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Musti · Apr 13, 2003, 05:05 AM

Anyone notice the increasingly sloppy reviews and mice ratings in MacWorld? One product getting 2 1/2 mice on one page and 4 1/2 on another, in the same issue. Another getting 2 mice and 4 mice. Careless, based-on-two-machines reviews of very important software (like, "Virtual PC 6: No significant speed improvements."). Sloppy and slow updating web page, for an example:

http://www.macworld.com/reviews/minifinders/
(the lorem ipsum... garble text that was default with GoLive)

Doesn't it suck when you have two decent Mac magazines, and the best one is plainly sloppy and solely dependent on one guy (Mr.Breen). Not to mention having 35% readable content and 65% advertisements but I guess we all have to live with that in this state of the economy.

Experts? I don't think so anymore.

Cipher13 · Apr 13, 2003, 05:25 AM

Were they ever experts?

I don't buy it... heh. Macworld Australia is like 95% ads, and 5% crap.

fireside · Apr 13, 2003, 05:45 AM

macaddict > macworld

Kenneth · Apr 13, 2003, 05:52 AM

Originally posted by fireside:
macaddict > macworld

You forgot MacHome... right? The only magazine I subscribe is WIRED. MacWorld and MacAddict are no longer in my mail box.

kOnshii · Apr 13, 2003, 05:56 AM

Yeah MacWorld AUS is crap, yet that is the only Mac Mag we have, so i guess thats why i buy it.

You get the occasionaly good 2 or 3 pages that are worth it.

....Sometimes.

Mark E · Apr 13, 2003, 06:35 AM

Originally posted by Musti:
Anyone notice the increasingly sloppy reviews and mice ratings in MacWorld? One product getting 2 1/2 mice on one page and 4 1/2 on another, in the same issue. Another getting 2 mice and 4 mice.

do you mean the same product getting different ratings? i didn't think they reviewed things more than once. but even if they did, well, hey, a review is an opinion, they're entitled to say what they think.

of course if i'm about to make a major purchase i don't just look at the review from one source, i look at several, ask for opinions on message boards etc. to get a real idea of how good the product is. always do your research!

-Mark

Oswald Defense Lawyer · Apr 13, 2003, 01:22 PM

MacUser (UK) is probably the best Mac mag around, and the website - http://macuser.pcpro.co.uk/ - isn't too bad

beb · Apr 13, 2003, 01:32 PM

I think Macnn, Macminute, Maccentral and Macsurfer do a lot better at mac reporting than the printed mags.

I got Macworld from 89 to 93 and then it's gone really downhill from there.

Zimmerman · Apr 13, 2003, 01:34 PM

The drop in quality follows the cut in budgets. Niche magazines tend to go into the shitter in down times. I really liked MacAddict and MacWorld throughout the late 90's, but canceled in 2002 because they just got really retarded. I'd still like a subscription to MacAddict, if for nothing more than the CD's.

CheesePuff · Apr 13, 2003, 01:39 PM

MacDesign is somewhat decent, except for the editor in cheif on the letters page.

subego · Apr 13, 2003, 04:34 PM

MacAddict lets through some of the worst sentence construction I've ever read in a professional magazine, excepting perhaps other magazines from the same publisher.

Don't get me wrong, MacWorld pisses me off too, but proper written english does seem to be a priority with them...

And apparently with me

P.S.: Oh yeah, I forgot. Who could live without...

MacDirectory!

Which I like to call MacSmut.

[edit: added p.s.]

tikki · Apr 13, 2003, 06:23 PM

Macworld & MacAddict are outdated with the internet. I still subscribe to both, because I can't get online when I am at the gym working out

btw, that new columnist on the backpage of Macworld tries too hard to be our John C. Dvorak. 2 controversial columns in his first two months.

MacGorilla · Apr 13, 2003, 06:38 PM

I got Mac world from 1997-2001. It just got to be so bad. MacAddict is okay. Its a s olid mag. I have sunscribed to it since 1997.

I just started looking at MacHome. Not bad, so far.

voodoo · Apr 13, 2003, 07:02 PM

Originally posted by Oswald Defense Lawyer:
MacUser (UK) is probably the best Mac mag around, and the website - http://macuser.pcpro.co.uk/ - isn't too bad

Why not just http://www.macuser.co.uk/ ?

Simpler, more logical and best of all it is exactly the same site.

CheesePuff · Apr 13, 2003, 07:16 PM

I have issues of MacWorld and MacUser (US version) dating back to 1988-ish. They were interesting back then. And I have the issue of MacWorld were the two converged.

tooki · Apr 14, 2003, 07:07 PM

Yup. They were great before they merged. (Competition kept them on their toes.) They went straight downhill from their. That they then dare to later call themselves "The Mac Authority" is a plain insult to the reader. Their reviews are, in my opinion, little more than regurgitated press releases, at least for any product whose manufacturer advertises in Macworld.

That said, IMHO, the best Mac magazine bar none is MACup (from Germany). Of course, it is in German, so it has a limited audience

. It, too, is the result of several magazine mergers (MacEasy + MacMagazin = MacMagazin; then MacMagazin + MACup = MACup), but it has kept some of the flavor of each mag, and hasn't diminished in quality.

MacFormat (available in many languages in many countries) is also pretty good. (The original MacMagazin was the German version of MacFormat.)

Surely, the U.S. Mac publication market is in desperate need of some new blood. The incumbents have dropped the ball, and while online sites like MacNN and MacMinute are great for up-to-the-minute news, and sites like Macintouch and Xlr8yourmac pick up where Apple's forum censors stop, we now have no source of reliable product reviews performed by knowledgeable writers. (I was going to start writing reviews for MacNN, but we couldn't agree on some contract issues.)

tooki

TheIceMan · Apr 15, 2003, 03:30 AM

Originally posted by beb:
I think Macnn, Macminute, Maccentral and Macsurfer do a lot better at mac reporting than the printed mags...

Agreed. MacWorld and MacAddicts calling themselves "experts" is a JOKE! Since "switching" over to the Mac, I have learned more from visiting MacNN forums than all the Mac magazines combined! That's no lie! By the time these magazines "print" something, I had alreaady learned about it online. For the most part, there are many knowledgeable people who are members here.

CharlesS · Apr 15, 2003, 04:14 AM

I miss MacUser.

mixin visuals · Apr 15, 2003, 07:16 AM

Originally posted by Musti:
Anyone notice the increasingly sloppy reviews and mice ratings in MacWorld? One product getting 2 1/2 mice on one page and 4 1/2 on another, in the same issue. Another getting 2 mice and 4 mice. Careless, based-on-two-machines reviews of very important software (like, "Virtual PC 6: No significant speed improvements."). Sloppy and slow updating web page, for an example:

http://www.macworld.com/reviews/minifinders/
(the lorem ipsum... garble text that was default with GoLive)

Doesn't it suck when you have two decent Mac magazines, and the best one is plainly sloppy and solely dependent on one guy (Mr.Breen). Not to mention having 35% readable content and 65% advertisements but I guess we all have to live with that in this state of the economy.

Experts? I don't think so anymore.

they must be too busy trying to figure out if they should raise the news stand prices up to the price of an iBook. at $9 bucks a pop is just stupid

::maroma:: · Apr 15, 2003, 07:37 AM

I agree with the general consensus of the group. I've been a MacWorld subscriber for years. And for a long while now I find myself skimming through, looking for little gems. Sometimes I find something useful to me, but mostly it just doesn't pertain to me. I will admit though, I've stumbled on a few things that I learned for the first time there. But those are usually not in reviews, but the more in depth articles.

So, who's up for starting the next big Mac Publication? I agree that the Mac Publication market is in serious need of some new blood. I, for one, would love to do something like that, but I just wouldn't know where to begin.

Mohammed Al-Sabah · Apr 15, 2003, 08:57 AM

i used to buy mags every month .. not anymore tho things that are published nowadays are always late .. u get the same info from the net way ahead of the mags so why buy late news? yeah i sometimes do out and buy a couple thats only if have noting to do and wanna see some new adds and new products

thats all hehe

tikki · Apr 15, 2003, 09:59 AM

You know whats a real frigging ripoff? $8 for those magazines because of that stupid CD that I NEVER use.

Cipher13 · Apr 15, 2003, 10:02 AM

Originally posted by ::maroma:::
I agree with the general consensus of the group. I've been a MacWorld subscriber for years. And for a long while now I find myself skimming through, looking for little gems. Sometimes I find something useful to me, but mostly it just doesn't pertain to me. I will admit though, I've stumbled on a few things that I learned for the first time there. But those are usually not in reviews, but the more in depth articles.

So, who's up for starting the next big Mac Publication? I agree that the Mac Publication market is in serious need of some new blood. I, for one, would love to do something like that, but I just wouldn't know where to begin.

Yeah, there SO needs to be a pro Mac magazine.

None of this bullshit like "tip of the month: in Microsoft Word, the bit long button at the bottom of your keyboard inserts a space between characters or words! (see illustration for details)".