Finding something to write about in the Back Issues column is never terribly taxing. It’s pretty much a case of going into the hi-fi reviewing room in which the bound issues and old copies are kept (having first cleared it of any hi-fi and audio editors who may be cluttering up the place) and grabbing any random magazine that crosses my path. Sure enough, there is always something of interest to compare an issue of yesteryear with today’s model – whether it’s contrasting technology, prices, designs or whatever.
Of course, as I have referred to plenty of times previously in Back Issues past, what is truly bewildering is the speed with which time is passing. If you say “20 years ago” to someone, that sounds like a long time; but if you change that to “2005” it seems (to this 30-year-plus magazine veteran, at any rate) like the mere blink of an eye.
