Open main menu
Last modified on 12 June 2012, at 23:18

The Amstrad User

Revision as of 23:18, 12 June 2012 by Border 7 (Talk | contribs)

The Amstrad User (TAU) was published in Australia by Strategy Publications, with the first issue coming out in February 1985 (@ $3.00 per issue).

To start with, it soley covered the Amstrad CPC range, but as more computers were introduced by Amstrad, it expanded to cover them all.

Eventually it would cover the CPC, PCW and PC range of Amstrad computers.

It was an independent publication, originally sourcing and writing all it's own articles and content from writers mostly within Australia.

As this became more difficult with time, it set up agreements with Future Publishing and Database Publications to reprint content from their respective magazines - Amstrad Action, 8000 Plus and CPC Computing (formerly Computing with the Amstrad).

It had a fairly conventional layout and design and each issue included things like games reviews, type-ins, game cheats, an adventure section, hardware and letters to the editor. It generally separated CPC only content from PCW and PC content - however sometimes articles were published that were generally applicable to all of the Amstrad machines.

The magazine was also available on tape for Amstrad CPC users, and it included any type-ins that were in that issue plus bonus material.

This was on a subscriber only basis and the tape was never directly sold with the magazine.

The magazine was widely available throughout Australia and New Zealand from 1985 through to the end of 1990. It was also available to the general oceania region - nearby countries such as Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands - although on a more limited and not as timely basis.

It was a reasonable sized magazine. Early issues being around 32 pages, with the magazine peaking at 72 pages. Most issues were 64 pages including the 1991 name change.

1991 - Name Change

After issue 71 (Dec 1990), it became known as "The PC Mag plus The Amstrad User" (Jan 1991 was the first issue @ $4.50 per issue) - issues were no longer numbered. It still contained Amstrad CPC/PCW/PC content and was obviously trying to appeal to the broader PC market (IBM Compatible owners) - rather than specifically the Amstrad. It ran until September 1991 (9 issues in total) with Strategy Publications ceasing operations around then due to obviously declining magazine sales and popularity of Amstrad machines.

Note on the scans: Only the relevant CPC sections of these magazines has been scanned and uploaded (to cut down on the manual labour). So all advertising, PCW & PC content is not included (unless some CPC content spills over).

Magazine Scans (W.I.P)