New Standard Catalog; Want Opinions

[insidethewrapper]

I thought when I bought the 2010 Catalog it would also include the CD for all cards, not just 2001 +. It looks like I bought the book and then the CD will be available later ( double whammy). I don't think there has been many changes since last year.

I like the CD to include all years 19th, 20th and 21st Century cards.

Priceguide should list NRMT (7), EX ( 5) , VG (3) pre 1981. This would be a better read for all collectors ( old and new). After 1980 ( one column NM-MT ( 8).

[ethicsprof]

Barry S.,
many thanks ole friend but you are the board's Paramahansa Yogananda
and i am, at best, your unworthy servant.

best,
barry a.

[barrysloate]

Barry- I can't even pronounce it, but thanks for the honorific.

[teetwoohsix]

My 2 cents-I like option # 4 the best....

[HRBAKER]

Now that #4 was added seems to make the most sense.

[Bob Lemke]

Given that the book's publisher is now owned by a private equity company, rather than an old-school hobby firm, it is a safe assumption that any potential changes to format or coverage that cannot be slam-dunk proven to maintain or improve the bottom line from Day 1 are off the table.

It is rock-and-hard place. Ink-on-paper hobby reference catalogs/price guides are circling the drain and no one has yet to come up with a viable model for selling this information on-line.

A good guess is that in the coming years (if there ARE coming years for this title) we will see fewer pages and more content shifted to the accompanying DVD. Resulting reductions in print costs and shipping MAY allow for a more attractive price point.

[Rich Klein]

Trust me; what is happening with the SC is very similar to many other forms of MSM. For example; look at daily newspapers; as little as 20 years ago; the Dallas Morning News had 7-8 sections a day; now they have 4. The whole issue is that the need for the information is the same but to deliver the information in a profitable manner is very difficult indeed. Radio is in much the same bind with people needing local information and having so many stations owned by consolidators; the need for live and local is superceded by those folks voice-tracking to save money.

That's why I posted four options for the people here to comment on -- because whilst many people here would just say we only need the pre-1981 part; your average reader wants all the checklists in one place. Thanks to the glut of products in the middle part of this decade doing that in one work is now probably impossible.

Thus; which option do you take and why? Believe me; this is no slam at anyone at F&W who works on the hobby side; rather it *IS* an issue which does affect the hobby as a whole. For, without strong print publications; there is really no way to properly archive hobby history, etc.

Regards
Rich