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

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by Harvey, Aug 11, 2012.

  1. RandyS

    RandyS Vice Admiral Admiral

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    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.
     
  2. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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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.
     
  3. plynch

    plynch Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    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?
     
  4. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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

    Esteban Commander Red Shirt

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    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.
     
  6. RandyS

    RandyS Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Exactly. My point was that for the amount of money involved in this instance, I felt better about actually buying an item, rather than just a download.

    Why this is a hard concept is beyond me, but to each their own, and all that.
     
  7. plynch

    plynch Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    The 99 cent self-published ebook is really devaluing the product called "book," say the traditional publishers. People are downloading genre lit left and right, never reading a lot of it. Turning lit into a cheap commodity. They probably said that about Pocket Books in 1949.

    Anyway, oddly enough, I'd be ok with just the download if I could download a backup copy and the printed material for my tablet. I have WAY too many things gathering dust.
     
  8. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Oh, I understand why it might feel more substantial to get a physical item, but if you actually think about it, the physical item is the least valuable part of what you're paying for. The physical materials without the information they contain would be virtually worthless, and they wouldn't give you the fulfillment of actually hearing the music or reading the notes. But the same information (the music and notes) contained in a different physical substrate (i.e. your hard drive or flash drive or iWhateverTheHeck) would be just as fulfilling to listen to and to read. Looked at that way, the difference between a physical item and a downloaded one is superficial. It's understandable why our instincts, shaped by millions of years of interaction with the natural world, would react to a physical possession as more real and more satisfying to have than an intangible quantity of information, but those instincts are poorly adapted to the modern world.

    On the other hand... for most of human history and prehistory, before recording media such as writing, the only way one person could give another person possession of a song or a story or a piece of information was to teach it to them -- a pure transfer of information with nothing physical changing hands. So maybe we're now getting closer to the way it was for most of our species' existence.
     
  9. Search4

    Search4 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Received this the other day and truly, truly enjoying it. Fabulous memories and i'm learning a great deal about scoring a TV show. Excellent job.
     
  10. Dalen Quaice

    Dalen Quaice Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Digital downloads are not much a collector's item.

    When the set sells out, fans that were unaware of this CD release or were short of cash will be searching for these. I personally think it is a good investment. Even if See-BS decides to reissue the music in the future, it will likely not be the LA LA Land restoration. Hopefully, they made an agreement that the music would not be reissued for a certain time after the LA LA land release.
     
  11. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Still, downloads are easily threatened by storage failure (internal/external)--literally in the blink of an eye, it can all vanish or become corrupted beyond repair and/or use. Of course if someone is thinking you can back up the downloads on a CD...then you would have been better off buying the box set anyway.
     
  12. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Finished seasons one and two, but it is hard not to go back and enjoy certain tracks again and again. "The Enemy Within" and "Charlie X" scores are so well written, atmospheric and moody, that it reminds me of the edge of mystery felt in early episodes before the comfort of writing and performances gelled into the Trek everyone is most familiar with (although still classic work all around).
     
  13. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Well, sure, it's a given that you should back up all your computer data. That's just basic common sense. And you can back them up onto anything -- CDs, flash drives, your portable music player or phone, or all of the above.
     
  14. ATimson

    ATimson Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I'm thinking that I can back up downloads onto multiple machines in my house, as well as at least two places on the Internet, with relative ease. Whereas I can't back up the CDs without copying them to my computer first, and they can disappear just as quickly in the event of a robbery or house fire. :)
     
  15. cbspock

    cbspock Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    The tracks for the Man Trap, man they are depressing and tedious to listen to. It is fun just listening to the cues and scenes they were used for just pop into your head.


    -Chris
     
  16. RandyS

    RandyS Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I don't know about depressing, but if by tedious, you mean repetitive, then yeah, I agree.

    Of course, that still doesn't equate with "bad" in my opinion.

    Tonight, I'll be listening to disk four of season two, the one that starts with "Meatmorphosis". I'm really looking forward to that since I've always loved that music. Last night was the disk that had my most favorite TOS episode, "Mirror, Mirror. I had already knew from reading the linear notes that it would only be a partial score, but the biggest surprise for me there was that the cue that opened that episode was missing. It's also the cue that opens the episode "Obsession", but it sure fits in with the rest of "Mirror's" music. I'm hoping I'll find it on the second of the season two library cues, since it wasn't on the first (also last night's disk) either.
     
  17. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    It's the first 10 seconds of the "Mudd's Perfidy" library cue (Season 2, Disc 5, track 36), adapted from the "Mudd's Women" score by Steiner.
     
  18. Daddy Todd

    Daddy Todd Commodore Commodore

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    One reason digital downloads can never be a collector's item is because you don't actually OWN them. You only purchase a non-transferable license to read/listen to/watch them.

    When I buy a paper book or a CD, I can read/listen until I grow bored with it, then sell it on eBay and possibly get some return on my investment. I can loan it to a friend, family member or co-worker, and possibly create a new fan for the creator(s).

    Publishers of books, music and other media HATE this.

    It became clear during the run-up to passage of the DMCA that publishers are really trying to move all media to a pay-per-view (pay-per-read, pay-per-listen) model. They want to make us consumers pay EVERY TIME we "enjoy" their product. Only a humongous consumer backlash prevented this from becoming reality.

    But I'm not foolish enough to believe they've given up on this notion. I fully expect it to resurface in the future, and probably become law. At which point I'll stop "licensing" new media product and just enjoy the stuff I've already purchased.

    But this is a very tangential issue to the subject at hand. I love this set beyond words! This is the best Xmess present I ever gave myself.
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2012
  19. RandyS

    RandyS Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Ah, good. Thanks.
     
  20. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Not all publishers. Perhaps you aren't aware that several months ago, Tor Books began making all its e-books (including my own Only Superhuman) available DRM-free, which, if I understand it correctly, means you do actually own it and can make a backup copy, lend it to a friend, etc.