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Post by shallacatop on Aug 2, 2019 17:50:00 GMT
If Big Finish went download only at their existing prices, then I think I’d seriously consider cutting back on my purchases. Their download prices are very expensive when you’re getting no physical product in return.
I think even if I was a download only customer now I’d still buy the physical releases and sell them on. I often check eBay straight after a release has come out and sets sell for around £15 brand new and unopened. They would essentially make the download cost about a tenner; half of what they are direct from BF.
It’s psychological, though, as it’s not actually very often I play the CDs! I do enjoy the packaging and seeing, for example, four War Doctor sets on my shelf makes me happy.
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Post by vivdunstan on Aug 3, 2019 14:57:38 GMT
Yes if Big Finish went download only my purchases would plummet, unless they reduce the UK download prices to be more comparable to those overseas. I would buy in sales, but that would probably be about it. I really am appalled by the level of the Big Finish download prices in the UK, and don’t think it’s a sustainable business model. I’m hoping for some sort of midpoint between the two extremes.
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Post by mark687 on Aug 3, 2019 15:07:18 GMT
So DL only Customers if it was solely down to you what's the maximum you would pay for Full Cast DLs
Regards
mark687
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Post by tuigirl on Aug 3, 2019 15:16:22 GMT
So DL only Customers if it was solely down to you what's the maximum you would pay for Full Cast DLs Regards mark687 Well, the downloads are already quite pricey and will go up for us outside the UK. I am accepting what they charge right now. However, I will have to cut back as soon as the price hike hits.
I think if they went on charging for pre-orders what they are charging for regular boxsets outside sales, that would be a personal absolute maximum. Beyond that, it would be just utterly ridiculous.
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Post by mark687 on Aug 3, 2019 15:25:03 GMT
So DL only Customers if it was solely down to you what's the maximum you would pay for Full Cast DLs Regards mark687 Well, the downloads are already quite pricey and will go up for us outside the UK. I am accepting what they charge right now. However, I will have to cut back as soon as the price hike hits.
I think if they went on charging for pre-orders what they are charging for regular boxsets outside sales, that would be a personal absolute maximum. Beyond that, it would be just utterly ridiculous.
Ah interesting so they're already at the limit now, so your thinking prices of less than 20 whatever the currency per item would be better.
Regards
mark687
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Post by fingersmash on Aug 3, 2019 15:32:16 GMT
I am curious to find out if there is anyone who is 100% D/L only and who hope that physical product is banished - and the opposite. Those who are pure physical product etc.. Would be really interesting to find out "why".. I have always maintained and believe that both formats can co-exist. I'm 100% D/L only but I don't wish for it to disappear entirely. For me though, it's an issue of space and money. I have over 1,000 releases. They'd probably be shoved into a box collecting dust and I'd probably have a quarter of my very large collection if I were a physical purchaser due to the larger cost of the physical releases in addition to the problem of Big Finish's massive shipping rates plus the per-order charge.
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Post by tuigirl on Aug 3, 2019 16:06:26 GMT
Well, the downloads are already quite pricey and will go up for us outside the UK. I am accepting what they charge right now. However, I will have to cut back as soon as the price hike hits.
I think if they went on charging for pre-orders what they are charging for regular boxsets outside sales, that would be a personal absolute maximum. Beyond that, it would be just utterly ridiculous.
Ah interesting so they're already at the limit now, so your thinking prices of less than 20 whatever the currency per item would be better.
Regards
mark687
Well, compared to other companies who make full cast audios (at least the ones I follow) in both Germany and the UK, BF is already premium. Yes, their product is top notch and I have no reason for complaint. But lately I got the Impression they get more and more into these all star event releases (which of course is expensive) and sideline the quiet, more intimate releases. Gone are the awesome experimental things like Pirates and Scherzo. There must be a middle way somewhere. I hope the price increases are not just there to cover all these large famous cast events. Yes, I do like them, but at the same time I miss the smaller things, the ones that made BF great in the first place.
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Post by captainpugwash on Aug 3, 2019 21:11:22 GMT
As I've stated before I'm physical only, one reason is that I get the physical for a lot less than the download price. So I feel that download should be at least 50% cheaper than physical price.
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Post by anothermanicmondas on Aug 3, 2019 21:25:05 GMT
I may be over 50 but I don't own a computer or other suitable device so I get physical on whatever I can Some download-only releases I don't bother with (typically audiobooks as I prefer full cast to a single reader, though I made an exception for Festival of Darkness) the ones I do (onto my parents' computer),I burn onto cd to listen to (Strictly personal use only) - just burnt Festival of Darkness onto 7 cds to listen to on my bus journeys (a bit awkward to organise on discs as the first 4 chapters are so long) I haven't been able to burn Bernice Summerfield Many Happy Returns (one track only and too long for a cd) so listen to that from the computer
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2019 22:06:26 GMT
I am curious to find out if there is anyone who is 100% D/L only and who hope that physical product is banished - and the opposite. Those who are pure physical product etc.. Would be really interesting to find out "why".. I have always maintained and believe that both formats can co-exist. Up to about five months ago I'd have said I was about 95% downloads (I have a distinct lack of storage space) with the remaining 5% focused towards picking up a small handful of titles on CD that took my interest, and mostly at pre release or more likely sales prices (UNIT, Jago and Litefoot, Volume 1 of Philip Hinchcliffe presents instantly spring to mind). But since then I have found that with the rising cost of living in the UK, the uncertainty over "you know what" and a distinct drop in regular sales offers from Big Finish (I miss the thrill of anticipation when dropping into the website on a Friday lunchtime)...my loyalty to buying directly from them has wavered. Now when I'm looking to buy a Big Finish download I find I'm casting an eye over their website first and then Amazon and Ebay to see if it is cheaper elsewhere on CD. Sometimes the price differences have been.. eye opening.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2019 22:22:09 GMT
So DL only Customers if it was solely down to you what's the maximum you would pay for Full Cast DLs Regards mark687 Depending on the title...£20 - £25. Above that and I have to give the decision to buy it some serious thought.
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
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Post by lidar2 on Aug 3, 2019 23:24:55 GMT
So DL only Customers if it was solely down to you what's the maximum you would pay for Full Cast DLs Regards mark687 Surely it depends on duration, ie people will pay more for a longer duration.
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Post by Digi on Aug 4, 2019 0:45:18 GMT
Contrarily: I simply would not pay any price for a CD at this point.
- CD purchases are often nearly double the price of a DL purchase - the shipping rates they charge are inexplicably astronomical - the packaging used is often woefully inadequate, resulting in damaged cases - for larger orders, they use the worst carrier in the world — DHL - I have nowhere to store CDs - CDs are not portable playable for when I’m out and about - there are no circumstances in which a CD player is the only playback option - I literally have my phone with me at all times
There’s just no attraction to CDs for me whatsoever. The question of how much or how little I’d be willing to pay for one has no answer, because there simply are no circumstances in which I would buy one.
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Post by barnabaslives on Aug 4, 2019 2:08:35 GMT
So DL only Customers if it was solely down to you what's the maximum you would pay for Full Cast DLs Tough question - at the moment I'm in a temporary state of destitution, so I'd like to pay less for everything whereas a year ago it wasn't such a big concern. I do tend to look at the prices and think they must be charging too much for downloads because it's usually almost as much for downloads as for physical product and you wonder if that's fair when all it really costs for the downloads is a spot of bandwidth vs factory pressing and printing and cases for CDs - I figure printing must be rather expensive just judging by how many covers seem to reflect the running theme of how to save money on ink. However, I also think that narrow price gap is sort of artificial by the time you factor in shipping cost and order charges on physical product, and sometimes the five dollars less per item I'd like to paying for downloads at the minimum, already happens through pre-order prices, bundle prices, subscription prices, and sale prices. There's also production costs, and at the end of the day, I certainly want Big Finish to be able to afford to continue producing quality productions, so I am still not really sure what is fair. Not to re-open that particular debate, but I can't remember having commented before that I really don't understand why the full artwork doesn't come with downloads. The thing I see stated most often on the forums is that they're apparently trying to create incentive to purchase physical product, but that gets harder for me to understand the more they shift to download only on items, and limited runs on physical product. I can understand the incentive that that does create, but it hasn't been enough to make it practical to purchase CDs (this also goes for music) just so I can squint at the booklets and battle to get them in and out of the cases.
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Post by Whovitt on Aug 4, 2019 2:35:10 GMT
I am curious to find out if there is anyone who is 100% D/L only and who hope that physical product is banished - and the opposite. Those who are pure physical product etc.. Would be really interesting to find out "why".. I have always maintained and believe that both formats can co-exist. Up to about five months ago I'd have said I was about 95% downloads (I have a distinct lack of storage space) with the remaining 5% focused towards picking up a small handful of titles on CD that took my interest, and mostly at pre release or more likely sales prices (UNIT, Jago and Litefoot, Volume 1 of Philip Hinchcliffe presents instantly spring to mind). But since then I have found that with the rising cost of living in the UK, the uncertainty over "you know what" and a distinct drop in regular sales offers from Big Finish (I miss the thrill of anticipation when dropping into the website on a Friday lunchtime)...my loyalty to buying directly from them has wavered. Now when I'm looking to buy a Big Finish download I find I'm casting an eye over their website first and then Amazon and Ebay to see if it is cheaper elsewhere on CD. Sometimes the price differences have been.. eye opening. Not to sound like that guy, but that's not really true. There's be a weekly sale for all but three weeks since the start of May, the equivalent of one week a month without a sale. The sales don't always start on a Friday any more, which might be what's throwing you off. It's not totally uncommon for a sale to start on a Thursday, and the Lucie Miller sale was a Wednesday. Sales have covered such things as the Companion Chronicles, Lost Stories, The Eighth Doctor Adventures, DWM Poll toppers, 20th anniversary "Get to Know BF" titles, spy/thriller series ( The Avengers, The Prisoner, various audiobook titles), The Omega Factor, and Survivors, and that's not everything. That's a pretty wide range of sale offers in three months.
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Post by number13 on Aug 4, 2019 10:27:25 GMT
Up to about five months ago I'd have said I was about 95% downloads (I have a distinct lack of storage space) with the remaining 5% focused towards picking up a small handful of titles on CD that took my interest, and mostly at pre release or more likely sales prices (UNIT, Jago and Litefoot, Volume 1 of Philip Hinchcliffe presents instantly spring to mind). But since then I have found that with the rising cost of living in the UK, the uncertainty over "you know what" and a distinct drop in regular sales offers from Big Finish (I miss the thrill of anticipation when dropping into the website on a Friday lunchtime)...my loyalty to buying directly from them has wavered. Now when I'm looking to buy a Big Finish download I find I'm casting an eye over their website first and then Amazon and Ebay to see if it is cheaper elsewhere on CD. Sometimes the price differences have been.. eye opening. Not to sound like that guy, but that's not really true. There's be a weekly sale for all but three weeks since the start of May, the equivalent of one week a month without a sale. The sales don't always start on a Friday any more, which might be what's throwing you off. It's not totally uncommon for a sale to start on a Thursday, and the Lucie Miller sale was a Wednesday. Sales have covered such things as the Companion Chronicles, Lost Stories, The Eighth Doctor Adventures, DWM Poll toppers, 20th anniversary "Get to Know BF" titles, spy/thriller series ( The Avengers, The Prisoner, various audiobook titles), The Omega Factor, and Survivors, and that's not everything. That's a pretty wide range of sale offers in three months. And don't I know it! Oh my credit card, my bank account, my everything!
There have been some irresistible offers recently, great value especially if (in the context of this discussion) one is a CD buyer with two decades of catching-up to do, based in the UK where BF's postage charges are low and there's a £4 per order postage cap. The CCs clearout wouldn't have been of any interest to a DL-only buyer but for me with numerous gaps in my physical CCs collection it was an offer I couldn't refuse!
EDIT: Good point, sales can and do start on any day of the week now and seem to run for upredictable lengths of time (often to the end of the following Monday, which makes sense.)
EDIT2: Also agree, sometimes CDs can be found quite a lot more cheaply on Amazon/Ebay than the normal BF DL price, but as said, sales do happen.
I've only* bought BF direct from BF for several years (the CD + DL combo and maybe a DL extra is very attractive and I like to support them since I can.)
*Only, except a couple of OOP CD titles and one other...
The other was a "super-bargain" Audible offer on the 10DAs Vol 1 - and it had a track missing! Oh yeh, a real bargain. So I was pleased to get it from BF on CD for £13 in the recent sale with the DL and all the tracks. Allons-y!
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Post by Ela on Aug 4, 2019 15:58:58 GMT
Some of my oldest (music) CDs ended up with "disc rot" and became unplayable. And that's a shame because early CDs had much better dynamic range than the crap they put out now, and "remasters" of old titles suffer from this. Anyway, having early discs fail, kind of put the claim of "forever digital" to rest for me. But with BF I've been download from my start. I did buy many on CD because that was the only way to get them.... but I think all of them except early Benny and Sapphire and Steel later acquired download versions. Disc rot, eh? I didn’t know that was possible. But then again, I haven’t tried to play my oldest CDs any time recently, as I always rip the music to my computer.
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Post by captainpugwash on Aug 4, 2019 17:46:19 GMT
It's interesting to read the different arguments for and against on here. For those outside the U.K. Download will be ( probably be ) cheaper. However focusing on the U.K. Market for a moment ( where physical is nearly always cheaper than download, especially when you purchase from other shops and not from bf direct), I wonder if bf are shooting themselves in the foot regarding their pricing. For instance reading this thread one or two of you have mentioned how you purchase the physical from bf to get the free digital copy and then sell the unopened physical on eBay. So in effect bf has had one sale but there has been two customers, £14.99 ( or thereabouts ) to bf and £10-12 for the reseller. So that's one story generating £25. So could bf reduce their prices to say £10 for the physical and £7 for the download thus encouraging the eBay purchaser to buy from bf and turning the physical purchaser to download, thereby netting bf £17. A small increase in profit for bf but now 2 customers direct to bf instead of 1.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2019 19:40:08 GMT
Up to about five months ago I'd have said I was about 95% downloads (I have a distinct lack of storage space) with the remaining 5% focused towards picking up a small handful of titles on CD that took my interest, and mostly at pre release or more likely sales prices (UNIT, Jago and Litefoot, Volume 1 of Philip Hinchcliffe presents instantly spring to mind). But since then I have found that with the rising cost of living in the UK, the uncertainty over "you know what" and a distinct drop in regular sales offers from Big Finish (I miss the thrill of anticipation when dropping into the website on a Friday lunchtime)...my loyalty to buying directly from them has wavered. Now when I'm looking to buy a Big Finish download I find I'm casting an eye over their website first and then Amazon and Ebay to see if it is cheaper elsewhere on CD. Sometimes the price differences have been.. eye opening. Not to sound like that guy, but that's not really true. There's be a weekly sale for all but three weeks since the start of May, the equivalent of one week a month without a sale. The sales don't always start on a Friday any more, which might be what's throwing you off. It's not totally uncommon for a sale to start on a Thursday, and the Lucie Miller sale was a Wednesday. Sales have covered such things as the Companion Chronicles, Lost Stories, The Eighth Doctor Adventures, DWM Poll toppers, 20th anniversary "Get to Know BF" titles, spy/thriller series ( The Avengers, The Prisoner, various audiobook titles), The Omega Factor, and Survivors, and that's not everything. That's a pretty wide range of sale offers in three months. Hmmm..certainly appears that I have missed a few sales over the last few months. That'll teach me not to keep a better eye on the website and the forum. 😏 However.. (there always has to be a 'however'.), with the exception of the sale tied to the Lucie Miller release and the recent Companion Chronicles clearance sale the ones I have seen either haven't kept my interest as I own the titles already, or if I haven't got them they were cheaper to buy elsewhere at the time of the sale. Case in point - the current offer on the Originals titles. I'm missing Cicero and Blind Terror, so the pre release price offer of £38 was really tempting when I saw the news feature...until I discovered I could get them both on Audible for the cost of two credits (£15.98). So not only has the sale not gone to Big Finish directly, but now I'm sitting on the fence with buying Transference until it's inevitable appearance elsewhere. From my point of view then there has been a noticeable dip in tempting offers from Big Finish. Granted there have been a few sales that I've missed, but when it works out cheaper for me to buy through an Amazon outlet or a seller off Ebay rather than the actual production company who made the product I enjoy.. well, what would you do? *Oh and by the way, you carry on sounding like 'that guy' if you're picking me up on things I've overlooked. 😊
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Aug 4, 2019 20:05:44 GMT
I'm pretty much at the point where there isn't much left for me to pick up on sale. I have some minor digital filling in to do but all the major stuff I want, I can pull off my shelves.
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