Is Print Dead? Has the Time for Magazine Tests Passed?

[Philpug]

A lot of magazine reviews I've read, seem to be sugar coated, and require reading between the lines, and some magazine or official retailer websites (o.k. only a few) are even false imho.

Most of the magazine "reviews" are regurgitate manufacturer rhetoric..hell, look at the that last Ski Magazine "Buyers Guide" there were pages of manufacturer ads that were designed to look like reviews only with disclaimers in small print at the top of the pages saying "Special Advertising Section".

Review Page:

"Special Advertising Section":

 

[Noodler]

The good thing about reviews here on Pugski is that the only bias is personal and based on the skier's skiing. A lot of magazine reviews I've read, seem to be sugar coated, and require reading between the lines, and some magazine or official retailer websites (o.k. only a few) are even false imho.

Agreed. The magazine reviews have devolved into meaningless fluff. They seem to be trying to come up with the best/weirdest metaphor to compare the ski to.

 

[LKLA]

Maybe there's a better thread for this, but I'd like to discuss the ski review content and how reviews are provided.

BTW - Print is dying and dead in many cases. They're trying to reinvent themselves as digital media and make it more interactive. The challenge becomes a socioeconomic concern that is wrapped in equal access issues and possible class warfare.

That is a generalization that could be made regarding just about any media medium, including websites. I am sure the vast majority of websites barely make enough money to keep the server/s running.

Just like most everyone else, publishers have been forced to change. Savvy publications are succeeding at leveraging the web and social media and mobile usage. They are indeed incorporating both audio and video into their product. The reach of print media is still there - the top 25 print magazines reach more adults and teens than the top 25 prime time shows. In fact, the latest industry reports show that over 90% of U.S. adults read print magazines, and that the ads in these publications motivate 35% of readers to take action.That is huge. Combined with a relatively low cost of production, print media makes for a very compelling ROI.

There are more magazine titles today than five, ten or 15 years ago. Do we need 7,100 magazines!?!?! I don't think so. So I can see why many magazines might be struggling - the audience is just too small to cover the overhead or the product is just not very good. The NY Times saw sales increase by almost 30% from 2017 to 2018, and The Dow Jones, which owns both the Wall Street Journal and Barron's, also posted similar results.

If you are strategic, deligent and have a great product, you will find it hard not to be successful, regardless of the industry you are in.

 

[Noodler]

That is a generalization that could be made regarding just about any media medium, including websites. I am sure the vast majority of websites barely make enough money to keep the server/s running.

Just like most everyone else, publishers have been forced to change. Savvy publications are succeeding at leveraging the web and social media and mobile usage. They are indeed incorporating both audio and video into their product. The reach of print media is still there - the top 25 print magazines reach more adults and teens than the top 25 prime time shows. In fact, the latest industry reports show that over 90% of U.S. adults read print magazines, and that the ads in these publications motivate 35% of readers to take action.That is huge. Combined with a relatively low cost of production, print media makes for a very compelling ROI.

There are more magazine titles today than five, ten or 15 years ago. Do we need 7,100 magazines!?!?! I don't think so. So I can see why many magazine might be struggling - the audience is just too small to cover the overhead or the product is just not very good. The NY Times, saw sales increase by almost 30% from 2017 to 2018, and The Dow Jones, which owns both the Wall Street Journal and Barron's, also posted similar results.

If you are strategic, deligent and have a great product, you will find it hard not to be successful, regardless of the industry you are in.

I guess I'm guilty of transferring my own experience onto the rest of the world. I used to get lots of magazines and today I don't have a single subscription in print form (nor does my wife). I find it interesting that there's actually more titles available today. Does that include digitally distributed? If so, then I get that because you would have to believe that the startup costs, if solely digital, would be lower, thus improving access to enter the market.

 

[Johnny V.]

Yeah, the SKI magazine reviews are easy to dismiss as fluff, but as I get the magazine for free I have nothing invested but my time in reading them.Like all opinions there may be some wheat with the chaff. I laugh more at the "skiing lifestyle" articles that have no relation to how I spend a ski trip.

 

[LKLA]

I guess I'm guilty of transferring my own experience onto the rest of the world. I used to get lots of magazines and today I don't have a single subscription in print form (nor does my wife). I find it interesting that there's actually more titles available today. Does that include digitally distributed? If so, then I get that because you would have to believe that the startup costs, if solely digital, would be lower, thus improving access to enter the market.

I hear you.

I have actually gone back over the last year or two and subscribed to print for many publications. It can get a bit expensive to have both print and digital but there is unrefutable evidence that the human brain retains/comprehends print better than digital (even more so in the case of children/ young people).

 

[LKLA]

Yeah, the SKI magazine reviews are easy to dismiss as fluff, but as I get the magazine for free I have nothing invested but my time in reading them.Like all opinions there may be some wheat with the chaff. I laugh more at the "skiing lifestyle" articles that have no relation to how I spend a ski vacation.

Completely agree.

I am not sure they are fooling anyone regardless of how big or small the print is. Btw, how many magazines review skis?!? One, maybe two?

As for skis, as you likely know many of the major online retailers have staff write-ups as well as customer "reviews". Similar to Amazon, Fandango, Hotels.com,... My personal experience is that many of them actually have fairly knowledgeable people who you can speak to by tel or instant message with. Most decent brick and mortar shops have staff who can offer "reviews" as well. Some of them, like Pinnacle in Stowe or Bob Skinner in Newbury, have extremely qualified staff, others, well not so much.

People can indeed be very successful doing reviews. Robert Parker has been very successful doing nothing else but reviewing wines (Wine Advocate). Tim Zagat was even more successful reviewing restaurants. Dozens, make that hundreds, of people review all sorts of stuff on YouTube, some of them are making millions (I think some of the top 10 highest grossing YouTube channels are reviewers).

 

[Philpug]

Completely agree.

I am not sure they are fooling anyone regardless of how big or small the print is. Btw, how many magazines review skis?!? One, maybe two?

As for skis, as you likely know many of the major online retailers have staff write-ups as well as customer "reviews". Similar to Amazon, Fandango, Hotels.com,... My personal experience is that many of them actually have fairly knowledgeable people who you can speak to by tel or instant message with. Most decent brick and mortar shops have staff who can offer "reviews" as well. Some of them, like Pinnacle in Stowe or Bob Skinner in Newbury, have extremely qualified staff, others, well not so much.

People can indeed be very successful doing reviews. Robert Parker has been very successful doing nothing else but reviewing wines (Wine Advocate). Tim Zagat was even more successful reviewing restaurants. Dozens, make that hundreds, of people review all sorts of stuff on YouTube, some of them are making millions (I think some of the top 10 highest grossing YouTube channels are reviewers).

But, how do you discern which ones know what they are talking about or not? And if you can discern the differences, chances are you don't need their reviews anyway. The ones that concern me are the employee's who's depth of knowledge only goes as deep as their last Rep clinic. These shop guys can usually be identified by salesmen's reviews that include...

• Duuuude, this is what I ski and it rips..and I rip...didn't you see me?
• This is my what my mom skis....
• The magazine has this as the number one ski
• Bro....

 

[eok]

Over the last few years, I've come to appreciate two Ski magazines: SKI Canada and Mountain. Both mags typically have articles that are interesting - Mountain especially. This year Mountain did a pretty comprehensive 2019 Ski buyer's guide. Reviews were fairly concise but pretty much practical & spot-on for the skis I'm familiar with.

But, SKI Magazine - sheesh! This years buyer's guide reviews were pretty much worthless. They included brief "strength" and "weakness" descriptions for each ski - but the "weakness" selection was based on some mysterious formula I couldn't fathom. The results were misleading as skis with higher scores in most/all criteria would still get tagged with a "weakness" that really didn't make sense. For example, the Head Titan got a score of 4.32 for "High Speed Stability". Historically - by SKI's numeric scale - that's quite good in that criteria. But, they listed High Speed Stability as the Titan's weakness. Seriously? Even though it had an (expected) lower score of 2.64 for flotation? Now, the Titans are by no means SG skis, but they are (in my experience) quite stable at speed - assuming you're on a reasonable length. Anyway, several other skis showed a nonsensical "weakness" description.

 

[James]

Does anyone do the Blister membership and get the print review?

 

[ski otter 2]

There is a place for lots of different sources for ski reviews, to me. Up close and personal, in print and online also. Up close has been best for me, but the other two are nice as well. What a wonderful selection of sources! And what a wonderful selection of skis & boots, better all the time, seems like, up to now. On this thread's specific topic, to me print is not dead, probably never will be - not as long as there is any civilization left in us. (tongue in cheek a bit.)

I'll mostly skip up close and personal, including friends in ski shops, as something for another thread, maybe.

I get that one would want to see reviewers skiing, to get a handle for how they ski the skis they are reviewing, maybe. For me, I don't really want that in reviewers, don't need that with them, to figure out where they are coming from. Maybe this is because my primary source for skiing evaluations and recommendations is already with folks I know up close and personal, though I'm more concerned with their preferences than just how they happen to be skiing, as long as they have minimal skills. This is because the whole process is so subjective: great and competent skiers can have very different tastes and styles with skis. For example, in extremes, one guy I know only wants bump skis; another, to get on only Blizzards; a few others only Volkl; some want only "burly man" skis; and some want only fat freerides. So I have to ask them their likes and dislikes instead, and focus on guys whose taste in skis coincides with my own, nothing personal.

For me, I haven't really needed to see how someone skis to have a feel for the accuracy of their reviews for myself, though someone in the Rockies might tend to work better than someone back East, at times. So for example, Craig on Yellow Gentian is on the same page for me on nine out of ten skis he reviews. I get on the ski, and I find that he's reviewed it in a way that fits my own experience, like magic - pros and cons, and comparisons.

 

[ski otter 2]

Does anyone do the Blister membership and get the print review?

Yes, I've gotten Blistergear's annual gear magazine (plus membership) for all three years its been around. By far my favorite, in another league.

As with Yellow Gentian, Blistergear is more than 90% in sync for me, fortunately (except for the 108 Wren, the K2 Pettitor, their small selection of narrower, and lack of race skis); especially since they came out with their annual gear magazine, by far the best one, IMHO. Very lucky for me also. Both these other online sources help me pick out skis to try, skis to love, and save me money and time. And I've never seen him/them ski, and only by accident seen a few Blistergear folk and pugskiers ski. Don't need to. It's nothing personal, I don't guess, when we happen to be in sync on skis and ski objectives. I like and find their choice of skis works for me, often. Lucky break.

Online, tops for me is pugski, because it's more interactive and more diverse. I can discuss things, benefit from others' knowledge and experience, great reviews, great info - great exchanges, humor, help, ski sales. Finding great skis and boots is only part of the fun there, but even that part is interactive, a place I look forward to. For me, the actual ski reviews are not necessarily its best feature, but they are better, to me, than other mags and websites out there, except Blistergear and Yellow Gentian, which to me are on a par, but different, complementary. (And Yellow Gentian seems to have fallen into disuse a bit.)

For reviews, Blistergear jumped right up there, for me, when I first got their annual ski review mag. Amazing how much more useful for me the online stuff became when I had for reference their great magazine, with all its fine comparison charts, of things like all mountain chargers, directional and more freestyle powder skis, ranking a huge list of skis for everything from best in crud, to most float, to easiest to handle, for example. I know skiing is a subjective thing, in terms of skis preferred, but to my delight, their descriptions of the skis I'd also been on were in sync with my own most of the time (almost always, actually - except for those ON3P Wren 108s, which to me suck

), which does not mean they are good or bad as journalists, skiers or people, only that their likes and dislikes with skis happened to fit my own, or at least are close enough for me to "get" a ski from just their detailed descriptions, whatever their skiing style. Except for much narrower skis, I could trust them, enough to go after skis I'd never been on - the Bibby Pro, the Katana, and best lengths; and also, to be steered away from skis that had liabilities, for me as well as those reviewers - something that at times doesn't work for me on pugski, where, reviews are often glowing, maybe similar, vague, and harder to differentiate, at least for me; and beyond narrower skis, are often out of sync with my own experiences with skis I want to own.

 

[ski otter 2]

Over the last few years, I've come to appreciate two Ski magazines: SKI Canada and Mountain. Both mags typically have articles that are interesting - Mountain especially. This year Mountain did a pretty comprehensive 2019 Ski buyer's guide. Reviews were fairly concise but pretty much practical & spot-on for the skis I'm familiar with.

But, SKI Magazine - sheesh! This years buyer's guide reviews were pretty much worthless. They included brief "strength" and "weakness" descriptions for each ski - but the "weakness" selection was based on some mysterious formula I couldn't fathom. The results were misleading as skis with higher scores in most/all criteria would still get tagged with a "weakness" that really didn't make sense. For example, the Head Titan got a score of 4.32 for "High Speed Stability". Historically - by SKI's numeric scale - that's quite good in that criteria. But, they listed High Speed Stability as the Titan's weakness. Seriously? Even though it had an (expected) lower score of 2.64 for flotation? Now, the Titans are by no means SG skis, but they are (in my experience) quite stable at speed - assuming you're on a reasonable length. Anyway, several other skis showed a nonsensical "weakness" description.

I'd like to try Mountain - never seen it. Ski Canada, to me, is a bit like Real Skier, or whatever that website is called; it's very good but I seem to recall it's often focused on seeing things through a race ski style, or macho man style approach. (My memory here could be off or outdated, sorry.)


Also, I'd like to attempt to give you a possible perspective or explanation for the Head Titan "weakness" thing, and its apparent contradiction; apologize in advance if I get things muddled. What I'll say about the Titan (at least back then, when I tried it), could be said for any number of other, on edge more carving, fat race-like skis, that are, say, softer flexing and "in between" carving wonders (between slalom and gs radius turns, up to maybe r 17/18 or so, depending). Yes, within their turn range, these things can be stable at that sort of speed. I often love them also.

The last time I skied the Titan was a good while ago, maybe 13/14 or 12/13, not sure. But my "take" may still apply. Wonderful technical ski - a typical, very neutral on edge feel, typical of Head, to me, including their race skis and near race skis: my skiing on Heads always seems to improve or get more focused if I think "neutral edge," and go for that neutral feel. Hard to explain, maybe, but real: the Head ski comes alive when I'm maximizing that feel.

That said, the Titan at least used to be fairly locked into its own type of turn/carve shape range, and that turn radius, I believe, may have gotten shorter. That locked in turn feel can limit one in ski style possibilities. Yes, within that turn shape style, the ski is unflappable, very fast. But that same turn shape on edge can be limiting, locked in, and relatively slow at times; one may want to vary the style, to, say, alternatively take risks, go SG or more direct, freeride on edge more in the fall line, make shallower, faster and straighter turns, or more airborn turns, or suddenly scrub speed sideways, half spin, make varied and reactive "hero" turns in moguls, suddenly go playful at speed with shallow angles, then huge angles, then do "big hot wheel" turns through bumps at speed in the fall line, then go to shallow, more SG higher speed angles again, etc. Guys who want to fall line dance at speed in varied ways, or do any of the things I just mentioned, way find the Titan skis confining at speed in anything but the Titan's neutral short gs type or range of on edge turns, loosely speaking. Their buddies race on by, on stable freeride or pro park skis designed to do whatever one can imagine, at any speed, from slalom to SG at times styles (not just "in between" tight, fast carves, up to GS for short bursts).

Thus, with some skis, maybe the current Titan, one can get the paradox, of a ski wedded to its race-like carve, that is stable at speeds within those confines, but slow and less versatile/stable at speed in a larger sense, compared to other common freeride skis. (Note: such skiing I would not attempt on any more extreme or intense terrain, unlike more expert and younger skiers. But I could push the Titan in similar ways on any blue or easier black run.)

 

[Philpug]

With the Blister Review thread creating discussion, lets resurrect the same topic from a couple of years ago.

 

[markojp]

Boot reviews, a la 'best in test'.... don't get me started.

 

[Philpug]

Boot reviews, a la 'best in test'.... don't get me started.

 

[AmyPJ]

With the Blister Review thread creating discussion, lets resurrect the same topic from a couple of years ago.

Oh boy. When I read in SMs 2020 reviews, the comment about the Santa Ana 88, "only the most willful skiers will get the Santa Ana 88 to perform in the chop." What a load of garbage from my perspective. I am definitely not a most willful skier (I am very timid!) and that thing has made chop an absolute blast for me. Then, its weakness is listed as "crud". I bought the ski because of how much fun it is in crud, which is perhaps my biggest weakness on skis.

Also, the Total Joy is a frontside ski? I guess I don't like seeing the skis pigeonholed into categories vs. widths. The Total Joy was a blast in crud and chop for me (again, the timid one in those conditions.) And now I REALLY want to get out on a Kore 99...based on what I've heard around here about it compared to the 93, which I loved. Curiously, Head was #1 in a lot of categories. It does make one wonder...

 

[Philpug]

Oh boy. When I read in SMs 2020 reviews, the comment about the Santa Ana 88, "only the most willful skiers will get the Santa Ana 88 to perform in the chop." What a load of garbage from my perspective. I am definitely not a most willful skier (I am very timid!) and that thing has made chop an absolute blast for me. Then, its weakness is listed as "crud". I bought the ski because of how much fun it is in crud, which is perhaps my biggest weakness on skis.

Also, the Total Joy is a frontside ski? I guess I don't like seeing the skis pigeonholed into categories vs. widths. The Total Joy was a blast in crud and chop for me (again, the timid one in those conditions.) And now I REALLY want to get out on a Kore 99...based on what I've heard around here about it compared to the 93, which I loved. Curiously, Head was #1 in a lot of categories. It does make one wonder...

Magazines set defined categories. and when a manufacturer submits a ski it has to go specifically into one of these predefined categories. I can see the Total Joy being in the frontide category not knowing what the other options were. As far as the Santa Ana 88 being only for strong skiers, that could also have been a railed tune making the ski very unfriendly. I know many of the early production Nordica's we have gotten over the years were that way. We just know that the ski needs a visit to @smoothrides before it's skiable. As far as Head doing so well, they are making some good skis, there are many that we really like and some that didn't wow us. The Kore women's line baffles me because there is no Kore 93W that is 93mm underfoot, with their scaled sizing, they range from 87mm to 91mm, the 99w maxes out at 97mm....They couldn't just change the numbers in the name?

 

[Tricia]

Here's a wake up call.
Our Ski magazine arrived while we were on our SS Pugski September Tour,
I put it aside because, frankly, I had a lot of mail to sort through and a lot of work to do after some of the meetings and connections we had on our trip.
I honestly figured that I missed the Gear Guide because this issue didn't look like the Gear Guide.
Just this morning I went to find it (wasn't sure where I put it during the mail sorting) and pulled it out. It was then that I realized that Ski had a "pull off" cover advertising their own Inside Edge Premium Membership. When you pull it off it exposes the Gear Guide with the Fischer 86 GT on the cover. If I were Fischer, I'd be pissed.

Most interesting is that the Ski Gear Guide was sitting in my house for a month and I didn't even know it.
I remember a time when I anticipated it hitting my mailbox.
I remember a time when the gear guide created a lot of buzz on the forums.
Different times, eh?

 

[Philpug]

Here's a wake up call.
Our Ski magazine arrived while we were on our SS Pugski September Tour,
I put it aside because, frankly, I had a lot of mail to sort through and a lot of work to do after some of the meetings and connections we had on our trip.
I honestly figured that I missed the Gear Guide because this issue didn't look like the Gear Guide.
Just this morning I went to find it (wasn't sure where I put it during the mail sorting) and pulled it out. It was then that I realized that Ski had a "pull off" cover advertising their own Inside Edge Premium Membership. When you pull it off it exposes the Gear Guide with the Fischer 86 GT on the cover. If I were Fischer, I'd be pissed.


View attachment 82392

Most interesting is that the Ski Gear Guide was sitting in my house for a month and I didn't even know it.
I remember a time when I anticipated it hitting my mailbox.
I remember a time when the gear guide created a lot of buzz on the forums.
Different times, eh?

It is interesting the consumer's perspective on this verses the manufacturers and who isn't drinking the Kool-Aid. There is very little talk here reguarding the Gear Guides, when as @Tricia said in years past, there was a rush for someone to post it first and then the conversations began. I am not sure if the newstand version has this ad cover or not or what the newsstand price is because it is not on this cover but IF someone IS looking for the Gear Guide they would walk right past the faux cover.