Monday, January 7, 2008

Beckett Or Bust

I've let this one lie for a little while and the dust has settled a bit. I still have mixed feelings on this new idea for Beckett. From my understanding, there will be a monthly that combined all sports and a bi-monthly baseball only magazine that will be a version of the baseball plus with more articles than the regular baseball monthly.

I suppose if I had interest in other sports this would be a good change, but I don't. My only sports interest on the collecting level is baseball. So, to get only expanded baseball collectible coverage, I need to limit my intake to every two months and pay more for the expanded magazine.

If I only got the bi-monthly baseball exclusive Beckett, I'll be saving money in the long run for the entire year, but I'll be getting content less often. If I want the privilege of monthly baseball pricing in print, I'll have to get the catch all monthly and shell out more money. I'm not sure I like that. I don't care for the other sports in Beckett. That's why I don't pick up the other monthlies.

Everything must go through a change to move forward. I just don't know if I'm ready to change. I just came back to the collecting side of baseball full time last year. I've adjusted to the changes in less content in Beckett Baseball than when I originally picked it up. Now, I'm being asked to change further away from what I liked Beckett for. It feels like I'm being asked to bend over and assured I'll be OK with it. I'm not ready to make that leap of faith.

I would hope that the online pricing isn't effected by these changes. If they do anything with the online side, Beckett should do away with the "New Release Pricing" feature. This should be free, not $4.99 per release or whatever the price is up to these days. This may make peace with some disgruntled readers, but some will be lost forever.

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