A change of pace…
With the December 2013 issue, Hifi Zine marked the end of 2013 and the publication of 15 issues! I am proud of what we’ve done here, and I think everyone who has authored an article here on Hifi Zine can also be justifiably proud of their work. I do believe that articles on Hifi Zine are in-depth, properly researched, well-written, and accurate. And it’s my intent, as publisher, to keep doing that. While perhaps not everything has been as absolutely perfect or as well-edited as it could have been, bear in mind that this has been an unfunded volunteer effort, and so I really do think that the results have been outstanding.
Since we started Hifi Zine, we’ve billed ourselves as “independent.” There have been no funds incoming, whether from advertising or any other source. All costs like server fees have been out of my pocket, as has been all the time to develop the ‘Zine’s website “theme” and its associated trappings. Writers have written and published here because they wanted to, not because they had any ulterior motive. I really like that. It’s been fun, a lot of work, and a bit hair-raising at times.
After 15 issues, though, the effort of marshalling and refining all the content to produce a regular issue – even if only quarterly – under these conditions has taken its toll. Everyone has life commitments that get in the way, and despite the enthusiasm of the writers, wrapping up an article for Hifi Zine doesn’t always get top priority! And, in this day and age, manufacturers often seem to expect reviews to be published almost as soon as the writer has finished their evaluation.
Moving into 2014, we’re going to try something different, for this year at least. We’re going to try releasing articles when they’re ready. That will mean that articles don’t have to be held up waiting for the next quarterly publication slot. Or even the one after that (as has happened). We will continue to maintain our emphasis on in-depth articles and high-quality reviewing, and in particular, in having articles peer-reviewed and edited. The main reason for the “‘publish when ready” schedule is to spread out the workload for the editors, but it will also enable much faster turnaround for review publication.
At the same time, I’d like to try and re-invigorate our interest in having articles submitted by casual contributors. One of my reasons for starting Hifi Zine was to provide something that is more formal and structured than the typical blog or online forum, while still providing a way for the voice of the “ordinary audiophile” to be heard.
As you may have noticed, one of the changes in the latest update to the Hifi Zine website is the presence of advertising. We resisted it for a long time, and it is a bit of a vexed question. But, I think that Hifi Zine will be better off with some funding – to pay for infrastructure, for site development, and for miscellaneous expenses. Our regular writers, for example, are located on three continents around the globe and “gee wouldn’t it be great” if we could ship (even small) items between us for comparison. I hope you don’t find it unnecessarily obtrusive, and we will be monitoring and revising this during the course of this year.
With all the best wishes to you for your audio endeavours in 2014
John Reekie, Publisher and Technical Editor
Image credit
The leader image for this article is from the blog Da Vinci’s Kinematic Mechanisms.
