The Town of Odyssey

Jonathan wrote:Even so, we are still losing 12 episodes a year.
edit--and to be honest, in some ways I prefer slice of life eps as opposed to storylines.

I'm aware that we're losing twelve episodes a year--that part also still bothers me. But the "being canon" issue is no longer a problem to me as long as we can still understand what we are able to hear without having to listen to the OAC episodes.

Has there been confirmation on that one way or the other?

Knight Fisher wrote:Has there been confirmation on that one way or the other?

confirmation on what?

TigerintheShadows wrote:...as long as we can still understand what we are able to hear without having to listen to the OAC episodes.

This specifically.

Peachey Keen wrote:FYI, Kidsboro do have episode numbers: 643, 644, & 645.

I'm planning something to gather fans with similar views from all across the Internet and more come January. I sure hope this, the exclusiveness, and the lack of people paying the $180 will make the OAC only eps a thing of the past.

oh, don´t get me wrong a sort of "sub series" called OAC is a great idea! Just put them on iTunes for the price of a regular episode and I would be perfectly happy. I agree it is the "exclusiveness" that smacks of elitism that offends me. I have been searching for weeks for the right word.........still cannot come up with it......something that divides the classes........regal, royalty.........like being on the Titanic in third class.

Has Brock said anything lately?

I messaged him on Facebook, I think it was three days ago, with three questions. Two of them were very straight forward. He hasn't replied.

I am not going to get the OAC...no but I do think it's good that AIO is trying something new, yeah the price might be high but I'm sure that have discussed this and figured it was best. I do hope this goes well for them, as everything has a new era (in comparison) the XBOX one, (new upcoming video game console) which is getting a lot of hate, because it is not what people are used to. This may or may not work out depending on how people react to the change. Am I against it? No, but I am against the price. That said I probably wouldn't join at any price. Just thought I'd compare between the dislikes of the Xbox one and OAC.

This is not about something new, this is about the club being set up in such a way that it disenfranchises long-term fans and, through an economic shortcoming, prevents them from hearing 12 of 24 new episodes a year.

Brock never emailed me back. And I agree this may turn off a lot of fans, even life long or long term fans. And that's a shame.

Jimmy Barclay Fan wrote:Brock never emailed me back. And I agree this may turn off a lot of fans, even life long or long term fans. And that's a shame.

It will not turn me off the history of AIO or the albums I already own but it might turn me off to continuing to follow it in the future, both online and in buying future albums. Who wants an incomplete collection at this point? If I cannot at least have the digital content, then I am not sure I am interested in purchasing anthing else in the future.

-- 30 Oct 2013 04:40 pm --

I might add that I cashed in half my retirement to move around the world. That was my choice. But it was also my choice to use part of those funds to complete my physical collection of every album that was available at the time, and few cassette albums that were not released on CD, the Last Chance Detectives both on audio and video, The AIO omnibooks, the official guide, etc. Focus got alot of money out of me then, but it was important to me to share Odyssey with my swedish husband and my kids (if we had any). A legacy. The club sort of makes that...........moot in a way.

Does anyone know if you get to keep the digital episodes at the end of the year, or if you just get to listen to it each month? Because if not, it seems even more pointless.

That was one of the questions I sent Brock over a week ago now, if the episodes would be downloadable. Again, he hasn't responded, and I have no guilt of assuming that means no. If the answer wasn't bad, he'd tell me, but I'm positive he'll ignore me if he thinks the answer would be something I wouldn't like.

Well, gee, AIO, you aren't helping your own case very much.

I sincerely hope that the OAC does not get off the ground and lasts for a very brief period >.>

I have gone through a whole range of emotions concerning this club, and finally have settled on my opinion. We fans are awfully fickle, myself included. We hated album 51. We hated the new logo. And we hated the new characters. We railed them constantly. Here we are 3 years later, and the logo isn't that bad. The characters aren't really that bad, in fact they are pretty good. Album 51 is not the best of AIO by any means, but also was not the worst and overall was a decent album. We have grown to like or even love most of the new characters (that is a general statement and does not apply to everyone of course).

The problem seems to be that we forget this show is geared towards 8-12 year olds, hardly any of which are on this board. It is AIO's primary target group. Yes, they want to appeal to the adults and teenagers too, and they do, but again...8-12 year olds. The e-mail from Craig Johansen is very informative. People seem to be focusing on just the episodes part (admittedly the biggest part) but there is much more. 726 regular episodes 13 Harley eps, 13 Family Portraits eps, 3 Last Chance Detectives 3 LCD Audios, 17 AIO videos, and Radio Theatre episodes (each available for a limited time). In addition to the new episode each month, it will be accompanied by a documentary, and numerous other additions (bonus/interviews/comic books, ect.) with an area where fans can interact with each other. Daily Devotions, a subscription to Clubhouse, and a portion of the $15 going to missions. On top of it all, you get 5 accounts. All these things cost a lot of money to produce, more than many of us realize. All of the above for $15 a month. That is a bargain if I ever saw one.

The reaction to this program is very similar to Adobe’s Creative Cloud. For those of you who don’t know, Adobe makes media creation software, the most popular being Photoshop (photos). They also make Premier (video), Audition (audio), Adobe Reader/Acrobat (pdf), and various other software. They announced that they were going to stop releasing physical versions of their products in favor of cloud subscriptions. This caused no end of controversy. People complained, railed against it, and just plain whined. They hoped it would fail miserably. They said that Adobe was being a money hog, but when someone was smart enough to compare prices of the subscription to the previous physical products, they found that there was a $400 - $700 savings using the new cloud subscription. Some people didn’t care, they still complained. It was also supposed to be more secure against piracy, but was hacked the day it was released.

As you can see, there are many, many similarities. I know for a fact that someone out there will figure out a way to download the Club exclusive episodes and post them online. I also hope that our morals won’t allow us to illegally download these episodes just because we view the situation unfair to us. Also, put yourself in the AIO team’s shoes, specifically Brock’s. You work hard on a program that you hope will appeal to the next generation and keep your brand going strong, plus being an alternate to all the decidedly un-family friendly content out there being consumed by kids. You’re pumped about it. You release some details about it, expecting to hear a lot of good comments, expecting the inevitable few bad. Instead, you get whiplashed with overwhelming negative comments, a lot of which aren’t constructive or helpful. It’s a surprise, but you take it in stride, responding to as many as you can. But the negative comments keep coming and coming in droves. People are firing off question after question on e-mails and on Facebook. People keep asking questions that you already answered.

Is it any wonder that Brock and Focus have stopped replying to some individuals? If people are determined not to like it, why even try? Some people are hoping it fails, just because it doesn’t fit their criteria or their budget. That’s like saying “If I can’t have it, you shouldn’t be able to have it either.” Did any of you think about the fact that Focus has invested a LOT of money into this program? Focus has budget problems the way it is. The fact of the matter is that if this program fails, it very well could be the end of AIO. No one should classify this huge investment as stupid for trying to build a next generation platform to appeal to the next generation. By supporting this program, you are investing in AIO’s future, not to mention missions. It is not for everyone. Nothing can appeal to everyone. But it has been already said that most, if not all the exclusive episodes will be released to the public (preferably at the end of the year, but I don’t think it was specified at this point), eliminating the main concern of many fans.

Plus, it has some great possibilities. If $15 a month is too much for two individual families by themselves, they can each pay $7.50 and split the accounts between them. If a church wants to expand their children’s ministry, they can use the club, giving one account to any family who wants it or wants to try it out to see what this “Adventures in Odyssey” thing is all about. I foresee a specific church-centered version of this program. They could buy a certain number of accounts and it will cost them {amount}, even selecting if that family would like a Clubhouse subscription or not. They could have them all shipped to the church to put into people’s church mailboxes or to each family’s house. This program has so many possibilities, it really is a shame that so many people don’t see them.

Besides that, the only other improvement I can think of is an Android version of the app. That is sorely needed and I believe it will appear soon. As for only 5 episodes allowed to be downloaded to a device at a time, that is almost 3 hours of entertainment. If people don’t want to use their data, that is more than enough for a road trip. When the family stops for a restroom or eating break, you can use McDonald’s WiFi to download 5 new episodes. Also, I assume each of the 5 accounts can each download 5 different episodes. That’s almost 10 and a half hours. And believe it or not, 5 devices in a family is not unrealistic.

Anyway, thanks for reading my post..uh...blog. haha. Hopefully those of you who read the whole thing have a new perspective on this.

(As for my family, I don’t know if we will be getting this or not. I don’t have much time for AIO right now, school keeps me busy. But I do know my younger sisters listen to it a lot while doing stuff around the house. We haven’t talked about yet, I guess we’ll see.)

AIOCREFan wrote:But it has been already said that most, if not all the exclusive episodes will be released to the public (preferably at the end of the year, but I don’t think it was specified at this point), eliminating the main concern of many fans.

False. Brock's response to that, posted earlier in this thread:

Jonathan we expect that at some point they could release, but this would be a year after the last episode in the twelve aired, so the first episode The Launch would be 2 years old at that point. Further because of our contracts and agreements to tell some of these stories we dont know always when or if they can release

It's only a possibility, and one that's far off.

AIOCREFan well said

-- 30 Oct 2013 08:39 pm --

Jonathan wrote:

AIOCREFan wrote:But it has been already said that most, if not all the exclusive episodes will be released to the public (preferably at the end of the year, but I don’t think it was specified at this point), eliminating the main concern of many fans.

False. Brock's response to that, posted earlier in this thread:

Jonathan we expect that at some point they could release, but this would be a year after the last episode in the twelve aired, so the first episode The Launch would be 2 years old at that point. Further because of our contracts and agreements to tell some of these stories we dont know always when or if they can release

It's only a possibility, and one that's far off.

We were also told that Push the Red Button (Live) would never be released due to contracts

To AIOCREFan, know that I really thoroughly read your post, and admire the stand you are taking on the issue. I think that looking at the issue through a positive perspective is important, and I like some of the pros you made about churches using the club for ministry.

But that said, I think this issue is bigger than you are giving it credit for. I admit, I was part of the group that didn't like Album 51, I didn't like the new logo, and I didn't like the whole idea of the relaunch. In fact, I made a post that asked if they should have ended permanently with album 50. All the same, I really tried to give the changes a fair shot. I remember Dave Griffin reminding us of some excellent points, to keep in mind that the new direction was a necessary direction in order for the show to survive and continue to do ministry. My dislike's were personal petty problems, and even then I could admit that the changes meant the show could continue to reach kids 8-12 in new and exciting ways, regardless of how we as fans felt.

However, this issue is very different. If it were only about my own desire to save money, or my dislike of the episodes getting cut down to 12/year, I wouldn't be so vocally against this club. But the problem is, I cannot understand how this club is good for the ministry Odyssey is supposed to be doing. How is a club that virtually cuts out any kid who's parents cannot afford the price tag a good idea?
The issue is not about me and my preference. It's about me having genuine concern about the direction Focus is taking this ministry.

..738 episodes now.

Jonathan wrote:That was one of the questions I sent Brock over a week ago now, if the episodes would be downloadable. Again, he hasn't responded, and I have no guilt of assuming that means no. If the answer wasn't bad, he'd tell me, but I'm positive he'll ignore me if he thinks the answer would be something I wouldn't like.

hm............Brock sounds very swedish.

-- 31 Oct 2013 07:21 am --

AIOCREF makes many good points, but we have offered alternative solutions that would include everyone.