Gramophone Subscribers Beware!
Edward A. Cowan
> If you subscribe
> to *Gramophone* and paid more than $79, please write and protest. And
> we dwindling # of US subscribers ought to ask *Gramophone* to account
> for its subscription policy towards us.
Don't worry: Many of us, including me, intend to allow our subscriptions
to _Gramophone_ to lapse. When the renewal time come, I plan to send a
letter to _Gramophone_ telling them why. (The reasons have frequently
been cited in messages in this ng.)
--
E.A.C. (contemplating writing that letter in _Gramophone_ style
prose...)
kun...@hilltop.ic.edu
I'm sure some of you subscribe to *Gramophone* (no one need disclose
his or her identity) and I wanted to post a warning. I received a few
weeks ago a letter "inviting" me to renew my *Gramophone* subscription
for an eye-popping $142 (the letter assured me that I would save money
off the cover price by renewing my subscription). I couldn't recall
what I paid last year, but I couldn't believe it was that much, so I
sent an e-mail inquiry to *Gramophone*'s subscription department asking
them to confirm or correct my impression that $142 represented a very
substantial rise in cost for a subscription. No answer. While
waiting, I compared notes with another subscriber in town, who noticed
that in January of 1999, *Gramophone* began listing on its masthead
page (in the flyspeck type at the bottom) a "USA Basic Annual
Subscription Rate" of $199.95. I also noticed that the cover price of
the magazine was $8.50 an issue, so I could save $30 by *not*
subscribing. I sent another e-mail, asking them to explain their
subscription pricing structure, and pointing out that I didn't plan to
re-subscribe to lose money. Here is the answer I received:
"Thank you for your email.
I can confirm that the some of the US renewal notice have been
despatched with the priority mailing rated instead of the airspeed
rates.
Therefore the correct rates are:
6 issue 27.00GBP - 43.00 US Dollars
13 issues 50.00GBP - 79.00US Dollars" (End of reply)
Why *Gramophone* would send their US subscribers renewal notices
listing only priority mail rates is not explained, but it looks to me
like at least gross sloppiness, and, at worst, profiteering. As you
can see, the e-mail responded to none of my larger questions about the
pricing of *Gramophone* subscriptions for US readers. If you subscribe
to *Gramophone* and paid more than $79, please write and protest. And
we dwindling # of US subscribers ought to ask *Gramophone* to account
for its subscription policy towards us.
Robert
E-mail to G's subscription dept: gramo...@galleon.co.uk
E-mail to G's editor: edi...@gramophone.co.uk
In the event anyone is interested, here is my second letter to
*Gramophone* (which elicited the reply above):
Dear Gramophone:
On November 15, I sent you an e-mail inquiry regarding your
subscription rates for North America, and I have not yet received a
response. Perhaps the message went awry, so I am both attempting to
send my message again, and to add some new inquiries that have occurred
to me.
My initial query was prompted by a letter inviting me to renew my
subscription at the rate of $142.00 a year. This seemed rather high to
me, and I asked if you could please confirm or correct my impression
that this rate was substantially higher than that which I paid last
year (I believe that I paid no more than $120 last year).
Even that figure of $120 seems unusual, though, when I consider
that each issue bears on its cover a price in US dollars of 8.50. If I
multiply that by 13 issues, I calculate a yearly newsstand price of
$110.50. Your letter inviting me to resubscribe suggests that I will
save off the cover price, but that does not seem to be the case at all,
if indeed I paid $120.00. I am also much intrigued to note that your
masthead page lists a "USA Basic Annual Subscription Rate" of $199.95,
which translates into a per issue cost of $15.38. This seems extremely
high, and, though I am not being asked to re-subscribe at that rate,
the $142 yearly subscription cost translates to a per issue cost of
just under $11, quite a bit higher than the current cover price. Does
anyone actually pay that "USA Basic Annual Subscription Rate"?
I am sure you see my point. It is difficult to justify renewing a
subscription when one can save $30 buying the magazine at the
newsstand. I would be grateful if you could explain these pricing
structures to me. At the moment, I fear I have the impression that
*Gramophone* has not been entirely forthcoming with its subscribers in
the United States.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Matthew B. Tepper
even possible?
Says Matthew, who read the mag for thirty years, until 1999.
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/index.html
My main music page --- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/berlioz.html
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
"Compassionate Conservatism?" * "Tight Slacks?" * "Jumbo Shrimp?"
Simon Roberts
: Sloppiness at _Gramophone_!? Why, who ever would have thought such a thing
: even possible?
From the editorial, right at the front of the December issue:
"While the originating companies often still have exclusive access
to original sources... technology has advanced to such a degree that a
good copy of a 78 can invariably produce results that compare very
favorably with the originals."
Simon
Simon Roberts
And from the same effing page:
"Charismatic Bach playing from Kennedy and the strings of the BPO in
performances that is built on live concerts".
I'm almost afraid to venture further into the magazine....
Simon
pga...@my-deja.com
To quote Prof. Higgins, "Why can't the English teach their children how
to speak?"
John Carter
"Raymond Hall" <hallr...@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:pgbV5.146358$e5.8...@newsfeeds.bigpond.com...
> <pga...@my-deja.com> wrote in message news:903903$231$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> > In article <901vhs$ofu$1...@netnews.upenn.edu>,
> > si...@dept.english.upenn.edu (Simon Roberts) wrote:
> > to speak?"
> >
>
>
> Regards,
>
> # Classical Music WebSite Links (mostly RMCR) :
> http://www.users.bigpond.com/hallraylily/tassiedevil2.htm
>
> # Main Page, To Conductors, Jazz Songstresses :
> http://www.users.bigpond.com/hallraylily/index.html
>
> Ray, Sydney
>
> Thair is nothing wrung with Gramophone, It as been a constant sauce of
Ejucation to me.
John Carter Barsoom
>
Alan P Dawes
<kun...@hilltop.ic.edu> wrote:
> I can confirm that the some of the US renewal notice have been
> despatched with the priority mailing rated instead of the airspeed
> rates.
> Therefore the correct rates are:
> 6 issue 27.00GBP - 43.00 US Dollars
> 13 issues 50.00GBP - 79.00US Dollars" (End of reply)
Does this mean that they are printing them in the UK and then transporting
them to the USA? Surely now they are owned by 'Haymarket' which must have
their own printing facilities in the USA for other publications, it would
be cheaper and a lot quicker for them to send each publication
electronically and do the print run for the US and Canada over there.
Previously when they were privately owned this wouldn't have been economic
for just one publication each month but now, as part of a large publishing
house producing lots of publications, it would not only make economic
sense but also would provide a better service to the American customers.
it would also give them the oportunity to tailor the 'American' edition
more to that market.
Alan
--
--. --. --. --. : : --- --- ----------------------------
|_| |_| | _ | | | | |_ | alan....@argonet.co.uk
| | |\ | | | | |\| | |
| | | \ |_| |_| | | |__ | Using an Acorn RiscPC
Edward A. Cowan
> Typos, bad grammar, and failing to grasp the meaning of certain words (the
> usual problems with Gramophone, as revealed in my last couple of
> contributions to this thread) are understandable enough, I suppose. But
> this?
I have this sudden idea of not only cancelling my subscription to
_Gramophone_, but also of returning all further issues to the sender...
--
E.A.C.
Raymond Hall
> In article <901vhs$ofu$1...@netnews.upenn.edu>,
> si...@dept.english.upenn.edu (Simon Roberts) wrote:
Simon Roberts
Gramophone, but I couldn't resist passing along this. One Tess Knighton,
possibly thinking she was writing for the April edition, comments on Bach
releases in this anniversary year on p. 48, including this:
"The numerous reissues ... confirm a growing trend among record companies
to plunder their own archives. And that makes it all the easier to
compare and contrast Schnabel's Well-Tempered Clavier and Klemperer's
cantatas from the 1940s and 1950s with those of Trevor Pinnock or John
Eliot Gardiner."
Typos, bad grammar, and failing to grasp the meaning of certain words (the
usual problems with Gramophone, as revealed in my last couple of
contributions to this thread) are understandable enough, I suppose. But
this?
Simon
paulgo...@my-deja.com
Matthew Silverstein
> I told myself last night that I wouldn't post any more nonsense from
> Gramophone, but I couldn't resist passing along this. One Tess Knighton,
> possibly thinking she was writing for the April edition, comments on Bach
> releases in this anniversary year on p. 48, including this:
Tess Knighton is (or was) the editor of *Early Music* magazine, I believe.
Matty
Figaro1792
magazine/cd/video/book club at a low introductory rate, let the membership
lapse at the end of the year or fulfillment of obligation, and then subscribe
again under an alias at the same low introductory rate. I figured I'd
probably saved $5,000+ this way.. :^)
cheers
figaro
Dan Koren
si...@dept.english.upenn.edu (Simon Roberts) wrote:
>
> From the editorial, right at the front of the December issue:
>
> "While the originating companies often still have exclusive access
> to original sources... technology has advanced to such a degree that a
> good copy of a 78 can invariably produce results that compare very
> favorably with the originals."
>
Or better. And no, it doesn't mean breaking the
laws of nature/physics. As has been pointed out
many times in this ng, master tapes decay over
time just by sitting on the shelf, and metal
matrices oxidize and corrode. On the other
hand, vinyl, shellac and bakelite can last
indefinitely as long as they are not exposed
to heat or to solvents. For 50 year or older
recordings it is quite possible for master
tapes or matrices to be in significantly
worse condition than well preserved
consumer 78s/LPs.
dk