Is Stereophile seeking a new reader demographic?

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 .

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...

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!

The responses to my original post have been interesting -- especially those suggesting that Stereophile really is looking for a new demographic, and is seeking to reach out to younger subscribers. There are a couple of reasons, though, why I don't think that is the case --

1. I was sent the offer, and I don't fit the demographic at all. I fit the demographic for Stereophile's current subscribers -- if that was supposed to be a targeted offer, they definitely missed the target.

2. The subscription price was $74.00 and some change. I don't think that subscription price is going to appeal to many folks who find a cheap 12-volt adapter for MP3s an incentive.

My personal guess is that Foster_9 has got the right answer -- Stereophile's subscription marketer "does its own thing" and doesn't have a good feel for the magazine's target market. But I grant that the other answers offered here are all plausible. I do agree with those that say Stereophile probably needs to reach a broader market to survive, long term, but IMHO, I don't think that can happen unless they both (1) tone down the condescension towards those who listen to music over media like iTunes and can only afford quality gear if it is also high value, and (2) do more to establish some objectivity and distance from the high-end manufacturers. Just one person's opinion, though -- no claim to Truth with a capital "T".

Stereophile should be concerned about keeping their current demographic.