Thank You For The Music: A Two Year Celebration!
Article by Steven R. Rochlin
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  What could be more retro-cool than Ultraman? And what does this have to do with the Enjoy the Music.com Review Magazine celebrating its two year anniversary? Actually quite a bit. While the website Enjoy the Music.com™ has been around for well over six years now, it was only two years ago the first issue of our Review Magazine found its place on the Internet. Longstanding and well-respected high-end audio personality Dick Olsher has been the editor of such magazines as Stereophile and Fi magazine. Both of us agreed there needed to be a true alternative Internet magazine with top quality reviewers. The work began with Dick coming aboard as Senior Editor and myself as the lowly HTML slave and music lover... and the man with the plan! Large and in charge!

While i will avoid discussing other problems with some magazines (both print and Internet) like excruciatingly long review sample loans (if the product ever was returned!) or politics, the  Enjoy the Music.com Review Magazine would be the way professional reviewing should be done. Real reviewers with real qualification who can truly write well... and no politics! The battle began!

We have fought very hard to establish ourselves as being different from other online ventures. In this cottage industry it is hard to get established no matter how many millions of US dollars you have backing you. Sadly, Fi magazine came and went... remember? We here have also not sold out to e-commerce like the now defunct Audio Café who also made a big splash in being a sponsor of the Consumer Electronic Show (CES). So as you can see, being an Internet e-zine means you are fighting an uphill battle, let alone the usual pains of being a new venture. The very valid old joke goes: How do you make a small fortune in the high-end industry? Start out with a big fortune.

So we here at the Enjoy the Music.com Review Magazine chose the high road with proving ourselves over time. No fast Venture Capitol (VC) funds nor the mass hiring of writers in a month's time. Slow and steady growth is best for virtually all endeavors in my humble opinion... and this is what we did. 

The teacher of time has served us well because we, too, had a few kinks to work out in the beginning months and needed to learn and grow. Today it seems we have succeeded as we have reviews by true industry leaders now online from such luminaries as our very own Dick Olsher, Alvin Gold, Clark Johnsen, Gene Pitts, Rufus Smith, Steven R. Rochlin (that's me) and many others. In fact as i type this there are well over thirty writers aboard and more plan on coming aboard within the next month or so! We are still learning and growing my music loving friends.

In fact we would like to formerly welcome Stereophile writer Gigi Krop to our cast of permanent characters with her second article for us appearing within this edition of the  Enjoy the Music.com Review Magazine. Gigi knows about the high-end as her ex-husband, Steve Zipser (who sadly passed away in December 2000), was in the high-end audio industry for many years. As a music lover and the wife of someone who was deeply involved within this industry, we are proud to have her writings within our cyber pages. We plan on announcing yet another Stereophile writer to our cast of characters in next month's edition. Stay tuned!

Of course all the above would be nothing more that a waste of time if you, our loyal readership, were not here to help us learn and grow. Your many great e-mails and suggestions have been well received. For it is you, the music lovers worldwide, that we feel are our most important asset! Without you, none of this would have been possible. Each of us here at the  Enjoy the Music.com™ Review Magazine humbly thank you for your time and in sharing with others the joys you have found within our pages.

The "battle" has not been won and never will be. In fact this is not a battle my friends. It is a long and winding road. Each and everyday many of us here are working hard to insure you are reading the most current and up-to-date information available anywhere in the world. Due to the fast delivery of information via the Internet and no cost constraints of color printing, we pride ourselves in giving you as much information and detailed photos as we possibly can in whatever we are reporting on. For example, our recent Emap (Stereophile) New York City show report is a great case in point as we currently have more information concerning the show than Stereophile themselves offer! This is indeed just the beginning as we hope you have enjoyed the past two years of our publication. To celebrate this we have our first annual Product of the Year Awards.

These are not just super-fi products, but those our writers have voted on and felt to be the best product within their own right. We refuse to make a Class system so popular elsewhere. Better still, we have reviewed each product (no ghost recommendations from us) and you can easily click a link to read the complete review! This is once again something we are very proud in having the ability in offering to you, our loyal readership.

In closing, i would once again like to personally thank you for your accolades and support. It is your wonderful comments and letters that help keep many of us here at the  Enjoy the Music.com™ Review Magazine going during long nights of critical listening for reviews and HTML coding that make viewing this website possible. Of course in the end what really matters is that you...

Enjoy the music ("Thank You For Being a Friend" by Andrew Gold right now),

Steven R. Rochlin

"Thank you for being a friend
Traveled down a road and back again
Your heart is true, you're a pal and a confidant

I'm not ashamed to say 
I hope it always will stay this way 
My hat is off, won't you stand up and take a bow

And if you threw a party 
Invited everyone you knew
You would see the biggest gift would be from me
And the card attached would say 

Thank you for being a friend

If it's a car you lack
I'd surely buy you a Cadillac
Whatever you need any time of the day or night

I'm not ashamed to say 
I hope it always will stay this way
My hat is off, won't you stand up and take a bow

And when we both get older
With walking canes and hair of gray 
Have no fear even though it's hard to hear
I will stand real close and say

Thank you for being a friend

And when we die
And float away 
Into the night
The milky way 
You'll hear me call
As we ascend 
I'll say your name
Then once again 

Thank you for being a friend"