Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Once the Gold Standard for top-bound notebooks, the Retro is now just old and tired. Apparently, Ampad has been bought by Tops, who decided to remove everything great about these notebooks. The crimes committed: 1. The bottom corners are no longer rounded (a small thing, but it made putting the pages into my briefcase much easier - looks great, too). 2. The wire binding at the top is much smaller (could have lived with this if it was the only change) 3. The paper is thinner. (VERY lame) 4. No black strip across the top. (decorative only, but a classy touch that should have been left in) 5. Back cardboard feels thinner as well. (cheap) I was willing to pay a bit more for these as I do a lot of writing, but now that they're as mediocre as everything else I'll look to get something more reasonably priced. They have, at least, kept the page color - that's the only thing I cut cut them a break on. It's a shame when companies feel the need to fix things that aren't remotely broken. They've certainly lost my business.