Some questions for u2.com members

[Carl]

"Already building up a treasure trove of U2 specials, the new Members site already offers :

- live band performances of 'Miracle Drug' and 'Vertigo'
- a mini-documentary on how the Vertigo video was shot in Spain
- behind the scenes in the Dublin studios with five live tracks for BBC Radio 1."

What format are these in, and what is the quality like?  Are they just streaming wmv or real audio or something crap like that?

"Membership of U2.Com costs $40 per year and as well as a host of special features like your own '@U2.Com' email address, exclusive full-length performance videos and a big discount at the U2.Com Store, Members are offered the chance to book two indoor tickets or four outdoor tickets - BEFORE the general public sale of tickets."

Meh.  Tickets for one show isn't worth it to me.  I don't really want the e-mail address and won't be buying enough swag to make the 25% discount worth it.

"U2.Com has just relaunched with an all-singing, all-dancing new site, which includes, for the first time, a brand new Membership site."

Wouldn't this be a membership section?  It also cracks me up everytime they use the all-singing all-dancing bit.  If the webmasters have watched fight club I have to admire their sense of self-deprecation.

[Brad]

The "downloads" are pretty crap quality streams that can't be saved, at least not easily.  Nothing worth burning to CD or anything.

If they don't have some real, high-quality  "exclusive content" in the coming months, I won't be renewing my membership next year.

[jimbo913]

Yeah, I think this is pretty crappy of them to do.  Charge $40 for something that used to be free.  The only thing I worry about is them doing something "secret" ala melon or hasta la vista.  I wonder what those chances are.  I am still trying to decide what to do.  

I was able to save the free videos by looking in my temp internet folder and I assume the full pay videos would be something like that.

[u2rob]

I am seriously going to have to consider not renewing next year as well if the pricing structure is similar to this year's.  I mean, if advanced ticket sales aren't going to be a factor...  I just can't see it being worth the price.  Their content is frequently bland, often inaccurate, and generally lame.  And as has been mentioned, their "exclusive" content is not so hot quality-wise.

How about taking my money to run some real servers with high-quality downloads, U2.com?  Maybe hire a few more IT consultants while you're at it...*

I signed up this year because I was a Propaganda member with outstanding subscriptions.  I justified the $20 subscription fee by figuring that if I spend $40 at U2.com (and two T-shirts would already come to that amount!), the 25% discount has already saved me $10, bringing my total membership expense down to $10.  And I'm certainly willing to drop $10 on the chance to partake in advanced ticket sales.

Now here's hoping those advanced ticket sales actually amount to something.

I honestly don't know if $40 would have been worth it for me, so I can totally understand where you're coming from, Carl.

What *I* want to know is:  Who is telling the truth?  Fanfire, who stated that all U2.com members, regardless of whether they were a previous Propaganda member or not, will have the same advanced ticket priority?  Or Propaganda, who stated in a form email (reported on the atu2 yahoogroup) that former Propaganda members will be moved to the front of the line?  It can't be both...

And I'm not even going to get into the whole billing mess...  supposedly it's going to be sorted out very soon (I've read that they have had to manually enter many of the subscriptions).

So far, U2 gets a failing grade from me on this whole new system.  

*[size=-1]These complaints subject to change if they actually end up surprising me by offering free/cheap lossless downloads, or something else equally nice.[/size]

[Edited on 2004-12-16 by u2rob]