aztec
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 2,849 
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Post by aztec on Sept 28, 2017 9:11:57 GMT
I've got all the other subscriber specials and long wanted to get these stories, but I can't generally justify the cost of subscribing to the main range (and as someone who didn't grow up with the Classic Series I don't have a great deal of nostalgia for the 5th/6th/7th Doctors, it's not that I don't like them, I just have a relative handful of each's stories, dipping in and out of the main range depending on what looks interesting in sales) and I was wondering why these two stories haven't been put on general sale yet? It seems odd all the other subscriber specials have gone on general sale eventually, apart from these, I'm guessing they must be pretty popular...
Do you think they should go on sale eventually like the short trips rarities have, or would that be unfair to subscribers who have paid out more to get them?
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Post by omega on Sept 28, 2017 9:17:59 GMT
It's some kind of legal thing, that they would remain subscriber only or something like that. The Short Trips can't have been under the same promise, hence the Rarities range.
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Post by mark687 on Sept 28, 2017 9:30:10 GMT
Honestly I don't mind, I was very surprised at the time that they went through the hassle of "if we make them available for commercial sale we'll face legal trouble", I always thought the Free CD option should be available for both 6 and 12 Subs myself.
Regards
mark687
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Post by Digi on Sept 28, 2017 10:02:26 GMT
It's a little ridiculous, IMO. I already own all the MR titles that would fall into the subscription required to get The Four Doctors, and there is no way for me to get it. I would love to buy this story, but there is absolutely no way I would be willing to RE-purchase 6-12 titles just to get it.
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Post by omega on Sept 28, 2017 10:06:14 GMT
It's a little ridiculous, IMO. I already own all the MR titles that would fall into the subscription required to get The Four Doctors, and there is no way for me to get it. I would love to buy this story, but there is absolutely no way I would be willing to RE-purchase 6-12 titles just to get it. Then get a twelve release sub and choose it as the free gift. Or purchase the 6 sub CDs for a friend and keep The Four Doctors for yourself. They get Big Finish and you get The Five Doctors. You can get them A Death in the Family. |
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Post by number13 on Sept 28, 2017 10:15:00 GMT
I've got all the other subscriber specials and long wanted to get these stories, but I can't generally justify the cost of subscribing to the main range (and as someone who didn't grow up with the Classic Series I don't have a great deal of nostalgia for the 5th/6th/7th Doctors, it's not that I don't like them, I just have a relative handful of each's stories, dipping in and out of the main range depending on what looks interesting in sales) and I was wondering why these two stories haven't been put on general sale yet? It seems odd all the other subscriber specials have gone on general sale eventually, apart from these, I'm guessing they must be pretty popular... Do you think they should go on sale eventually like the short trips rarities have, or would that be unfair to subscribers who have paid out more to get them? As a one-off which would get you both exclusives and a great deal more, you could for example do a 12 sub starting with 'The Silver Turk'? ('Army of Death' is the magic title to include to get 'The Five Companions' as that year's end-of-year subscriber bonus. Or a 12 sub which includes 'Demons of Red Lodge' for 'The Four Doctors'.) Then choose the other exclusive title as your free gift. I suggested 'The Silver Turk' as you'd get a run of 12 stories which many might say is one of the very best in the range. I know you will already have the three Eighth Doctor titles but there are the attached extras to be had as a subscriber - and for any titles you've already got and you need to sell a spare CD, there's always eBay. (If you aren't a download-only buyer that is.) |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2017 10:45:08 GMT
They legally *cannot* go on general sale. Subscriptions were sold on the understanding that they would be the only way to *ever* get those stories, it'd be against the law to offer them in any other way now.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2017 12:09:01 GMT
I don’t see why they should go on general sale. People can get a 6/12 month subscription that includes the relevant Main Range release to get these stories free, or people can get them by subscribing to a 12 release subscription and choosing one as their free (£10.99 or less) story, so these titles are not unavailable or hard to get... and they can be got free of charge. So why pay for something you can get for nothing?! They are subscriber bonuses... so if you want them, subscribe.
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Post by nudge on Sept 28, 2017 12:15:23 GMT
They legally *cannot* go on general sale. Subscriptions were sold on the understanding that they would be the only way to *ever* get those stories, it'd be against the law to offer them in any other way now. It's their product so I don't understand what 'legal' implications would arise if they made it available for general sale. This is what is written on The Four Doctors page: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This release is available ONLY to customers who buy a subscription to the Doctor Who Monthly Range. There are two ways to obtain this exclusive audio: Ensure your 12 or 6-CD or Download Main Range subscription includes Doctor Who - The Demons of Red Lodge OR When buying a 12-CD or Download Main Range subscription, select The Four Doctors as your free gift from the Doctor Who - Special Releases range -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As of today this is true, the only way to receive this release is by subscribing, but there is no contractual commitment they would never make it available for sale. I understand subscribers might feel disappointed, but they wouldn't have a legal case against Big Finish if they chose to make it available to non-subscribers. OP probably best to send a question into the Podcast to find out podcast@bigfinish.com |
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Sept 28, 2017 13:07:43 GMT
I took out a retrospective 12 month Main Range sub a couple weeks ago (waiting for my package ).. I picked the 4 doctors.. I havent bought any main range for over 1 year so I started at #200 ..
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2017 14:16:49 GMT
They legally *cannot* go on general sale. Subscriptions were sold on the understanding that they would be the only way to *ever* get those stories, it'd be against the law to offer them in any other way now. It's their product so I don't understand what 'legal' implications would arise if they made it available for general sale. This is what is written on The Four Doctors page: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This release is available ONLY to customers who buy a subscription to the Doctor Who Monthly Range. There are two ways to obtain this exclusive audio: Ensure your 12 or 6-CD or Download Main Range subscription includes Doctor Who - The Demons of Red Lodge OR When buying a 12-CD or Download Main Range subscription, select The Four Doctors as your free gift from the Doctor Who - Special Releases range -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As of today this is true, the only way to receive this release is by subscribing, but there is no contractual commitment they would never make it available for sale. I understand subscribers might feel disappointed, but they wouldn't have a legal case against Big Finish if they chose to make it available to non-subscribers. OP probably best to send a question into the Podcast to find out podcast@bigfinish.com When they were first released, it was explicitly promised that they would always be subscription only. People paid for subscriptions on the understanding that The Four Doctors/The Five Companions would not be available any other way. It would be a breach of the Trade Descriptions Act to make them available for general purchase now. |
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
Likes: 5,819
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Post by lidar2 on Sept 28, 2017 14:33:50 GMT
It's their product so I don't understand what 'legal' implications would arise if they made it available for general sale. This is what is written on The Four Doctors page: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This release is available ONLY to customers who buy a subscription to the Doctor Who Monthly Range. There are two ways to obtain this exclusive audio: Ensure your 12 or 6-CD or Download Main Range subscription includes Doctor Who - The Demons of Red Lodge OR When buying a 12-CD or Download Main Range subscription, select The Four Doctors as your free gift from the Doctor Who - Special Releases range -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As of today this is true, the only way to receive this release is by subscribing, but there is no contractual commitment they would never make it available for sale. I understand subscribers might feel disappointed, but they wouldn't have a legal case against Big Finish if they chose to make it available to non-subscribers. OP probably best to send a question into the Podcast to find out podcast@bigfinish.com When they were first released, it was explicitly promised that they would always be subscription only. People paid for subscriptions on the understanding that The Four Doctors/The Five Companions would not be available any other way. It would be a breach of the Trade Descriptions Act to make them available for general purchase now. Even if (and I seriously doubt it) BF were under some kind of watertight legally binding obligation, would Trading Standards (or whatever relevant government body has the power to prosecute) expend time and resources prosecuting BF if they made them available for general purchase? Would any of the subscribers actually go to the lengths/bother/expense of bringing a civil action against BF for breach of contract? |
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Post by nudge on Sept 28, 2017 15:04:22 GMT
It's their product so I don't understand what 'legal' implications would arise if they made it available for general sale. This is what is written on The Four Doctors page: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This release is available ONLY to customers who buy a subscription to the Doctor Who Monthly Range. There are two ways to obtain this exclusive audio: Ensure your 12 or 6-CD or Download Main Range subscription includes Doctor Who - The Demons of Red Lodge OR When buying a 12-CD or Download Main Range subscription, select The Four Doctors as your free gift from the Doctor Who - Special Releases range -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As of today this is true, the only way to receive this release is by subscribing, but there is no contractual commitment they would never make it available for sale. I understand subscribers might feel disappointed, but they wouldn't have a legal case against Big Finish if they chose to make it available to non-subscribers. OP probably best to send a question into the Podcast to find out podcast@bigfinish.com When they were first released, it was explicitly promised that they would always be subscription only. People paid for subscriptions on the understanding that The Four Doctors/The Five Companions would not be available any other way. It would be a breach of the Trade Descriptions Act to make them available for general purchase now. I've Googled, but alas couldn't find the original announcements to read the exact wording Big Finish used; was it a life-time cast iron guarantee, or have people over time simply inferred Big Finish gave a promise which they may not have given? Both were released a long time before I started listening to Big Finish so it’s all conjecture on my part. Just hope someone writes into the Podcast so Mr Briggs can enlighten us. |
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Post by themeddlingmonk on Sept 28, 2017 15:41:52 GMT
If you get a monthly range 1-50 12 CD bundle you can still choose a free gift and that costs about £30. Though you only get the download version of the story with it.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2017 16:13:46 GMT
I can't find BF's exact wording, but I can find other sites' reporting of the story when it was first announced, which state that it will never be released to non-subscribers. Either multiple sources were inferring something BF didn't actually say, or the original news story was unambiguous in that regard.
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Post by charlesuirdhein on Sept 28, 2017 17:11:27 GMT
Suggestion to BF: Choose to purchase a single other MR for twice the price and get one of them "free". No sale. Sure, long term subscribers might get annoyed but so what? And before anyone gets mad at ME, I am one of those who obtained them via subscription. The more the merrier have them. Let's not get all hipstery-exclusionary here to fans who for whatever reason couldn't get a subscription at the time.
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aztec
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 2,849
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Post by aztec on Sept 28, 2017 17:20:32 GMT
I've got all the other subscriber specials and long wanted to get these stories, but I can't generally justify the cost of subscribing to the main range (and as someone who didn't grow up with the Classic Series I don't have a great deal of nostalgia for the 5th/6th/7th Doctors, it's not that I don't like them, I just have a relative handful of each's stories, dipping in and out of the main range depending on what looks interesting in sales) and I was wondering why these two stories haven't been put on general sale yet? It seems odd all the other subscriber specials have gone on general sale eventually, apart from these, I'm guessing they must be pretty popular... Do you think they should go on sale eventually like the short trips rarities have, or would that be unfair to subscribers who have paid out more to get them? As a one-off which would get you both exclusives and a great deal more, you could for example do a 12 sub starting with 'The Silver Turk'? ('Army of Death' is the magic title to include to get 'The Five Companions' as that year's end-of-year subscriber bonus. Or a 12 sub which includes 'Demons of Red Lodge' for 'The Four Doctors'.) Then choose the other exclusive title as your free gift. I suggested 'The Silver Turk' as you'd get a run of 12 stories which many might say is one of the very best in the range. I know you will already have the three Eighth Doctor titles but there are the attached extras to be had as a subscriber - and for any titles you've already got and you need to sell a spare CD, there's always eBay. (If you aren't a download-only buyer that is.) Just to clarify this wasn't me be intentionally entitled or trying to start an argument, I was just wondering why these two were still subscriber exclusive-I didn't realize it might be a legal thing, and I'm aware that BF has tight margins and their own business model to protect. I have quite a limited budget for BF, and perhaps 75% of the stories I own were bought on sale, so I'm not sure I can really justify the cost of a 12 story subscription at the moment, that's...what £130? (I'm going to spend nearly half of that on my next order anyway...) As much as I appreciate that suggestion, I've already got 7 of the stories from MR 153-165... I did consider getting a download subscription from the early years (I prefer CD, but those are all out of print anyway), but again I already have quite a few of those stories, even at that low price it's money I could put to another release rather than simply subscribing to get those two stories and due to the rarity of these stories I'd rather have CD copies. Thanks for the advice guys (and clearing up why these weren't on general sale) but I think these two stories will be out of bounds for me for the foreseeable future...the joys of being a poor Whovian... |
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Post by andrew on Sept 28, 2017 17:39:24 GMT
I took out the super sub offer from a couple of years ago starting from 221 with the Four Doctors as my free gift.
My intention ever since then has been to get a sub for 12 titles starting at 209 with the Five Companions as free gift, just as soon as there's a quiet couple of months in the release schedule with no new releases I want or gap-filling sales that I can't resist.
Still waiting for that quiet period.
My first big purchase from BF was four subs for most of the first 50. Somewhat foolishly I chose four stories from the first series of the 4DAs as my free gifts. They've since been on sale several times. Realise now that the subscriber only titles would have been better choices back then.
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Post by omega on Sept 28, 2017 17:42:58 GMT
I took out the super sub offer from a couple of years ago starting from 221 with the Four Doctors as my free gift. My intention ever since then has been to get a sub for 12 titles starting at 209 with the Five Companions as free gift, just as soon as there's a quiet couple of months in the release schedule with no new releases I want or gap-filling sales that I can't resist. Still waiting for that quiet period. My first big purchase from BF was four subs for most of the first 50. Somewhat foolishly I chose four stories from the first series of the 4DAs as my free gifts. They've since been on sale several times. Realise now that the subscriber only titles would have been better choices back then. Get a six month sub with Army of Death (go for Silver Turk to Wirrn Isle) if you haven't got those stories already. |
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Sept 28, 2017 19:00:46 GMT
The wording Big Finish used when announcing both titles and the way Nick and/or Paul referred to it in the podcasts was always pretty clear these would always be subscriber only releases. That said, I don't see how that would be legally binding if they decided enough time has passed. I don't remember any small print when I purchased a sub with those titles as the bonus. It's several years now, make some money on it and let it out of its subscriber only cell.
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