Oh no! DPReview, one of my favourite online photography websites, is to close down on 10th April. It has been around for 25 years, and has a huge and very useful archive of photo reviews and articles. It still has clout and authority. But its ultimate owner, Amazon, has decided that, as part of its current slimming-down process - eliminating unprofitable parts of its empire - DPReview has to go. The decision was announced only a couple of hours ago. Already there have been howls of sadness and protest from website readers (and watchers of the YouTube channel). Everyone hopes that somehow the archive will be preserved, and not wiped. Or that Amazon will relent and sell it to someone else, rather than just shut it down. One or two commentators are however resigned to DPReview's disappearance, remembering other websites that were institutions but fell victim to unsentimental business economics.
I have been a follower of DPReview since discovering it in the early 2000s. Certainly, it guided me in the purchase of my Canon G6 in 2005, and every subsequent camera except my current favourite, my Leica X Vario. (DPReview didn't review that one; its launch price made it very niche) It was a reliable place to find a thorough and illuminating examination of a particular camera, and it was famous for its comprehensive tests, and carefully expressed opinions. I found DPReview's conclusions about a product realistic and balanced. This is not to say that there weren't many other good camera review websites - indeed there were - but DPReview was the complete one-stop shop, with buying guides galore, constantly updated, and a finger on all the latest industry news.
One commentator wondered how the camera manufacturers would react. DPReview was one of their main showcases, and their sales may now suffer. And yet a DPReview 'rescued' and 'reinvented' by (say) a syndicate of camera and equipment manufacturers would lose its editorial freedom and integrity.
Well, we'll soon know what its fate will be. I personally believe that Amazon will kill it off without the slightest compunction or regret.
Ah, the digital age! So much for once it is on the internet it is there for ever. Trillion dollar companies seem to loose interest in products / services without having much understanding of what they have or the people who use them.
ReplyDeleteThe once brave new world is crumbling.
I certainly wouldn't regard anything on the Internet as 'forever'. This includes 'cloud storage', which people seem to think would only be threatened if civilisation itself came to an end. But any server owner can pull the plug at any time. Or be made to by an oppressive government. Physical media, with items of interest copied onto it, is a necessary backup to whatever 'the cloud' offers, but then every ten years or so you need to shift everything to the latest type of physical storage.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, websites will come and go. Apparently Amazon acquired DPReview as long ago as 2007, but never found a way of monetising it to produce the kind of profits it was looking for. So now, in tougher times, it's being axed.
Alternatives remain. As daily reads, I think the Amamteur Photographer website is excellent. Also - as I'm firmly in the Leica camp now - Macfilos. I'm also a long-time dipper into TechRadar, which reviews (and has news about) much more than just cameras.
Lucy