do review sites get to keep the hardware

dogz

i was just wondering do review sites get to keep any of the hardware they review, if they do i was thinking of starting an irish review site to get some freebies:D , and also if you get to keep the herdware would any one else be interested doing some reviews to get freebies, erm i mean write good hardware reviews

Gerry

Normally, no. If you think about it, getting to keep the stuff implies that the company expects a favourable review from you in return. If you keep shamelessly promoting products with your reviews, people won't read your site, and you won't even get hardware to review, never mind keep.

dogz

so some companies let u keep the stuff ut most dont is that what ur sayin

Rew

Some companies give huge discounts on buying stuff. Creative give a 50% discount to press.

po0k

it's just a pity their software and drivers are such unwieldy bloatware

Gerry

Originally posted by dogz
so some companies let u keep the stuff ut most dont is that what ur sayin

If they do let you keep the stuff, they'll be expecting 5 starship enterprises out of 5 in your review. If you want cheap creative labs gear, track down someone who works there.

Rew

As far as I know the press/VIP discount is better then the staff dicount (thats a direct comparison of 2 products that were got the 2 diferant ways). You keep it no matter what the review coz you bought it...

jmcc

Originally posted by dogz
i was just wondering do review sites get to keep any of the hardware they review, if they do i was thinking of starting an irish review site to get some freebies:D , and also if you get to keep the herdware would any one else be interested doing some reviews to get freebies, erm i mean write good hardware reviews

Unless things have changed drastically in the last few years, the placement business is still running. It really depends on the company pushing the gear. The whole equipment review business is dodgy and most companies realise that the technology journalists will just rehash what is in the press release/blurb anyway. The bottom line is that the company sells more units.

In order for a company to be interested in submitting its gear for review, you would have to have serious amounts of traffic and market influence. The primary target market for the kind of hardware that you'd probably want to review is the general computer buying public. That means that you would be competing with PC Live magazine (only Irish paper general computers magazine at the moment).

On the web side of things, you would be competing with Siliconrepublic.com and ENN. I would regard Siliconrepublic as being more competition in this as they have seasoned journos who generally push the same review via a number of printed magazines/newspapers and would be a more viable target for placement. ENN is just a press release recycling site and is not rated that highly as a market influencer when it comes to hardware. The big problem with your proposed site is that it has no paper/real media connections - develop some.

Also in the real world, only the "technology journalists" pay for review hardware. The upside for the companies is that the "technology journalists" don't know how the system works.

Regards...jmcc

Rew

Originally posted by jmcc

On the web side of things, you would be competing with Siliconrepublic.com and ENN. I would regard Siliconrepublic as being more competition in this as they have seasoned journos who generally push the same review via a number of printed magazines/newspapers and would be a more viable target for placement. ENN is just a press release recycling site and is not rated that highly as a market influencer when it comes to hardware. The big problem with your proposed site is that it has no paper/real media connections - develop some.

Silicon Republic in general arn't great (suppouse thats what happens when your published by the Indo). Their general stories are ok but no compeeling reading. When it comes to hardware reviews they are awfull. They sound like tecnhophobes who have been told to talk somthing up...

Have to agree with you about ENN they will basicly publish the press releas you give them but other bigger sites will pick you up off the back of that which is handy.

jmcc

Originally posted by Rew
Silicon Republic in general arn't great (suppouse thats what happens when your published by the Indo). Their general stories are ok but no compeeling reading. When it comes to hardware reviews they are awfull. They sound like tecnhophobes who have been told to talk somthing up...

That's why they are more serious competition. They have paper connections to a broad audience. This is something that a web based review site does not have unless it has syndication deals and there is hardly any real outlet in Ireland for such stuff. And a lot of the people who are stringers for Siliconrepublic already are in that freelance market. The good thing was when the dot.com bubble burst, a lot of the bottom feeders (technologically ignorant types with no special insight on technology that called themseleves "technology journalists") disappeared. There is a bit of a niche there that could be exploited but it would have to be done properly. High quality reporting and reviewing is tough and also has a narrow appeal.

Have to agree with you about ENN they will basicly publish the press releas you give them but other bigger sites will pick you up off the back of that which is handy.

Yeah but a lot of the bigger sites get the same press release and rehash it. For an editor (a real editor) there has to be one compelling reason for running a story that goes beyond the usual content. Equipment reviews rarely make it past the spike and are generally used as filler because they are so cheap - give some freelance the gear and you don't have to pay for the copy. However the freelance has to be able to write convincing copy. This is the big danger about setting up a review site - the people writing for it have to be able to write.

Regards...jmcc