I used to have free subscription to these mags: db, Studio Sound, Audio, Broadcasting. The issues stopped coming more than two decades ago. There is a wealth of information from these publications and they are now collectors' items. During the mid-70s up to the late 80s, these mags were already discussing digital audio and hints of the R&D of Philips and Sony on CD technology. Now these technologies are commonplace and have grown by leaps and bounds. I think the British publications like Studio Sound and Broadcast are more objective and straightforward than their American counterparts. They mince no words in their evaluations and reviews.
It is from them where I learned, among other things, that Dolby surround sound is based on the four-channel system developed by Sansui Electronics; that Sony got the top engineers of Solid State Logic to work for it, a group of engineers and mathematicians from Oxford University who brought to the market the SSL digital recording console; that the market-failure JVC CD-4 discrete four channel system using half speed mastering morphed into producing the much-sought audiophile stereo vinyl discs; that some vinyl disc albums like Santana's Caravanserai, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, and Moog synthesizer samplers were produced using the Sony quadrophonic system; that Sony subcontracted the manufacture of their VHS machines to Hitachi when Sony raised the white flag for Betamax; and that the BBC and 3M USA collaborated in developing an audio digital recorder which also flopped.
Fellow WS members, any comments on this?