You're still thinking like a long-time fan. Set aside for a moment how awesome you already know Odyssey to be and think like a parent who has no interest in listening to/watching a children's program for any longer than his/her own children are in the target age. It doesn't matter to this parent how much they could have bought over the same time with the same amount of money because they're not interested in keeping any of the episodes.Dallas R. wrote:Families would do much better to spend $15 a month to buy 12 new albums each year and then have the entire collection in 5 years.
Imagine for a minute a parent whose child has just asked for Adventures in Odyssey. They look over the program, decide it's acceptable for their child, see that their child is in the target age range, then glance over and see their DVD collection overflowing with Barney, Dora, Veggie Tales, Sesame Street, etc. Countless DVD's that the kids have outgrown take up space in their living room. Here's a way for their children to get the full benefits of Odyssey without having to invest in a collection their children (so they think) will inevitably outgrow and give up. You and I know that "investing" in a collection would actually be the cheaper route, but that's not what the parent is looking for. At least with the OAC they get a children's magazine, too.
I'm not saying I like it. I'm trying to look at it from the perspective of their target audience. Actually, I think it's a really great idea except for the fact that they're releasing exclusive episodes through the club. If they had a different way to give the exclusive episodes to us long-time fans they would really be on to something.