La-La Land to release 15-disc original series score set

[T'Bonz]

Warped9 wrote:

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Maybe it's a generational thing. A CD set is something I can hold in my hand and feel I have something tangible for the money spent. A download is just there and doesn't really feel like anything special.
manufacturing, recording and packaging of the whole thing.

Plus, you can always make MP3s or whatever the hell they're using now for online music. I have my favorite record albums and CDs online now - so I have a "master copy" and online ones. Redundancy is good.

[OneBuckFilms]

Warped9 wrote:

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Maybe it's a generational thing. A CD set is something I can hold in my hand and feel I have something tangible for the money spent. A download is just there and doesn't really feel like anything special.

I actually do understand your point, but I might have really paused over paying more than two hundred bucks just for a download. This is something they might have considered, how a lot of people might have responded to it being offered as just a download. Mind you if it had been offered as just a download than the price would certainly have had to reflect that since you wouldn't have had to pay for the manufacturing, recording and packaging of the whole thing.

I don't think the price would be all that different, as the bulk of the costs are tied to licensing and AFM Reuse Fees etc., very little in the actual packaging (CD manufacturing can be surprisingly cheap).

I also feel that I want something physical and tangible, and that's true for most of the film/TV score market as far as I can tell.

I want to look at it. Show it to a friend. Get it signed (which I was lucky enough to be able to do). Read the liner notes on paper without going on the web or opening it up on a device. Display it on my Star Trek "shrine" shelf, along with a Tribble, a Tricorder and other things.

Downloads do not allow for any of that.

[cbspock]

I prefer having the discs, with the books.

-Chris

[Christopher]

OneBuckFilms wrote:

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I don't think the price would be all that different, as the bulk of the costs are tied to licensing and AFM Reuse Fees etc., very little in the actual packaging (CD manufacturing can be surprisingly cheap).

It's the same with books. A lot of people assume that e-books should be much cheaper than physical books because they don't have the same printing and shipping costs, but actually, if a book is published in large quantities, economies of scale mean that printing and shipping cost merely pennies per book. Most of what's being paid for is the work of the writer, editor, copyeditors, typsetters, cover designer and artist, marketing and publicity people, and so forth, which is the same regardless of the end format.

In this case, what we're paying for is not only the fees you mentioned, but the composer and performer royalties, along with the months of hard work that Indysolo and his colleagues put into compiling and remastering this huge amount of music, researching and writing the notes, designing and creating the artwork, getting photo clearances, etc. The value is in the content and the labor that went into creating it, not in the physical substrate that holds it.

[ATimson]

Christopher wrote:

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It's the same with books. A lot of people assume that e-books should be much cheaper than physical books because they don't have the same printing and shipping costs, but actually, if a book is published in large quantities, economies of scale mean that printing and shipping cost merely pennies per book.

The publisher gets a bigger cut of list price on ebooks than on print books - 70% versus ~50%. So while the costs per unit may be the same, they're still making a larger profit on each sale.

Obviously that's not the case here - they'd get less on a download than on the CDs, unless La La Land started doing their own digital sales.

[Garrovick]

I've got nothing against downloads per se, - but for the sheer amount of music we are talking about for this album and the cost involved, I want a hard copy backup that can't be lost as long as I take care of the discs.

[Tallguy]

I'm all about the digital, but for this I want the box. Mine!

[doubleohfive]

Garrovick wrote:

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I've got nothing against downloads per se, - but for the sheer amount of music we are talking about for this album and the cost involved, I want a hard copy backup that can't be lost as long as I take care of the discs.

This. But, also, the fact that the set is magnificently designed and a treasure to behold on my shelf makes it all the more worthwhile.

[cbspock]

Too bad they didn't sell it in a special case like a Shuttlecraft shaped case or something from the show.

I really have been enjoying listening to this set. I have wanted something like this since the Star Wars anthology was released. The original release of that set came with a really nice book that John Williams contributed to. Sort of like the mini books we got with the Trek set.

I have also been enjoying the movie sets that have been released. Its great having the proper cues from Star Trek 2 and 3. Always loved Stealing the Enterprise, Battle of the Mutara Nebula, and the self destruct cues.



-Chris

[Tallguy]

cbspock wrote:

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Too bad they didn't sell it in a special case like a Shuttlecraft shaped case or something from the show.

Oh thank heavens, no. The box is perfect. I MIGHT have asked for slimline cases of each CD, but I'm not sure what that would look like. I'll go for elegant rather than cute.

cbspock wrote:

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I really have been enjoying listening to this set. I have wanted something like this since the Star Wars anthology was released. The original release of that set came with a really nice book that John Williams contributed to. Sort of like the mini books we got with the Trek set.

That was a lovely set and the first time I'd ever heard of Lukas Kedall. Still one of my favorites. I was thrilled at the 2 CD sets that came out for Star Wars in 1997 but they didn't hold a candle in terms of sheer "I can't believe this is happening" to that four CD set. Kind of like how I feel about the TOS box.

BTW, Williams didn't contribute, they took his comments from the original LP liner notes.

[RandyS]

cbspock wrote:

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I prefer having the discs, with the books.

-Chris

Same here. If it had been available as a download only, I would have then burnt the whole thing to CD's anyway.

But, $258.00 for a download?? THAT would have stopped me cold. At least this way, I actually got something for my money.

[Christopher]

RandyS wrote:

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But, $258.00 for a download?? THAT would have stopped me cold. At least this way, I actually got something for my money.

I'm not sure I follow that logic. The value isn't in the physical medium. After all, you can get a box of 15 blank CD-Rs for about $7.50, and a ream of paper for about the same. What's worth a quarter of a grand is the actual music and information. The only difference is where and how it's stored.

[plynch]

Christopher wrote:

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I'm not sure I follow that logic. The value isn't in the physical medium. After all, you can get a box of 15 blank CD-Rs for about $7.50, and a ream of paper for about the same. What's worth a quarter of a grand is the actual music and information. The only difference is where and how it's stored.

It isn't about the logic. Here it really is about feeling: our internal price points are set by experience. Downloads are generally inexpensive. In publishing (as you know), they can be crazily less expensive than the hard copy, though you're right, a major publisher isn't putting much money into paper and ink per book. It's just what we're used to. So a quarter of a grand for a data transmission just would've felt wrong to a lot of people.

Very little of the price is for the making of the plastic discs, of course. But shelling that amount of money out for a bunch of CDs feels ok, since we "know" what a big set of CDs or DVDs goes for.

NuTopic: I didn't buy. Though I defended the price upthread (way upthread), I just didn't think I had the dough. I am really jealous reading this thread, one of the few I'm reading lately. I just got a "thank you" stipend that would cover the cost partway. Anybody know if they're sold out?

[Christopher]

They still seem to be available at the site, which surprises me.

[Esteban]

I take the points many have made that the physical "in-hand" experience is great. But I find it a bit ephemeral.

I want the music in my digital collection. Not on some CD headed for the garage after I have to do the work adding it.

As for the liner notes, well, there are many ways to deliver that kind of content digitally, and as part of a pay model.

Bottom line: as for myself, I would have paid the money for the music and a pay-walled download of the notes, just as I did for what, in my house at least, will soon be part of a dusty corner.

But it interesting to hear the comments about how the value is lessened if it were download only. Note to Apple.