Gramo review database

[mathias broucek]

Does anyone subscribe to this?

The info on their website is very thin! How does it work? It it online only? Is it web or app based? If app base, which platforms does it work on?

I'd love a proper searchable reviews database (the archive searching is pretty clunky) but I'm not impressed with the level of info they're providing!

[Cockney Sparrow]

I think Jayne Lee Wilson has posted very positively about the benefit of the database....... I'm sure a search would lead you to the posts/ threads in question.

I have felt in the last decade that reviews of new releases became less comparative, less discerning and on occasion laughably simplistic and generalised (So I cancelled the sub, don't take it now andso can't tell you about the present database - sorry).
But as Jayne Pointed out, the database goes a long way back and there are the feature articles on major works comparing the classes of recordings etc.
Perhaps they do a trial subscription? (such things always accompanied by the need to put in the diary "Cancel sub for xxxx?" on the 28th day).

[Karafan]

I use it a lot, too, Mathias. It is very good and one can save interesting reviews as pdfs, if desired. I have the hard copy magazine and electronic version and database access subscription.

K

[makropulos]

I use it a lot, too, Mathias. It is very good and one can save interesting reviews as pdfs, if desired.
K

Agreed. What I find particularly useful are some of the feature articles and interviews from the 1960s and 70s - often much more so than the reviews - and it is also extremely helpful for tracking down details of elusive recordings. I'd definitely say it was worth the cost of the subscription even if searching is sometimes clunky.

[JFLL]

Curiously – given that, as I thought, it was now supposed to be a subscription service – if one enters a Google search for '[X piece of music] Gramophone review', the Gramophone review comes up. Often (but not always) a pop-up appears which hides the review and urges one to subscribe, but I've found that the trick is to use the 'cached' option in the initial Google list, and the pop-up doesn't appear, so that one can read the review in peace. I wonder if these reviews are complete? (It may be a loophole, but until it's closed …)

[gurnemanz]

Curiously – given that, as I thought, it was now supposed to be a subscription service – if one enters a Google search for '[X piece of music] Gramophone review', the Gramophone review comes up. Often (but not always) a pop-up appears which hides the review and urges one to subscribe, but I've found that the trick is to use the 'cached' option in the initial Google list, and the pop-up doesn't appear, so that one can read the review in peace. I wonder if these reviews are complete? (It may be a loophole, but until it's closed …)

I have also found myself able to read reviews without being a subscriber. I have sometimes been blocked but it nearly always seems to work. I use an adblocker. I don't know if this makes any difference.