Who's Not Able To Afford $100 Plus Boxsets?

I have pretty much stopped buying these types of boxsets a few years back. Not that I wouldn't like some of them, but my tastes are all over the place, and sinking such a huge part of my limited music-buying budget into one $100, $200, $300+ box set is just not what I'm inclined to do. Same thing with deluxe reissues on vinyl of albums I already own on CD.

Note: there are some nice boxsets that are backcatalog titles released years ago that can be had for $40-50 or less. Those are the type I'm more likely to buy. That and those 5 album cardboard sleeve budget sets the majors are doing.

 

I just checked the inflation calculator and went back 30 years, just about the time CDs became widely available -- $43.63 back in 1984 = $100.00 today. New CDs cost about $15 apiece back then, IIRC, so just three discs would have been a hundred bucks in today's money. CD manufacturing costs have plummeted since then, so the books and the bells and the whistles in the box sets are a way to justify the high prices.

If they could give us high quality CDs/vinyl/hi-rez files at a decent price, and allow us to simply download all the "special" material in the books on PDFs or apps, that would be fine with me. But "the box" jacks it all up. (I bought the "deluxe" CD version of Bob Dylan's Tempest, and for five or ten bucks extra all you got was a dinky notebook with some "rare" magazine covers and picture sleeves. The Complete Basement Tapes box set better have a really nice book for the price they're charging.)

I recently bought a couple of those unadorned budget box sets, and they're growing on me. You can usually find all the track details and liner notes online anyway.

 

I can afford them but I stopped buying them. I will buy any Hendrix boxset however and I will but the super deluxe Physical Graffiti and Presence sets but apart from those I have no interest anymore.

 

I can't afford these, generally, and am not very interested in most of them anyway...

...but, I have no problem with other music fans if they enjoy/buy them. I sense an overwhelming criticism by most of the members that have posted about fans that choose to buy these. Are you really just jealous, or what? I mean, why should you care if they choose to spend $149 on a deluxe, super/ultra/snazzy/spiffy edition? It's morally reprehensible/irresponsible?

People can choose to spend their disposable cash however they desire. It's not our place to judge them if it makes them happy. I mean - they are our people, man! They are music lovers. To them, these deluxe box sets bring them joy. Maybe they enjoy the booklets/packaging - so what. There is no unwritten rule that it has to be "only about the music".

There are certainly hundreds (or thousands) of ways folks out there waste their money in more wasteful and ridiculous pursuits - I don't think I need to list them...

 

It all depends on the value. A box set of one album, like Achtung Baby for $100? No way. For the entire Warner Bros. Grateful Dead discography, nicely remastered with heaps of bonus tracks, $100 is too generous (they probably sold them for more than that but whatever.) The albums by themselves would be worth that price, so when each CD is filled to the brim with material, it's a pretty good deal. Especially since everything is there, packaged nicely in an organized box.

 

You don't need to list them, but yeah, how much does it cost for four people to go to the ballpark to watch one baseball game? Probably more than a "keeper" box set.

 

it's not money that's the issue, it's listening time. so much good music, so little time to hear it ...

 

I'd never be able to put out that kind of money, would have to answer to the household.

 

Happy owner here of 108 box sets

I always purchase the best albums of certain musicians/bands and complete the gaps by purchasing the box sets of those - which often (alas, not all...) have even relatively better sonics: The Jam, The Stranglers, Joy Division (at least: the Japanese box set), The Clash (w.i. On Broadway), The Beat, etc.

Sometimes I buy them also just for the design or beauty.

Yes, LOVE these....

 

Not only can't I afford them, I've never really understood the point of them.

So, that works out.

 

I don't mind buying boxsets which are reasonably priced and good value. Those I avoid on principle are the 3Cd/DVD types which cost about a £100. A complete rip off.

 

Can afford them but usually talk myself ouit of it. They often don't get played, or seldom.

 

I'm definitely not giving the Stones a free pass. Would have loved to own the Super Deluxe version of Grrr! but not at those prices (keep waiting for the bargain on that title to arrive!).

Don't get me started on the physical boxes for the live vault material - one word: shameful.

 

The box set paradox in a nutshell. Those who can afford them by working all hours don't have time to listen to them, while those with enough time on their hands to listen to them probably can't afford them in the first place.

 

That made me laugh for nothing. Good shot!

 

By paying customers I meant ones who stream not ones who are paying for box sets...just like says.

 

I have lost count of the amount of box sets I have. Mostly shelved in the loft to save space. Almost all are now out of print and worth more than the original retail price.

 

I buy box sets. Not every one that I want, but I do buy them. Most I've ever paid was $239.00 for the recent Grateful Dead Spring 1990 23-disc set (new). I just watched my spending over a couple of months and saved the money, so it was fairly painless. Most box sets go out of print and either retain their value or increase in value, so in a pinch I could make money by selling on the used market.

 

When they come in a nice package, with a good book, and plenty of value in terms of unreleased or rare music, then they feel special. Unlike the typical cd nowadays that often feels disposable.

I don't care for the useless swag like marbles and scarves and other tacky badges.

 

in the past would have ordered the beatles vinyl box(already have the cd mono box) as well as the extended dylan basement tapes CD......not so sure now.....might have to pass.......i did just pick up the 4 cd john coltrane quintet live at the village vanguard however($35) that should suffice for a while

 

Perfect example of an indispensable yet affordable box set with very minimal packaging and swag. As I recall, there was a minor uproar over the artwork in the Vanguard set - but I liked it. And the music... amazing, and way ahead of its time.

 

I only listen to SHM-CDs in my Ferrari

 

Yep, and I've been pleased with most of the ones I've bought. Sure I would love to have the jewel case versions of the individual albums, but sometimes I just want value for money and the original albums. Some of these sets even give you the versions with bonus tracks.

The ones I've got are: Buzzocks, Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis, Emmylou Harris, Charles Mingus, and Only Ones.

Then if you count those fatboy jewel case things like EMI is doing, I have the Stranglers, Cockney Rejects, and maybe another I can't remember.

 

Most of those can be had for way less than $100 new, at least in the U.S. I dunno about the Japanese JD set, but the standard US/UK version of that set, the Jam Set, and the Stranglers set are all good value for money.