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Is Stereophile seeking a new reader demographic?

Does anyone else find this as odd, or amusing, as I do? I just received a subscription solicitation for Stereophile magazine offering me a "free MP3 auto adapter" if I subscribe for a year. The promotion includes a picture of a cheap 12-volt adapter intended to provide power to an MP3 player.

Two thoughts came immediately to my mind -- first, if I can afford any of the equipment being promoted (and "promoted" is, in my view, a polite description) in Stereophile, why would a $10.00 adapter be an incentive to subscribe? And second, Stereophile manages, in each and every issue, to say something nasty about compressed audio files. Why would they be pushing an MP3 adapter as a subscription premium?

Methinks the marketing and editorial departments ought to be talking to each other a bit more.
rdavwhitaker
hifihvn
943 posts
 
They're wondering if these devices(Ipod/Mp3) are a cause for the rise in hearing loss in teens. Talk about helping put yourself out of business.
hifihvn
943 posts
 
Let me add, I still do read their magazine.
tmsorosk
1,013 posts
 
Tomcy ...You said that Stereophile hardly mentioned server systems , witch Stereophile are you reading ? The Stereophile I read has many reviews and articles for servers , streamers , U.S.B. dac's ,ect , too many as far as Im concerned .
trelja
3,226 posts
 
Of late, there has most definitely been a concerted effort to increase subscription rates. I wonder what the impetus is behind this. Is it the there someone new at the magazine who is redoubling their work in seeing business, is the parent company pumping some money into marketing, are things good or bad there...
roundmoundofsound
74 posts
 
Stop and think...the audiophile market is not growing at the rate retailers/manufacturer's want or need. So what better way to introduce newbies to audiophile-land than this type of offer. Hopefully as the person reads and hopefully follows what Stereophile preaches about better sound quality he/she will see the light. How many of us started out with those crappy 45 singles and 8 tracks? Could anything be worse than those?

I don't believe Stereophile is making this offer hoping to snag audiophiles. Personally I think it is a great idea!
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