I don't know that what TAS has done is all that awful. They're trying to survive in a niche market, after all. It wasn't going to last as a temple to the ego of (all genuflect) The HP. And, when you think about it, is having reviewers that can only write what advertisers want all that much worse than having reviewers that can only write what The HP wants? Granted his standards are high, it still introduces a bias that I, for one, do not want.
TAS new look-the end is near?
Picked up the latest copy of The Absolute Sound a couple of days ago and something just aint right. First I noticed the cover has changed. Gone is the dignified layout- White boardered in a contrasing color. Changed is the subtitle from "The High End Journal of Audio and Music" to "Stereo - Multichannel Audio - Music" ! Flipping through I find bold red printed highlighted quotes between paragraphs in some of the reviews. Then I came accross pages 18-19. FUTURE TAS big orange letters, pictures and arrows and captions and it hit me. Stereo Review! Audio! But not TAS! Even the paper stock seems cheaper. I remember when the cool little "underground" mag grew to full size. Oh well at least the print and pics were bigger. But now the "journal" looks like any mag, no character. Shorter reviews, less critical comment, more watered down praise. Now this! What happened to this sharp edged journal? Does this distub anyone else? PS- if the must change their look they should check out HI-FI+ (GB).