Product-Review Secrets: the Revenge

People ask some revealing questions when they hear that I review music technology gear.

• "Do you get to keep it?"
• "Don't advertisers get better reviews?"
• "Do manufacturers ever tuck a $100 bill in the box to influence you?"

Canadian music journalist Kyle David Paul wondered about these issues and more after reading my article "The Secret Life of a Product Reviewer" and sent me some inspired follow-up questions. You can read my answers in his column for Inside Pulse, Let's Rave On: Testing Products with David Battino, or on his blog.

Kyle relates some of my review philosophies to his own experience grappling with a high-tech audio product, concluding that publishing his thoughts on it would be "slander," because he hadn't invested the time I do. But I don't agree. What better time to have the beginner's mind I mentioned than during the first few hours with a product? That's part of the reason Harmony Central's community reviews work. (They're actually called Pro Reviews, oddly.) A recent study claimed that Americans mess with new gear for only 20 minutes on average before giving up. And after all, Kyle did note that his impressions of the product were his initial ones.

(Magnifying glass image from Open Clip Art.org.)