I'd be quite happy with a download pass of some sort rather than the DBS.

As soon as the issue arrives in our house the CD gets ripped into a "Samples" folder in iTunes and then tracks are progressively whittled down according to taste.

...but I don't think you're typical either. This is a time when a lot of people are changing the way they consume music. Then again, a lot of people aren't. The record companies value the Word readership because they are prepared to try new things and they buy CDs. If we made the tunes available as downloads a lot of people might not bother and it's a fact that people tend to value things they can hold in their hand over things that are just noughts and ones. Then you've got the security issues which attend anything that's on the web. I suppose you could say that under the present system you've got the choice of playing the CD or ripping the CD and just playing the MP3s.

...there was no CD at all. As it is I look at the track listing and maybe once a year there's a track I want to hear, but the rest of the time the disk just goes into the bin. Charity shops won't take them as they're free giveaways and can't be resold, so as it stands the CD is landfill for me every month. If you had an option to subscribe to the magazine but opt out of the CD entirely (and naturally see an additional saving on the price) I'd subscribe like a shot.

that you are barking up the wrong tree if you think an influx of subscribers will result from offering the cd in a different type of box to that on offer in newsagents. Price is the one and only significant factor at work.

"This is partly an economic issue etc." does sound nearer the mark to me. If there are fewer copies left unsold on a newsagent's shelves (because of damage or other reasons) then it makes business sense. There'll also be a marginally slimmer package which makes for easier bulk handling - and maybe even savings on copies that there are lower margins on.

Being a bit more playful, can I just say "poor fragile shelves" (more on the basis of clear grammar then anything else)....

I'm not sure how highly valued/practical the DSBs are? They are a bit oversized so I can't file them away in my cd drawers. I end up buying loads of plastic sleeves to put them in and throw...sorry recycle the DSBs. Which is a shame because the covers are really nice.

A simple cardboard sleeve wold suit me fine (and save me a few bob)

...Disc Box Slider sleeve and am relieved us subscribers shall still receive them.

.

It is remarkable how much like school children any collection of anonymous adults can be...

"What? Why"?

"He just told you why.."

"God, like, that's just so lame.."

"I don't really like it anyway..."

"Just get rid of it altogether..."

Thanks for letting us know, David. I appreciate the effort you go to in communicating this information. Like the magazine, really like the CD, really like the web site. Keep up the good work.

that I would much prefer the flat cases to the slider!

There's no pleasing some people etc

it's been the wallet for quite some time. Are you still doing the subscribers letter, Mr H? We don't get those either!

(oh and as a general contribution to the thread - of course you should keep giving away the CD's; you've never stated that the mag would be cheaper without it, dagnabbit, have you?)

...i'd re-subscribe as long as I didn't get the smug Hanlon CD. Got anything better? I like the cover mount cd's and have found lots of new faves through them.

c.f. ditch the CD thread

If so, how well protected are the mag and the disc in the mail? I'd like to subscribe because it's so hard to find the mag over here (and when it does arrive on the newsstands it's literally one to two months later than in England) but I am having a hard time picturing everything arriving intact by mail.

… if someone responded to my emails about why my online subscription renewal doesn't seem to have worked after two attempts...

I re-subscribed while the Island box promo was running. The first time I subscribed the gift CD arrived before the mag, but I've had my first issue of the mag for a week or so now and there's still no sign of the Island box.

A postal strike thing, maybe?

I'm a Belgian subscriber for 2 issues now!.
Haven't seen my Island CD-box promo, and recieved today with the october issue a 'simple' cardboard wallet!!
Is this a joke - or what!
I'm a collector!

my cheque into the post yesterday to resubscribe. For me it's the quality of the writing and the excellent Reviews section that caused me to blow the moths away from the cheque book and send Word Towers my hard earned....

...which has the potential to turn into something more permanent. True to my word, when I get my first pay-cheque in a month or so, the first thing that I will do is subscribe.

I don't care about the sleeve (but I do like the slider thing), just keep the CD coming. I may not like all of it, but I'd never have head most of those people/groups without those excellent compilations.

And I won't give up my CDs in general without a fight. Better that LPs. And flexidiscs...

Excellent mag. Deservedly a success and award winner.

instead it was the basic cardboard sleeve.

in Canada. The current issue (Flaming Lips) arrived in my mailbox the very same day I finally managed to find the previous issue (David Bowie) on newsstands here. A full month sooner by mail. Well done, Word. (But I haven't yet received my free Duckworth Lewis Method CD -- what gives with that?)

you were.

Disc Box Slider ...

... on Astral Weeks ?

[gets greatcoat]

you can get the freebies when you renew your current subscription - when my subscription was up for renewal Delta Spirit was the freebie on offer. I asked for it and the very nice person on the other end of the phone said yes!!

...when Nick Lowe's Brentford Trilogy was the free gift for new subscribers. I wanted that offer but believed it wasnt on offer to existing subscribers. Now i'm a little confused. Do you simply have to chat nicely to the person on the subscription line to get a gift???

And its not like I want to be awkward. I know that these are hard times for all magazine publishers. But it would be nice to offer the gifts to both new and those signing up for another year.

Even though my subscription has lapsed I still buy it every month so will no doubt give in and re-subscribe soon as the cover price edges ever nearer to five quid.

I've no complaints about the mag tho, still quality. Keep up the good work.