Shares Magazine was totally revamped this week.

Out has gone the tabloidy style, and aticles on small caps, in has come long articles by market 'experts' and large cap reporting.

The Prospector has been axed.

I am disppointed with the changes, and wondered if anyone else here subscribed or bought Shares, and had a view they wold like to share?

DID NOT LIKE IT AT ALL!

I prefer the old version !

this version seems very formal (boring), prospector was also a favourite of mine.

Not reader friendly at all, if I want economic views I read The Economist. I thought Shares mag was an alternative to the IC, not any more. I wont be renewing my subscription if it continues like the last edition.

I am incredibly disappointed & have just re-newed a 2 year sub to the shares mag., I knew & cherished. I hope for a re-fund. Does anybody know where to go from here for good share buying advice ?
No tickers, in the new 'sophisticated ' shares mag., no results round-up, very little green, orange, red share buying opinions. Lots of waffle & lots of analysts inaction. Don't we want lots of shares journalists buy/sell advice ? A cross between a colour supplement, the economist & IC. What a shame !!!

Petal,

I certainly agree with your "loads of waffle" comment!

This has left a hole in the market IMO, it will be interesting to see if it is filled by a new magazine with features such as Shares had.

Moneyweek is probably the closest, although that is also heavy on economy features, it also features some share articles, and market comment, and has a broker recommends and tipster feature at the back.

Moneyweek is cheaper, brighter, and a lighter read IMO.

Agree with Petal above. Just renewed for a year after a long break - thought the new offering totally dire.

MANAGEMENT NEEDS TO TAKE NOTE!
THE MESSAGE FROM SUBSCRIBERS IS LOUD AND CLEAR AND WILL BE VOTING WITH THEIR FEET IF ACTION NOT TAKEN
I CERTAINLY SHALL NOT RENEW SUB ..... TOTAL WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY IN ITS PRESENT NEW FORMAT.
WHO DID THE MARKET RESEARCH BEFORE THIS RADICAL CHANGE?
SACK THEM!

I agree with the majority of comments above, I was very disappointed. My family pay for the annual subscription by way of a birthday pressie for me every september, if this format continues I shall tell them not to renew.
2517

I didn't bother renewing my subscription when it ran out last year, as I wasn't (still not) actively interested in equities. I did still buy the occasional copy though if something caught my eye, which is the same approach I've always used with Investors Chronicle. I was rather surprised when I picked up this weeks issue and had a thumb through. At first I thought I'd picked up the economist or something by mistake and had to double check the front cover. I was disappointed to see that many of my former favourite columns and features had gone or been redesigned/scaled back. Perhaps the redesign reflects a more somber market (economic) backdrop and changing readership. Personally I would say the new style makes me less inclined to buy a copy, but I'll continue to thumb through it anyway and will buy if I see enough to interest me.

Strawbs.

Surely the editor should have consulted the readership before making such drastic changes to the format and content?

I switched from IC to shares 3 years ago. I felt IC had been delivered by mistake!
The forthcoming weeks diary for results and ex divs.was missing which is one of my main reasons for buying the magazine. I am an old fashioned investor and too much space is now given to the type of vehicles which distort the market and lead to short termism.
Perhaps the title needs changing too.

I'm in full agreement with all - lots of the good stuff gone, no recommendations and pages of press and analyst comment that can be picked up everywhere else. It's a real shame.

WHY IS THE MANAGEMENT OF THIS UNIVERSALLY CONDEMNED INNOVATION NOT STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE?

petal

They are offering refunds, which is very decent of them IMO!


All,

I have decided to cancel my subscription, as clearly they will not reverse the decision to change the content, nor the format of the revamped edition.

Anyone thinking of either subscribing or unsubsribing, the phone number to ring is 01444 475661.

The guy was very friendly, and offered me a refund on the unused portion of my account, which I accepted.

To unsubscribe, you must email Shares, you must quote your customer number, and the email address to use is;

shares.subs@quadrantsubs.com

To unsubscribe you need to know your customer number, which is something like 00060xxx, and I think is on the address label of the magazine when it arrives, or you can ring the number above and they will give it to you.

I have decided to take up the free 3 week trial for Moneyweek, as the content is nearer to my particular investment interests.

http://www.moneyweek.com/file/194/subscribe-from-not-logged-in.html

All,

NB the Moneyweek free trial involves giving your bank details and cancelling after the 4 free editions, which may not be acceptable to everyone.

Normally I refuse such offers, but on this occasion, as I already know the mag, I have accepted.

I agree with all the foregoing comment about the new format. It is good to have a forum to share concern. Will it make any difference though?

I have bought "Shares" since the very first copy & absolutely hate the new format.
Apart from everything else, they have never understood that, after the first
reading, the index is the most important page, as we want to look up a particular
company later.
Please everyone- write or e-mail them to express displeasure.

Unfortunately my copy hasn't arrived yet, but had a look at it online, will reserve judgement untill my copy arrives.

But even before I was thinking of a change to IC which have improved there format recently. Shares need to be careful, they could lose a large following if they don't take notice of comments on here.

spitfire43,

I think it's too late, they have made the change in an effort to move upmarket and grab some of the IC's readers IMO, so the old Shares Magazine is now history.

I think that policy will fail, and they will certainly lose some readers from the existing subscribers, leaving them with lower circulation, IMO.