Where will I get my woefully out-of-date Dubstep recommendations from now?

The Paul Morley column was always good for a giggle.

but the Music mag was laughably bad from issue 1, poor quality reviews, puff piece interview features devoid of any insight, every other month filled with a 'why dubstep polka is the sound of 2008' article.

The very epitome of Hoxton cobblers

all of the Observer magazines were woefully bobbins. The Wimmins version alone managed to lose four readers out of the five that I knew.

Generally those magazines were glanced through and then straight into the recycling bin.
In the music magazine I always found the Disc Doctor feature a strange combination of risibility and arrogance.
A friend who until recently worked at the Guardian said that the printing presses they paid so much for to produce the new format have been a disaster. They can't find anyone else who wants to print to the same format, so have lost money hand over fist.
The new offices have the problem of being universally disliked by staff and expensive to rent.

The Observer really is up the swanny. They have been making cutbacks for a while with, for example, the TV section being merged into the review. It will be a pretty skinny sunday paper without the supplements. Only the food & sport monthlies were worth reading, the music was so bad. It was basically for those who had a few edgy tracks on their i-pod to look cool. Record Doctor was laughable; in effect it was a music mag for those who do not really like music.

...what worthy dinner-party ethno-shambient landfill I should be listening to?

for the first time in a couple of years the other weekend and was not surprised to see it was the same old pile of garbage that it was from Issue 1.
The Sports one tended to have some good stuff in it though...

by the blase tone of the comments here. This is The Observer we're talking about. A part of The Guardian group - not some Murdoch title - which always draw reflex denigration. A left of centre voice, a liberal voice - and the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.

Do you honestly think shutting a few sections including the admitedly weak music mag is the end of this?

The combination of economic downturn and structural change forced by web based formats means that this is just a precursor of things to come. We will lose more sections of papers, entire papers themselves and any number of magazines. Including - perhaps - The Word.

It's a good job there's so much love for the Beeb amongst Wordistas - as pretty soon - it may be the only thing left.

I'm with everyone else. OMM nailed all my petty dislikes in broadsheet music journalism. Risible guff from start to finish. Thirtyish posh white folks getting down wiv the urban massive 'cos grime's where it's at, innit?

Shame about the sport bit, though. That had its moments.

And OFM stays. Hurrah. Bearing in mind that most of us only continue to read The Observer because of Nigel Slater, it had to, really.

Hope they keep Roasted. Great strip 'toon.

are nothing compared to what they're saying on YouTube.

"Observer woz run by FAGGOTS. ROFL! Financial Times FTW"

"Sunday Times Culture section epic fail. Mebbe u shd shut yr tiny mouth, GAY!"

"Observer red by commee fags only LOLZ"

"Pwned. Deal wiv it. Ya Telegraph reading bellend"

"Nigel Slater's a faggot innit. AA Gil's biblical."

Could Word do a smaller abridged version of its magazine that is a compilation of good articles of its past and let the Observer give it away say every six months? NME, Q, Uncut and Mojo could do the same. It would up the profile of Word without compromising their readership and up the quality of The Observer's offering. This assumes the advertising pays for the printing & other costs...

I'm sure its been considered before and there are many reasons why it's not a runner....

where will I now find a magazine that gives 4 or 5 "stars" to everything?

...and edited by someone called Caspar who I once had a run in with, professionally. And won.

It hopped on any bandwagon going. Just because it was under the Observer banner it thought was the cat's pyjamas.

I'm glad it's shutting.

Saw the title of this piece and thought its about time I vented as to why I don't like it - in particular the gushing 5 star reviews to whatever they have got an advance 'exclusive' on - but reading this don't need to - well said everyone

It won't be missed

Actually most broadsheet rock writing makes my skin crawl - see also The Times Culture section (if thats what its called)

I am an avid newspaper reader and once upon a time one of the highlights of the week would be going through the Sunday papers. But, in the last year or two, I find the Saturday papers are the must buys and the Sundays I can take or leave. Even the scandal sheets are not what they used to be. The Observer seems to be in a particularly steep decline: dropping news and current affairs coverage, while sliding into the mire of horoscopes, alternative therapies, and (oxymoron alert) green consumer issues. Why, if I didn't know better I would think The Guardian group was trying to kill by a thousand cuts

i.e. at Guardian MG, has been ongoing for some considerable time, as regular readers of Private Eye will already know. How many months before the Observer closes completely? Possibly not very many. See also: a freesheet called the London Evening Standard.