Does what it says on the tin. Pity. (Computer Shopper)

Member Name: moistoist

Product:	Computer Shopper
Date:	04/06/01 (112 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Trustworthy, long-established, a weighty tome!

Disadvantages: adverts, adverts, oh, did I mention...adverts?

Computer Shopper has been one of the leading lights in computer journalism, mainly because it has been around for a fairly long time in comparison to many of the newer magazines - at least a decade. I've been subscribed for five years now, but I'm slowly getting round to looking elsewhere.
Why the longevity? Well, to start with, the basic principle of the magazine WASN'T 'keep it simple' but 'keep it detailed'! The articles are often in great depth, covering topics as diverse as the Red Book standards to dual processor architectures. I recently read a copy of WebUser magazine, which as an internet magazine I'm sure would appeal to the new user, but the old hands need some more food for thought in their plate of computer journalism. And many other magazines are similarly short on technical depth.

And this is where Computer Shopper scored a huge target readership - with the rise of the internet and the yuppie, it became the 'serious' magazine for all those dot com wannabes.
And, seizing on this market, they realised that they could diversify the magazine...today there are sections on everything from Linux, to Atari, and other platform notes...although the emphasis is very much on the humble PC. For that, they have the 'Labs' - where they rigorously test new gear - and provide a helpful and accurate chart of the results. Each week there is something new, say, 17" monitors, or laptops for £1000, or colour laser printers, for example. It is true to add that a Computer Shopper best buy award is still considered an honour by the manufacturing companies. The opinions are honest, clearly written, often humorous (especially the macbiter column and Zygote), and I have no complaints there.

But, like the computer industry, it has been through a bit of a decline in other areas, and the quality of the magazine has fallen vastly since I started subscribing because of those areas. The biggest ‘area
’ is the vast plethora of adverts and brochures that occupy the majority of the magazine. Take this month's issue as an example...468 pages of it.
The first 240 pages are all adverts, bar a contents page that is somewhat unclear, and also a what’s new section which is useful but again difficult to read clearly (the typeface is rather small and in an Arial style font.)
Most of those 240 pages are brochures and general marketing that comes from companies such as Dabs, Dell, Novatech, Watford, Time, Tiny, Jungle.com, and most of the other major distributors. Thankfully there is no presence of that eternal demon, PC World, but Time is bad enough. You have to flick past half the magazine and search the flimsily printed paper, which is about as good quality as public toilet loo roll, to find the articles! This isn’t a Herculean task, but why can’t this advertising stuff be at the back? There is an advertiser’s index which lists products by category and then gives the numbers of the pages to which they can be found, but since half the brochure’s pages are counted as such but don’t actually have a NUMBER printed on them, finding a page is twice as hard. And also, to compare prices, you have to flick between ten or so brochures, remembering what the last price was. I don’t like shopping with a notepad, I like to be able to do it in my grey matter – I feel like an overeager pensioner making a shopping list for an 8-year-old grandson!

This leads me neatly on to the second major problem. As I started by saying, the magazine’s success evolved from it’s distinct and well defined target readership. But the magazine has tried to expand that by adding the ads from Jungle and Time et al. Why? (Well, money of course…but still…) They know the major part of the readership wouldn’t be seen DEAD buying from Tiny…and if you’re reading articles on the Red Book Standards and
program linux codes in your spare time, are you going to even LOOK at an advert from Jungle.com? It’s like offering a GCSE physics paper to Albert Einstein. The articles, well, they remain aimed at the more enlightened reader. It seems they are willing to fill the space to all-comers.

And consequently, I think sales have fallen a bit…so they’ve alas put the price up. It used to be £1.99 a few years back. It’s now £2.99 (It was £3.99 for a few months but they put it back down). I glean maybe one piece of advice a month from it – and if I bought my best mate (who works for Intel) a pint, I’d get the same info, customised, for £2.20! And a game of pool! And it’s just been announced the price is going to rise again.

So, in conclusion, it does what it says on the tin. It’s now become very much Computer SHOPPER, I think at the expense of good layout and numerous articles: and also the paper quality is low so you’ll tear pages easily. These are not huge issues on their own but I feel they add up to a more disappointing product.
Buy a copy of this magazine if you are about to buy a computer, as it will help you get loads of brochures without having to scour the internet. Buy a copy also if you are thinking about upgrading a peripheral and the particular ‘labs’ is about that peripheral. The content is still good, the layout is hard on the eye and cluttered, but not disastrously so, and if you want ads, you’ll get most of the reputable ones here. DON’T get a subscription out unless you are a very regular peripheral or computer buyer (or a yuppie who wants something to stick on your desk to show the boss you know your stuff!)…there is a far better way to find out computer news and articles in-depth nowadays, and that’s on the internet.

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