On Wed, 2006-01-18 at 17:20 -0500, Steve Adeff wrote: > <rant>and why is it that people always point to Consumer Reports?
Because they publish useful information. But you have to consider their target audience. > I don't > think I've ever read a review in there for any product covered by specialist > magazines that ever agreed with the opinion of the specialist magazines. That's because they write for different audiences. Consumer Reports aims at the average consumer. Someone who just wants to get a reasonable deal, get a good product that won't break the moment they get it home from the store, and that will do what they want it to do. They don't always evaluate specialized brands, they evaluate the brands that most people buy. Yes, they evaluate what is sold at Best Buy, not what you will find at a specialty audio store. If you're an audiophile, it would be silly to look to Consumer Reports for advice on audio gear. You don't need them, you already know what is good by your standards. But for someone like me, who can figure out how to hook up a surround sound system but knows almost nothing else about how it works, CR provides useful information. Similarly, most of us on this list are Linux users, and we would never look to CR for information about computers. They only report on Windows and Mac, as if that is all there is. But you know what? For 99% of the people out there, that *is* all there is. But if you're a member of that other 1%, then you don't look to CR for information to help you choose your next computer. I certainly don't. Their information on peripherals like printers is also useless to me, because it lacks the most crucial piece of information from my point of view: what is the state of Linux support for this device? But their car tests are of great use, and I've saved thousands of dollars by following their advice on how to negotiate for a new car. Take what you want and leave the rest... > My > dad even bought their choice for washer and dryer like 10 years ago, tops in > quality and reliability according to them, they've been nothing but trouble > the minute the 3yr warranty was up. Even CR never claims that their reliability data guarantees anything. Their data is based only on information gathered from people who had those products and who responded to their survey. The most reliable product they rate still has some people who reported problems with it. --Greg _______________________________________________ mythtv-users mailing list [email protected] http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
