Larry.... you "tossed off" a comment at the end of one of your posts up there about magazine reviewers being "reporters for the business": "My opinion to you is put down the stero, TV mags. you read. Because the people who write about TV's and Stereo's are just Reporters for a business."

While it is true that all magazines really very heavily on industry advertising, it would be much more accurate to say that certainly, some reporting is swayed by how impressed the author might be with the wine-and-dine routine poured on by the manufacturer. But generally speaking, the reviews are honest and straightforward and truly represent the experience of the author.

I like to keep in mind that there is actually very little "crappy" equipment, and almost none of the lower-end stuff out there is actually reviewed anyway. You get to a certain price point and you are going to get equipment that is perfectly acceptable, or better, across the board. After that, it is often just a question of personal taste, and a comparison to "reference equipment" or the author's own equipment. It is all subjective, and that is why we should all take everything we read with that in mind. Like a movie review.

I think the one area that continues to promote the notion that industry magazines are just advertising fodder is the "new gear" sections that most mags. The copy tends to be written by the manufacturers, and 90% of the time (if I may be so bold as to select a statistic out of thin air), what you see in these sections is purely press releases and advertising copy. I would like to see a little more effort spent on copy editing some of this stuff, although I do note that there are several magazines that do this, going so far as to insert phrases such as " ... the manufacturer says...". But there is no way the magazines can audition all this equipment, especially before it is actually street-available. Often, a few months down the road, you will see an actual review or article on the an item listed in these sections, once they have a chance to get their hands on it.

There are other magazines that refuse to cover gear that they haven't tested. This is commendable from one perspective; on the other hand, I like to see what's coming, too.

In the long run, a person would have to be a fool to just read a review and run out and buy something... unless they feel that one particular item has exactly what they want. I read 'em from time to time to get an idea of what's available, but I rarely buy something without doing a lot more research. One notable exception was my purchase of an RCAMX100 36? HD-ready TV: I had never seen it, only read about it, and I ordered it as fast as I could. I got lucky: it is an incredible set. Then just yesterday I read that it does NOT have a component input that will accept 480P from a DVD player. Oh, well... ... Mike