Well, there is the publication of the Boston Audiophile Society. Does an audio club count? If so, that’s okay, though I don’t believe they have had the same editor since 1989 (the year we started). And there is The Sensible Sound that’s been a stalwart journal since the early days, but if I’m not mistaken they took some time off in the 1980s seeking greener pastures. TAS has seen a major shakeup and new ownership with MultiMedia. Stereophile has gone from J. Gordon Holt, to Larry Archibald, to corporate ownership and being lumped in with such non-audio publications as Maxim and Motortrend. And there has been the complete demise of large readership magazines like Audio, High Fidelity and Stereo Review. They were the standard bearers which carried the industry on their backs through the 60s, 70s and 80s. On the opposite end of the print spectrum you have the short lived upstarts that showed so much promise before wilting in the harsh landscape of dwindling readership, increased expenses and the internet. In this group I would place Listener, Fi, Audioand High Performance Review. Plus any number of regional as well as national attempts to publish audio reviews on a regular basis. Bound for Sound has outlived them all…

The high mortality rate for audio publications stems primarily from two things: The bottom line, and the fact that it isn’t easy to write audio reviews. The bottom line is a pretty easy thing to understand. It takes money to circulate the written word. Paper, ever increasing postage, layout, printing, a web page and an office to keep all of the above organized are expensive for print. Hard copy magazines also need to maintain a web page archiving reviews and essays in much the same way as an e-zine does; though e-zines don’t need to maintain a print publication to maintain their distribution. And when income is primarily based on advertising revenue, as it is with most publishers, money has to be spent on creating the infrastructure necessary to acquire advertisers, attend to their needs and answer their questions – all things that have nothing to do with audio, while costing money nonetheless. Our decision back in 1989 not to take advertising was a wise one from the point of financial stability and editorial freedom.

Still, it’s expensive to print and distribute audio text of any kind. That’s why so many magazines have sprouted up in the past touting high expectations and hope, only to see them scurry off into oblivion amongst an avalanche of debt and excuses. If the high-end publishing industry is bankrupt of anything, it’s foresight and realistic expectations.

When we started Bound for Sound our goals were modest and we wanted to keep costs down. It’s the reason for our present format and our undying dedication to simplicity. I would love to have a magazine in digest form like TAS was twenty-five years ago. It would be a dream come true. But the added expense would require advertising and selling out to the opinion skewing forces of advertisers and the bottom line. As it is, and as it has been for twenty years, a slow month at BFS revenue wise only means trying harder the next month. Of course, we want to turn a profit, and for most years we have, but money alone has never been the determining factor on whether we print or not. For that reason, I can guarantee that there will always be another issue of BFS right around the corner. (Even if it seem a little slow in coming out.)

My second point above was that writing audio reviews consistently and competently isn’t easy. If I only had a nickel for every time someone has approached me wanting to review for Bound for Sound. Usually, the request arises not out of a love of music or agreement with our ideals, but in expectation of the wonderful perks associated with being a Big Time Audio Reviewer. For example, Corey Greenburg sent me a letter wanting to write wire reviews for BFS before he latched onto a gig at Stereophile and stardom. From his letter alone, I had questions. In twenty years, I’ve only accepted eight "applications" to write for BFS, of them, three have been up to the task of regularly contributing quality material on a regular basis; and they are with me now. It takes a special kind of person to audition and then competently write about a piece of audio componentry on a regular basis, especially for the meager dollars I pay. Few people realize how challenging and grueling it can be to write three to five pages of quality text… until they try it.

Being a writer is something that you first have to love, have a knack for and then be willing to keep at it. Talented writers are constantly getting a start as reviewers in this industry, but when they find out how difficult the task truly is, they usually head off for something easier. Sticking to the job of audio evaluation requires equal parts of dedication, curiosity and artistry – a rare mix.

I can say that I truly appreciate our BFS readers; you are our greatest asset. I get your e-mails, letters and phone calls. Each contact makes this job more rewarding and human. I’ve told my wife many times that no matter where we traveled in the Country (including Hawaii), BFS readers have offered to have us stay at their homes and spend some time. As a tribute to you, a number of months back we made our offer to have readers come to Kewanee to visit and listen to the Big Rig. Some of you have taken us up on the offer, and the offer is still open. You will always be welcome. Still, I think that even if I had no readers, no writers and no one to mail BFS to, I’d still write it… Here’s to another twenty.

No doubt about it, these smaller shows work. The remaining question is; when and where? I believe that we can fit in one, maybe two, more regional audio shows during the years; perhaps, one in the South and one in the East. Eventually, I hope that everyone can participate…

It’s been a source of confusion in the past, and I think a word here can remedy the situation. On the front page of every Bound for Sound is an issue number and a publication date. For this issue the number is 193. The publication date is June 2009. Even though I would like to, we do not come out on a monthly basis. Hence, you will not see covers with publication dates that closely correspond with consecutive months. So, don’t be surprised when one issue says "March" and the next one says, "May." It means nothing other than one issue came out in March and the other in May. It doesn’t mean that you missed the April issue. On the other hand, the issue number means everything. We number our issues consecutively. Our last issue was #192 and this one is #193. If you are missing #191, you have missed an issue. It’s as simple as that.

And while on the subject, there is a way for you to know the issue number of the last issue of your subscription. Simply look at the label on the outside of your envelope. Just to the right of your name is a number. That number corresponds to the number of the last issue of your present subscription. So, if it says 193, this would be your last issue.

If, however, you don’t pay attention to the expiration number on the envelope, we always send two notices of expiration before you run out. After all, we want you to stay current …

Our cable and broadband has been furnished by Insight Digital for a number of years. That has changed recently, and with the change the purchaser of Insight’s consumer base (Comcast) has changed our e-mail address. The new e-mail address is bfshifi@comcast.net.