United Kingdom · 1982–1993
The longest-running magazine for Sinclair computers, published for eleven years and 134 issues, and selling 96,000 copies a month at the height of the ZX Spectrum boom.
Sinclair User first appeared in April 1982, the month the ZX Spectrum was launched. Published initially by ECC Publications and later by EMAP, it covered Sinclair Research's computers — above all the Spectrum — with occasional coverage of arcade games. Its contents followed the format that British computer magazines made standard: news, reviews, previews, tips and guides, columns, readers' letters and, later, cover-mounted demo tapes. The magazine's mark of quality was the Sinclair User Classic award, given to the best games it reviewed. At the peak of the Spectrum's popularity, in July 1984, its circulation reached 96,000. It competed throughout its life with Crash and Your Sinclair, and in May 1992 Crash was notionally merged into it — although in practice that amounted to little more than a Crash logo on Sinclair User's cover. Across its run the magazine had eight editors, from David Kelly and Graham Taylor to its last, Alan Dykes. The final issue, number 134, appeared in April 1993, making Sinclair User the longest-running magazine devoted to Sinclair machines.