Nice article Rod. You nailed it, although I will say I'm one of those who do believe these magazines will not bite the hand that feeds them. I have yet to see a truly objective review of any equipment by the Big 2 in either publication. Perhaps I'm jaded when it comes to mass-produced instruments, but several times I was left scratching my head after reading the reviews on particular instruments I had either owned or used.
Having said that, it is a tragedy what's happening to these rags. I've found in both mags much repetitive info, too many glossy ads, and a on-going reduction in truly good content. Certainly not enough objective reviews. As a result, last year I let my subscriptions to BOTH magazines lapse. I was skimming most of the content looking for new info I could put to use. Some of the science-related articles were good, but I found much of their content to be repetition as well, with maybe 10% - 15% of the article's total volume pertaining to new information on the target subject.
Sad, as I usually prefer to sit down with a book, or magazine over reading on-line. I sit in front of a computer all day, and although I love CN and AMart, often I'll print out threads and /or reviews so I can sit down with them away from the computer. Hopefully they will survive, but they certainly need to re-think the direction they are headed.
Thanks for putting this out there Unk! Great job.
-------------------- Kerry
92mm AP Stowaway (f/7 version, uh...actually f/6.57 )