Criterion to Region Code, Offer "Disc Swap"

[powerknowledge]

From their FAQ section:

The Criterion Collection: FAQ

While the RC is for the most part understandable, the "disc swap" offer is well-intentioned but horseshit. Essentially, you pay $25 ($20 for the disc, $5 for processing and shipping) -- PLUS the cost of mailing them your old, "equivalent edition" disc -- and they send you the BD in a paper sleeve so you can put it in the old, SD case. You would essentially spend as much to get the replacement as to get a new, BD-packaged copy from Amazon, DD, or DVDPlanet for the $40 MSRP titles. Factor in the loss of selling the used SD copy, and you get the idea. Bah.

Other interesting notes: Spine numbers will not be reordered and will match SD, and the BD edition packaging will follow the CC tradition of either traditional clamshell cases or more elaborate digipack/sleeve combo -- whatever the SD gets/got, so will the BD, in BD-standard size packaging.

[dugpa]

Originally Posted by powerknowledge

While the RC is for the most part understandable, the "disc swap" offer is well-intentioned but horseshit. Essentially, you pay $25 ($20 for the disc, $5 for processing and shipping)

Considering that most other studios (Disney aside - sometimes) don't give you anything towards upgrading, I can't be too hard on Criterion. Even after spending $25 you still have saved $15. Though you lose your SD DVD version, which is where their program kind of falls apart, as you've now paid about $65 for the BD disc if you count the original $40 for the dvd and the $25 to upgrade.

[powerknowledge]

Originally Posted by dugpa

Considering that most other studios (Disney aside - sometimes) don't give you anything towards upgrading, I can't be too hard on Criterion. Even after spending $25 you still have saved $15. Though you lose your SD DVD version, which is were their program kind of falls apart, as you've now paid about $65 for the BD disc if you count the original $40 for the dvd and the $25 to upgrade.

You "save $15" if, and only if, you paid full retail (most of their discs MSRP at $40, and can be had for around $27 through most online retailers); add in the cost of getting your old disc to them (around $2), and it's a wash.

I think the sentiment is nice, but the numbers don't work, that's all.

[dugpa]

Ah, reading it through again I see they don't give you a postage paid envelope to mail it back in. So yeah, it's not much a deal then. Just using Last Emperor as an example, it cost $31.49 at Amazon and I assume the blu-ray will be priced the same since they have the same MSRP. So it would cost you another $31.49 for the blu-ray, for a total of $62.98. If you take their deal, you pay them $25 for the blu-ray, plus the cost of shipping your original disc (which we'll call $3) for a total of $29. So going their route you'll have paid $60.49, for a savings of a whole $2.49. Though it's worse actually, because you've lost your SD copy of the film. So in reality you just paid $60.49 for the blu-ray disc, as opposed to paying an extra $2.49 and having the SD version too. So yeah, it's a nice thought, but not much of a deal. If they wanted to offer a good deal, they should take a cue from Disney and just give a $10 rebate on the purchase of the blu-ray disc if you send in your proof of purchase tab from the DVD and blu-ray discs. Oh well.

[MooglePorn]

Yeah, the swap is pretty useless... better off selling your old disc on ebay for $10.

That said, I never expected it anyway.

The numbering this is silly, they should start over... not that I care anymore.