01-18-2006, 10:59 PM
I'm beginning to get extremely frustrated... Uncontrolled greed has caused the double-dip mentality to really take over the DVD/CD market. It has recently reached ridiculous levels. I basically refuse to buy DVDs now. The re-release Recut/Extended Sin City was the one that put me over the edge. I was all excited for it to hit DVD, bought it on one of the first days, and then they rerelease it for the Christmas season with tons of extras and I'm sitting here thinking to myself, "Now why did I pay for this crappy version again?" Are they consciously trying to flip me the bird for purchasing their product?
My CD buying has also taken a serious hit. What actually prompted this post was my attempt to buy a decent version of 'The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars' for my dad... only to have to sift through about six different rereleases of the same friggin CD. The result? I just didn't buy anything - it wasn't worth my time.
Which leads into my next point: Is the double-dip philosophy really economically ideal for these companies? A substantial number of my friends no longer purchase DVDs/CDs because everyone is so tired of these companies. The people who still purchase DVDs are now usually waiting 4+ months before they buy them since they want to wait and see if a recut, extended, director's cut, etc. will come out since they don't want to get roped into purchasing an inferior version. This obviously really hurts the oh-so-important opening week sales figures. The internet makes it ridiculously easy to download movies and music... it seems as though making it as difficult as possible for your customers to find what they want and constantly screwing them over when there's the dangling carrot of being able to go download everything for free anyway is just poor business strategy. Whatever happend to releasing a quality product and then selling said product on its merits? Why do these companies feel as though they have to trick us into getting gouged for as much money as possible? All it does is disenchant the customers and create distrust (in my experiences at least).
After having said all of that, I'm still probably going to go and buy the Recut/Extended Sin City (once the price drops), because I enjoyed the movie and I want to see as many of the extras as possible. So I guess they got me there. But the next time I see a Dimension (the studio that produced Sin City) DVD, I'm going to remember that they screwed me over last time with this double-dip crap. I wonder what I'm going to do if I'm on the fence about purchasing the DVD?
My CD buying has also taken a serious hit. What actually prompted this post was my attempt to buy a decent version of 'The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars' for my dad... only to have to sift through about six different rereleases of the same friggin CD. The result? I just didn't buy anything - it wasn't worth my time.
Which leads into my next point: Is the double-dip philosophy really economically ideal for these companies? A substantial number of my friends no longer purchase DVDs/CDs because everyone is so tired of these companies. The people who still purchase DVDs are now usually waiting 4+ months before they buy them since they want to wait and see if a recut, extended, director's cut, etc. will come out since they don't want to get roped into purchasing an inferior version. This obviously really hurts the oh-so-important opening week sales figures. The internet makes it ridiculously easy to download movies and music... it seems as though making it as difficult as possible for your customers to find what they want and constantly screwing them over when there's the dangling carrot of being able to go download everything for free anyway is just poor business strategy. Whatever happend to releasing a quality product and then selling said product on its merits? Why do these companies feel as though they have to trick us into getting gouged for as much money as possible? All it does is disenchant the customers and create distrust (in my experiences at least).
After having said all of that, I'm still probably going to go and buy the Recut/Extended Sin City (once the price drops), because I enjoyed the movie and I want to see as many of the extras as possible. So I guess they got me there. But the next time I see a Dimension (the studio that produced Sin City) DVD, I'm going to remember that they screwed me over last time with this double-dip crap. I wonder what I'm going to do if I'm on the fence about purchasing the DVD?
--Mith
I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
Jack London
I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
Jack London