going broke on barking
 

okay so "going broke" is a little dramatic. but i'm in the midst of a huge and expensive home remodeling project and i'm trying to watch my pennies. i've been waffling about whether to order the super extra special deluxe release with all of the extra tracks, especially because the conversion rate puts that purchase at about $80 when all is said and done.

and then there's the japanese release with the bonus YDS track. YDS is one of my faves but it's album-only and a japan itunes gift card that can cover the purchase of the entire album cost something like $40.

so i'm trying to figure out where my money is best applied. do i bust my entertainment budget and just throw $120 at my favorite musical act? the completionist in me cries YES because i can't stand the idea of not having every release. do i blow $40 just to get my hands on one version of YDS? do i instead drop $80 because at least i'll get multiple new tracks at that price?

fellow dirties, your advice is needed.

Re: going broke on barking
 

I ordered the deluxe box from UWlive prior to finding out about the Abbey Road Verz of YDS, and to be honest, I'm quite put off by it. So much so that I refuse to spend another $40 to get one track (those days are done!) that I'm just going to download it. I'm so fed up with the bonus track, limited edition, Japanese-only! aspect of this band's releases. I'm so very anti stealing music which is why this pains me but enough is enough.

Re: going broke on barking
 

Agreed. It's nonsense. That sort of marketing model deserves to fail.

Re: going broke on barking
 

That said, if they post these one-off special tracks on UWlive, I'll purchase each one separately. But I'm not importing an album for one track ever again. I used to do that with singles (BF era) but its just not worth it anymore, not with the internet.

Re: going broke on barking
 

Seconded...or uh, Fifthed rather.

This was my theory with the 3CD supremely limited Tokyo set. I finally found it on a torrent because that's the only way I'll ever be able to hear about it. I'm not buying it on ebay. UW wouldn't see that money anyways.

Re: going broke on barking
 

I'm not talking about booting the entire collection, not by a long shot. I made my choice and opted for the Deluxe 3-disc collection offered by Underworldlive.com because I thought that it would be THE definitive, Underworld-junkie's get-it-all-in-one-place collection. I was wrong, but its close. Japanese, UK, iTunes specials? That's crap. The website should trump all of that.

Re: going broke on barking
 

yeeeah, they're getting my cash and lots of it. i expect to drop 30 for when 'bungalow with stairs' becomes available on the site too

cant really have an issue with downloading a bonus track for free.

Re: going broke on barking
 

Absolutely. We want to buy music but we can't. What's that about? Oh yeah, marketing. :confused:

Re: going broke on barking
 

this is where my head is, too. there was a time when i would have put every dollar on the line to get my hands on every single remix and release, but i'm an older and more responsible person now. $40 to get a single track or $40 on diapers? unfortunately diapers win.

i want to support the band financially but album only releases force you to buy a gift card large enough to cover the whole album. so i'd end up spending that $40 and i'd have money left over on the card. and since there isn't really anything else i don't own that's only available in japan that leftover money would just languish there for god only knows how long.

Re: going broke on barking
 

i concur. $40 is not worth a single 256kbps m4a... it's not even worth a single wav... I'd pay the extra for a physical release of the japanese version only - at least then you'd have some tangible evidence of what you've spent your money on... plus it's more collectible than a digital file.

Re: going broke on barking
 

I'm not a collector, I just want to pay for the music to listen to. I honestly don't really care if its digital, on disc, or sung into my ear directly. But I do like to get every UW track available. I don't have the energy to trek into NYC anymore hoping that Tower Records imported some random foreign version of the album, then shelling out the cash just to hear one new track.

I don't doubt that these tracks will appear on UWlive at some point, but until then, I made my choice to order my box set from UW directly.

Re: going broke on barking
 

Conversion rate? Why not order it from Om Records, where it's $52 shipped, if you choose the Media Mail option? https://www.borndirty.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16960

$40?? OK, I can understand the general sentiment, about being put off by having to buy different versions to get all the bonus tracks. But the numbers being thrown around by people in this thread are just not reality. You need to read the ordering thread above to educate yourself, where there are ordering links for and information about everything in the first post. It was created specifically to try to reduce the kind of confusion that is evident in the thread about the different versions, and exclusives, and where and how they're available.

If you'd read that thread you would've seen the links to the Om Records store, the U.S. distributor, where you can get the box set shipped in the U.S. for $52 total. For "You Do Scribble (Abbey Road Version)", you'd have known that it's available on the iTunes US and UK stores too, where it is $11.99 for the deluxe album, and the standard album (which will also have the YDS track) will probably be $9.99.

So, be upset about not being able to get all the tracks in one place, but if you're upset that you're paying $80 and $40, respectively, that's your own fault.

Re: going broke on barking
 

how about uwlive post thefucking info about where to get their own goddamn material in a somewhat comprehensive manner so that people who havent trawled the net for disparate scraps of information dont get blamed for their lack of time to find it all

Re: going broke on barking
 

i went through underworldlive, added it to cart and was directed to paypal. which gave me a total with shipping in pounds. i did a currency conversion and it came out to around $80. there's nothing on UWlive about being able to get it elsewhere for $52 with shipping.

okay, mister defensive. "upset" is a bit of a stretch.

and no, i didn't see the thread up there because this forum has a BILLION GODDAMNED STICKIED THREADS up there. UEX note: when everything is important, nothing is important.

Re: going broke on barking
 

I've spent quite a bit so far..

Box Set & Vinyl from UWL. £59.02
Single CD from Japan £30.00 ~ (Maybe more if/when I get stung for Import Duty)
Sampler £3.00
Full Promo £7.00
Misc Promo stuff, Singles & 12" £30.00~

Not including the CD+CD/DVD that I ordered for friends via the HMV ticket bundle offer.

Hopefully there will be some tasty merch @ the Forum gig.

I don't have iTunes installed, I'll go quite a way for UW but there is a limit.

Re: going broke on barking
 

Obviously, I/we have no control over what appears on uwlive.com. But the ordering information has been posted several times on this forum and the Born Dirty news feed in an effort to get the information out. I don't know what more we can do.

Yes, well, I spend a lot of time researching this information and updating it, and making sure it's accurate, and trying to disseminate it. So I hope you'll understand if I get a bit miffed when someone starts a new thread with inaccurate information which is then repeated ($40?!!) several times in the thread by other people.

Yes, yours didn't come off as very upset, but several others that piled on in the thread did. It was a general "you," not necessarily you specifically.

Yes, I am aware of this concept. I don't think 6 out of 26 topics on the front page is that unreasonable or excessive. Believe it or not, we try to keep the stickies relevant and manageable. Scribble threads were on there earlier this year, and those are both gone now. Last year, there were Downpipe and William's Last Words threads stickied, and they were removed as they aged. ALAF will probably go in a few weeks, and the Barking threads will eventually as well.

Re: going broke on barking
 

hey, when you get the record, can i come over to your place and listen to it?

Re: going broke on barking
 

I think everyone on these boards appreciates the information that we get in the threads - I certainly do. But I think the comments in this thread are not trying to criticise the forum (although I agree that the $40 quote is very miss-leading) - I just think there are some frustrated people who want to get there hands on Underworld's material and find it very difficult/expensive. With no physical singles, the album announced but not available for several months, drips of information about singles/album availability and track listings and then of course, the bonus versions in various formats/countries. Throw in the sudden appearance of a Bungalow with Stairs album, accidental release of Grace, (early release of Barking on iTunes Japan?), releasing the Forum gig ticket bundle before the official album tracklistings, etc, and to be honest its just frustrating and VERY time consuming to work out whats going on.

Of course some of us fans are part of them problem - we want everything and we want it now!! and for the band it must be great that they have the freedom to produce surprises such as the Bungalow CD.

I am not trying to be over critical - but I do think things could have been handled a little better.

As an example of contructive criticism, the comment that 'overstock of the Bungalow CD will be available on uwlive' is hugely frutstrating. What if there is no overstock? what if there is only 10 available? will be this another Tokyo 3cd problem? do I need to check the shop every 12 hours so that I dont miss out on what is effectively another Underworld record? Change that comment to "a limitied run of the CD will be available in the shop shortly after the exhibition" in the news section of uwlive.com and hey presto - you have a bunch of excited fans instead of frustrated fans.

(Edit: having said the above, there is a HUGE positive in this release. I think the box set is a real nod to us fans that desperately wanted original versions of tracks. I have no doubt that Underworld massively appreciate their fans - I think my(our?) frustration is simply around the availability of information in a central place)

Re: going broke on barking
 

I love you.

Re: going broke on barking
 

yes, in exchange for babysitting services. ;)

Re: going broke on barking
 

i'm not saying you guys aren't doing a good job compiling information and making it available. the problem is that i just came back after several months of not visiting the forum and many of the stickied threads are so many pages long that i'd end up spending lots of time to find all of the posts that are relevant. if a thread starts back when the single is released and on page, say, 6 updated information is posted, i promise you i (and many people) will never find it.

my initial post was intended more as a question, because i don't have oodles of time in my day to go digging for info. and i don't have time to read through 15 pages of barking release discussion to find a nugget of information that, for all i know, may or may not be there. i went to UW live because that's all the band promotes these days, and what i found was a trip down currency conversion lane and an $84 price tag. i posted because i kept thinking, surely this can't be the only way to get my hands on this release. someone will know the answer.

if you're frustrated (understandably so) that you invest time and effort into researching and presenting helpful information, maybe consider closing sticky threads or making them mod/admin only so the updated information doesn't get lost in all of the discussion. or not, it's your site and you can run it however you want. i'm just saying that if your goal is to make information easily accessible and reduce some of the FAQ repetition of thread topics, closing stickies to prevent them from becoming unwieldy would help.

Re: going broke on barking
 

I'm probably lucky as I managed to pre-order the 2CD/DVD Box through my old Amazon.co.uk account for $45. Okay, so I miss out on the autographed print and I won't get it until the end of the month but like Cacophony, cash is tight these days.

Re: going broke on barking
 

All through this thread there's talk of You Do Scribble (Abbey Road version) being itunes album-only but for the Australian store at least (where Barking was just released today) you can purchase it separately as an individual track. So there's some savings for you. :)

Re: going broke on barking
 

Nice. If you have an Australian credit card or gift card. :D

It's like that on Germany store too though (also released today). Sounds like it could be that way everywhere, once it goes off Pre-Order.

Re: going broke on barking
 

what's bugged me is having been directed to the gig bundle edition at hmv first, i missed out (by not paying again) on the superdelux ltd edition. both of which were trailed here. briliant.

and now, of course, there's a chance just to win the thing for nothing...

in short - a fuck-up of a launch, which has only served to mess up those who shop first...

Re: going broke on barking
 

Fortunately it isn't iTunes-only on the UK store either and is available now :)

Re: going broke on barking
 

I wish I didn't spend so much money on this album. It is a decent album that I like, but I bought the box set (okay, that is no problem and I'm glad I preordered it), but also, I spent nearly $40 for the JPN album with the bonus track, and I wish I hadn't. That is a high price for this album which I'm already getting in the box set, and Simple Peal is the same as Simple Peal 1, the song from the radio broadcasts. Oh well. At the least I gave Rick and Karl a good chunk of my change. I like to support music artists I like, and I like to support Underworld with my money more than any other music artist. Still, I could have done without getting the JPN album.