Finally, Consumer Reports arrives online - a commercial-free zone. Not commerce-free, of course, and so far, not free of charge to Internet Explorer users in the time-honored fashion of other semi-toll sites. It adds up to the textbook case we've been waiting for. If the Web is the new shopping mall, effecting the final reclassification of citizens into consumers, surely there's spare change enough to support a useful buyer's map.
But have the reasons for Consumer Reports' pregnant publishing pause - a calculated, thumb-twiddling wait for the big cash and bigger crowds - really evaporated? And has Consumer Reports really created the online product it was hoping for, one that rates a pinholed red dot? Well, it's inarguable that enough people are out there, each one a value shopper. And at US$2.95 a month, the Sony VAIO-heads can't exactly claim the price point is over their limit. But once the first wave buys in, the early-adopter reports that leak out may not be unanimously elated.
Sure, all the articles are there, but instant availability of archived reviews is also a curse of sorts. In particular, the sections on cyberspace, computers, and peripherals suffer from the publishing lag, replete with reviews of AOL - still quoting hourly rates - and recommendations to try CompuServe conspicuously carbon-dating the content. There's certainly more to the world than items commonly drawn on Dilbert's desk, but Consumer Reports seems to have forgotten that this isn't the world. A thorough, current, and independent guide to digital shopping would be an anomaly that would quickly find a receptive crowd, but it's not to be, just yet. In the meantime, it's not as if the site isn't worth trying and buying - at least for one month. Flu remedies, hotel discount tips, mail-order music club strategies, they're all there. But at present, Consumer Reports is still only what its name suggests: reports for consumers. Whether it'll ever be the ultimate consumer guide it could be is up for debate, one whose eventuality will certainly be measured in $2.95 increments.
This article appeared originally in HotWired.
