When and why do you tap out money-wise with box sets, limited edition releases etc ?

I'd like to say - it depends on the band and the contents, and a number of factors come into play. I'll examine the upper limits.

Are we talking a lot of music I already own, or is there something new? If it's a mix of both, then what's the ratio, and what precisely is that extra material? The more "new" material there is, the higher the price I'm willing to pay.

As for bonus material, I favor Demo's, B-Sides, and outtakes over live material.

A big one for me is Surround mixes. A Surround mix is a whole new way to explore the music that drew me to the box, so I rate it highly.

These days Remasters are something that worries me more than draws me in. Just being remastered isn't a real draw on its own.

Video content isn't much of a draw for me, I'm afraid. I much prefer an audio only focus. This can change somewhat for truly rare material, but if you look at say the new Floyd DSOT box - well, it's well known footage and not very exciting, albeit cleaned up.

A nice hardcover book - with something to read (not just pictures) - is another biggie. You can't beat a good book, and it means the set satisfies in multiple ways, both as sound and reading. I simply love books that cover the music, its time and place, its genesis. A real nice value add.

Finally, the presentation matters too. For me, Pink Floyd scores highly here. They have a great aesthetic, and it just feels premium. But if I look at something like the Rory Gallagher Irish Tour mutli-CD set - the packaging is beyond awful. There was a Charlotte Moorman box set I'd been wanting, but missed first time around. It came in a sturdy box. So when it was reissued - same contents but in cheaper packaging, I happily grabbed it. Mistake. Talk about cheaper packaging. If I saw the original again I'd probably buy it just for the damn box. Packaging matters.

So to add it all up: A good amount of new material + Surround Mix/es + Hardback book + a nice box = 's premium dollar for me.

Finally we have number of discs. That's got to factor in as well. Let's say I'm talking about 16 to 24 discs. I'd peg my top around the $250. Even that would take something special. But that would be the top end.

Duplicate discs, obsolete discs (such as Floyd's Later Years which has a huge number of DVD's that I'd never remove from their sleeves), and discs that duplicate content I already have, take money off that price for me.

Still, it's not a scientific thing. Some artists I like better than others, some artists have material that is hard to come by. For example, if we ever get a career spanning box of John Cale's work (sadly never happened, probably because it'd be a rights nightmare since he recorded on many different labels) with a couple of albums that have never been on CD (Caribbean Sunset Come Alive) - then I'd gladly pay top dollar. A similar box of Julian Cope, I wouldn't.

One final caveat - the release schedule. What else have I been buying? I don't know about others, but I'm drowning in boxes right now. In the last few months I've bought multi-disc sets from King Crimson, Ultravox, Lou Reed, Nucleus and Eric Carr, Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream. I bought a three disc anthology set from Cherry Red, and another three disc set from Paradigm Records. So that matters.

 

I wanted to add something, based on the other responses.

Marbles and Scarves? Man, I love this stuff. Truly. It's great to look at, and really fun. I bought a box this year (avant garde box from various artists from an annual festival) and it included 10 or 12 posters for the shows over the years - really neat. I really like the bric-a-brac.

I've solved the problem of the "book I'll only look at once" by looking at it multiple times.

Space is not a problem. Pieces of furniture move out before my music.

Different colored Vinyl copies? I'm CD, not Vinyl - but if I were Vinyl again, I'd most definitely NOT worry about that at all.

45's? Oh hell no.

I buy everything to listen to - I don't collect only for the sake of it.

 

It has to be an artist I am really interested in and it has to offer value in terms of new material and/or a surround mix. I'm hard pressed to spend more than $120 on any deluxe set.

There are only a couple of deluxe sets that I really crave - a Beatles Revolver set and Harrison's ATMP. I assume the Revolver set will be remixed (which I think it sorely needs) and offer a 5.1 mix. ATMP will need both a remix and a surround mix to get my money. I will likely pass on the Let It Be deluxe set.

 

I will still buy the Beatles album boxed sets but now done with everything else big boxed sets. I find I rarely listen to the extra material.

 

My cash dividing line is basically not buying anything anymore,
NO big boxes anymore by any means.
Christ, I have over 2800 CD titles (I don't know how many discs that is), and I'd GLADLY sell the majority of it, keep a small portion and that's it and stream the rest,
I'd rather have the money!

 

pink floyd is my favourite band but confession time: i never bought the early years and later years box. i ended up cherry picking what i wanted from the internet.

i was dead set on getting the early years but was already spending on other stuff and told myself i would save up for it. but 400-500$ is very very pricey. after a few months passed and i had already heard everything on the internet i decided to just pass on it.

 

Your MONEY may vary too.
I am sorry for the money I wasted on getting different versions of a CD, or the stupid waste of money the large Beatles or Dylan boxes or Springsteen that I bought, etc.
It's all a rip-off.
"It's a playground to the rich but it's a loaded gun to me."

 

I appreciate that we're all different - but man, that just sounds sad.

I'm an old man, and I've wasted money on all kinds of nonsense over the years - stuff I didn't need, be it booze, expensive meals, clothes, a car that was larger than I needed, and goodness knows what else. Now THAT was a waste of money. But music I can enjoy today as I did yesterday or last year, or ten years ago? A carefully curated collection that mirrors me through the years? I'll never regret that. Each to their own, I guess.

 

My criteria works in three ways.

Firstly, it has to have material on it that is relevant and interesting to what it is attempting to promote or distribute. If The Beatles 2018 white album reissue campaign excluded those wonderful outtakes that were previously not circulated and bootlegged before, being of such quality that they provided a whole new perspective to those recording sessions, I would not have cared to purchase or invest my time listening to that release. Very simple.

Secondly, the packaging has to be of a certain serviceable quality to help with the safekeeping and protection of the box-set’s contents and material. If it is appealing and the presentation and artwork was given considerable thought, that would also be very important to my overall appreciation and likelihood of making the decision to purchase such box-set.

Thirdly, the price of the product has to be reasonable enough to incentivize me to make the purchase. Basic behavioural economics and marketing.

 

There have proven to be several dealbreakers that kill my desire to purchase a box set:

1. Multiple formats. If you had told Year 2000 me that I would skip Super Deluxe Editions of TUSK, PLEASED TO MEET ME and DON'T TELL A SOUL, I wouldn't have believed you. But I decided I was not paying for vinyl (or cassettes or downloads) I'll never use.

2. Replayability. Am I really going to listen to the additional material more than once?

Generally speaking, I find label and genre comp boxes very replayable. Concert material is generally the best bonus material for single-artist boxes. I regard additional discs of demos, alternate edits and the like with suspicion, although I do enjoy the Doors box set with all alternate versions.

Some acts are creatures of the studio and released all their usable stuff on their albums. I don't expect the Beatles, Eagles, Steely Dan or Led Zeppelin to have left much worthwhile on the cutting room floor, either because of how they recorded, how quickly they were releasing material, and how thoroughly they were already cannibalizing their vaults for NOS releases.

Artists who were shockingly prolific, like Bob Dylan, Prince, Elvis Presley or Elvis Costello are far more likely to have worthwhile additional studio material.

3. Remastering. I stopped buying the R.E.M. boxes because they began adding more than one disc of listen-once-and-file-it extras and because the sound is uniformly terrible. I couldn't bring myself to pay money to hear OUT OF TIME and AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE, two of the finer sounding mainstream rock CDs you'll ever hear, crushed. Seriously, why not issue a genuine audiophile CD for home listeners and smash the same master for streaming? Wouldn't it take take, like, ten seconds to de-dynamicize a properly remastered album?

 

About the only expensive box I splurged for was the Beatles mono CDs. Other than that, sometimes I get deluxe boxes cheap (a damaged Sgt. Pepper for $50) or I wait for them to go on sale (the Imagine box for $40). The Dylan Cutting Edge box was right up my alley, but I couldn't even consider it (I did get the mono box for $40 just a few months ago though). But really, I don't go in for a lot of the collectors' sets, especially if they get around $100 or more. Colored vinyl and different CD editions usually don't do anything for me. The new edition of the WHO album with the live tracks for $15 may get a purchase from me however.

 

I have almost zero interest in any box set that I can stream losslessly, if not I’ll buy it discounted or used

 

It depends.

I collect R.E.M., so I buy things like recent Target yellow vinyl reissue of Out of Time out of completism, even though I already have ten or twelve other copies of that album.

For McCartney, I’m a completist up to Wings at the Speed of Sound, but much less so thereafter. But financial realities intrude: when the Big Barn Box was announced, I tried to buy it, but, by the time I was able to get the money together, it had sold out. So I bought the two Archive boxes of Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway and missed out on the Wings Over Europe bonus disc. Life goes on. For Flaming Pie, I just bought the two CD reissue and skipped all of the big box set variants. For McCartney III, I’ll buy whatever the cheapest mass market CD is, and also maybe one copy of whatever color vinyl edition my local record store gets. I get why some fans have to have all nine color variations of the vinyl, but my fandom isn’t that great.

As someone mentioned above, outside of my very favorite artists, I find myself less and less inclined to buy box sets or deluxe reissues. I really like the Replacements, but feel no need to own the new Pleased To Meet Me box set. The original album is all I need to hear. I don’t need to hear the outtakes and demos. Furthermore, the outtakes and demos for that set, and many others, are all on Spotify, so why add one more $50 box set to my already overflowing shelves when I can listen to the outtakes and demos once on Spotify instead of listening to them once on the $50 box set?

 

When I retired in 2016, I realized I would have to stop buying expensive stuff. Anything having to do with Beatles, Bowie, Pink Floyd used to be mandatory for me. I even bought the outrageously priced "Early Years" box set and paid in installments. Not anymore. I'm soon turning 60. It's time to relax and enjoy the huge collection I have amassed. I haven't stopped buying entirely, especially books (including e-books and my beloved audiobooks). But my collection of Beatles, McCartney and Bowie deluxe editions will have to remain incomplete.

 

Well, let’s put it this way: I’m still waiting to find a new sealed copy of More Blood More Tracks for under $100, preferably $80-ish. After getting the six disc Cutting Edge for $68 back in 2016, even $105 is steep, which is where it’s been hovering around for what seems like forever.

 

Well, that's the thing. Neither my wife nor I regret the money we've spent on the LPs and CDs we've bought over the decades. But that's because we don't buy the same records over and over. I see people complain all the time about how expensive records are, and then I see that they're talking about new presses of albums they've already bought before. I would never buy a new copy of an album I already own when there are albums I would like just as much that I haven't heard yet.

 

Well said!

For me, the book is often the key reason I will buy a deluxe set!

As someone who enjoys archiving or researching certain artists recording and session info, books like those included the Sgt Pepper box or the McCartney archive sets are often worth the price of admission alone! I can't imagine buying one of these sets and just flipping through the books once, as if they are just trivial or empty inclusions that were thrown in at the last minute.

Of course, I can respect anyone who doesn't like or reference these books and such sets but, quite frankly, if someone is never going to play the material found in a box set, use the (often) multiple formats provided, OR ever appreciate the details of the book more than once, then not only does it sound like they have a cut-off line with box sets, it sounds like the line of allure never even begins!

 

U2's new LP box for All That You Can't Leave Behind was a bridge too far for me. I did get the CD set, and I had just bought the album on vinyl in 2018.

I don't think that I will listen to the outtakes often enough to shell out $26o for vinyl, and most of the remixes I will probably never listen to.

 

Thoughtfulness needs to play a role. The Kinks 50th Lola box has everything except a a pressing of the vinyl LP - that's a fail in my book. Doing a a box set that overlaps another box set (especially one released less than 10 years ago) comes across as thoughtless and in some cases, greedy. If you're not going to recreate all of items, die cuts, artwork etc. that came with the original issue, just don't bother. Box sets are the last place you should be cutting corners on.I really don't care what colour the vinyl is, I just want something that's flat, free of debris and sounds good.

 

It's not as exciting as it used to be.
I'm done.

 

Retired a little over three years ago so money a little tighter than when I was working. Thankfully I grabbed all the box sets I wanted up to that time. So now I rarely venture into $100 territory unless something like the
White Album comes around. Anything like Nuggets is always worth grabbing which I did upon release some twenty years ago.

 

I’m not quite as old as you, but not far behind, either, and I agree 1,000% with this. Over the past five years, I culled my record collection several times, trying to get it down to the cream of the crop. I still have more records and CDs than any normal person, and have been enjoying going through them and discovering gems I had forgot I even owned. And cleaning records I bought in the frenzy of my 20s, 30s, and 40s, and sitting down and really listening to them.

 

I wish I had control. I'm all over the place when it comes to stuff like nice box sets. If I'm broke then I will wait until I am not. But, I might have that internal conversation that says "spending that kind of money on that is insane. what the hell are you doing?" but the devil says "dude, this is a one time box set that once it's gone, it's gone. and remember the last time you pussed out and didn't get that set, you've regretted it since". Yeah, the devil is gonna win. But, the most I have ever spent was on the Pink Floyd box set The Early Years. I got the best deal I could but I still spent over $400 for it. But, normally, I would say $250 and I have to tap out. Though, I have spent that much, or about that much, for mono Beatles vinyl or Beatles/Paul box sets. Even contemplated (for 2 seconds) picking up the complete The Beatles 2014 mono vinyl box set for like $1,200 or $1,300. But, thankfully, common sense prevailed in that situation. But, maybe someday.

 

Surround sound speaks loudly, though after the Goats Head Soup disaster area I will think carefully about any future releases from the Rolling Stones.
First time stereo (not DES) for vintage material speaks loudly.

I can't take the money with me when I snuff it.

 

I've never purchased a box set, and rarely buy expanded 'special editions' of albums I already own.

Most of my expenditure goes towards greatest hits albums, so I only have to own one or two releases by each artist to get their best songs. This means that my CD collection is a manageable size - eg. in the hundreds, not the thousands.

On a forum like this, the above might sound like sacrilege, but it's worked well so far.