OK - This is really weird.
I got a mass-mailed thingy and it appears that Listener magazine is now being run by a publication company with Art still on as Editor.
A foreseeable risk of such a move is that the publication company may not 'get it'. The letter I received, encouraging me to subscribe and offering a free issue with an invoice to follow, was obviously not written by the Listener staff that I know. It read like I would expect an advertisement for The Senseless Sound to read - "Don't spend thousands on hi-fi kit! We've got a magazine chock full of sub $1,000 bits that blow away the $10,000 bits." I'm all for lower-cost, musical gear, but gezzz...
Hopefully the publication will not get this ring to it.
I guess the move will give Art some free time (a good thing), increase circulation (an OK thing), and put more dosh in his pocket (God Bless Art). And if the writing and content don't change, all will be well.
BTW, I wonder how those magicians got my mailing address??
- GregB
Freedom is not in finding the Holy Grail but in stopping the search for it
Posted on: 29 September 2000 by Arthur Bye
Greg:
Art Dudley wrote an article in Listener a few months back about selling Listener. If I remember right it was more or less necessitated to stay in business. He promised that things will stay the same except that the new company will be trying to increase subscription sales(hence your solicitation.)
So far things seem the same, although he did add Michael Fremer(Stereophile) as a contributor. Mikey's a little neurotic about analog and pretty opinionated, but he does seem to know a lot. Unfortunately he's got the Stereophile baggage to live with. Maybe the Listener staff even get him joking a little.
If I start seeing any graphs or charts we'll know they've sold out.
Only time will tell
Arthur Bye
Posted on: 29 September 2000 by Greg Beatty
Thanx for your reply.
I've been checking out Listener on the newstand for the past few issues but not bought. I'm content to listen to music on my system and if I decide to upgrade bits or get real stands, I know where to ask 
I have most of the early issues and the rag *is* great!
OTOH, Art has gone all soft and Tubey on us, so I dunno...
- GregB
Freedom is not in finding the Holy Grail but in stopping the search for it
Posted on: 30 September 2000 by Rico
quote:
Unfortunately he's got the Stereophile baggage to live with. Maybe the Listener staff even get him joking a little.
Hey, you get additional milage with Mikey, as he also comes with the absolute sound and The Tracking Angle baggage for the same price! Seriously though, this guy does have ears - he 'got' the CD2 when it came out, citing it as the first CD player he'd heard that played music. And his music reviews are excellent. hey he even likes Saabs 
Speaking of The Tracking Angle... any of you stateside dudes know if this is still around?
Rico - musichead
Posted on: 02 October 2000 by Vik
I find Art endearing for his terrific sense of humour.
That nothwithstanding, I feel he is a good reviewer, and not just because he likes Naim.
As for Mike Fremer - yes Rico I remember - he managed in the CD2 review to very succintly define what the Naim sound is all about.
Time will tell if this is a marriage made in heaven but I'm not worried at this time.
Vik.
Posted on: 19 October 2000 by Rob Doorack
quote:
If I remember right it was more or less necessitated to stay in business.
That's not at all what Art said. He wrote that selling Listener enabled him to reduce his workload from doing every job necessary to producing the magazine (save for advertising sales) to just editing it and writing some articles. For five years Listener had been more or less a one man operation; in the early days Art even pasted the address labels on each subscription copy himself. The sale seems to have been a good deal for both the readers and the Dudleys. Art's happier now, he has more time for his wife and daughter, he recently took his first vacation since starting the magazine, and since Listener has sucessfully transitioned from quarterly to bi-monthly the readers are getting more of it. The only negative is that my deadlines are completely inflexible now!
quote:
IS it available in the UK? Do they have a website?
"Listener' is available in Tower Records and Books worldwide I believe, as well as most "Borders" and "Barnes & Noble" stores. Currently the closest thing to a Listener website can be found at the newsstand section of Audioweb:
http://www.audioweb.com/Newsstand/listener/default.asp
That site contains a few sample articles and a subscription order form. A one year, six issue subscription outside the US and Canada costs US$40. Also, there are a number of "Listener" reviews available on various manufacturers' sites around the Internet however. For example my review of the Mana Reference Table can be found on page 3 in the reviews section of Mana's site.
Posted on: 19 October 2000 by Greg Beatty
...for the reply.
Long Live Listener and all my best for the Dudleys.
- GregB
Freedom is not in finding the Holy Grail but in stopping the search for it
Posted on: 19 October 2000 by Greg Beatty
"Right off a Unitarian Church sign board."
I dunno - maybe. I don't read sign boards at churches and I'm not Unitarian.
I came up with it after reading TF's story about downgrading. It occurred to me that he *is* still after the grail, he is just pursuing it by adding levels of Mana rather than by using more expensive black boxes.
Apologies if my line offended you, but I'm keeping it for now.
- GregB
Freedom is not in finding the Holy Grail but in stopping the search for it
