyprus ! Anyway,a free cd would be nice ,even once or twice per year.let's not be greedy lol
p.s. Gas here is $5.50 so stop complaining ! rotfl

Ouch! I will not complain about our gas prices ever again (well ,maybe nor ever...).

I'm also happy with Stereophile exactly like it is but, I do miss Sam's little chair and glass...

I'm thinking marketing and cash flow here...

Start with vinyl, and tell the various turntable manufacturers that you will take bids on whose tables will get "translated" onto CD-R's that will accompany the issues.

Instead of touting music, you could tout equipment.

By using Stereophile recordings, you could eliminate most licensing problems and maybe lift sales of the original CD's as people buy theme to use for comparison.

I could see a cover that would probably become the hottest thing since Bob Carver used transfer function to duplicate the sound of any amplifier:

September, 2006

Inside! Read about and listen to the Stereophile turntable shootout with all the big guns!

Continuum!

Townsend!

Nottingham!

York!

Kuzma!

That's right, now you can hear what the Stereophile reviewer hears, in the comfort of your listening room!

___________________________
___________________________

It would open whole new vistas.

We could have CD-R's of preamp comparisons, cartridge battles, phono-preamps, the mind boggles at the fun we could have.

Think about it...

"This month, join Michael Fremer as he surveys the current state of the art in the phono cartridge scene. Listen with him to the latest offerings from Dynavector, Lyra, Benze, Grado, and more! Who will be crowned king of the heap?

After you listen, call 1-900-CDR-Idol (a small fee will apply) and vote for your favorite. Each month we will eliminate one contender, with the winner being placed in Michael's reference system!"

Michael could put on a black turtle neck and say nasty things about the cartridges that get voted off.

Now I'm getting all worked up. Please do this.

I love it! That's the kind stuff I'm always telling friends!