A response to the earlier Whew-related announcement.

[BrandonFG]

If you can't afford to purchase a subscription, that's too bad.  There are things I would like to have that I can't afford either.  However, I don't feel like I'm being screwed because I can't afford them.

I don't have anything to add, I just want to see this in print again.

Same here. I have rent due next week, and a few other bills. But I don't feel like I've been screwed. If I can pony up the $50 by the end of the year (shouldn't be tough) then awesome, if not, then I'll live. I'll be bummed, but I'll live.

This whole issue of game shows being a life and death matter is getting old. Be thankful the cues were found.

[TLEberle]

Same here. I have rent due next week, and a few other bills. But I don't feel like I've been screwed. If I can pony up the $50 by the end of the year (shouldn't be tough) then awesome, if not, then I'll live. I'll be bummed, but I'll live.

This whole issue of game shows being a life and death matter is getting old. Be thankful the cues were found.

Actually, I'm a lying liar from Lietown, because I do have some thoughts on this, and you articulated a really good point.

In Summer 2009 I bought my home. $86,400 at 5.125% for the life of the loan. I thought I was in at the nadir of the market and was doing the Mr. Burns finger tent every day. But then the interest rates plummeted some more. Some people are getting rates in the low threes. I looked into it and for me to get in on that sweet sweet action I would probably have to put up $50,000 more in equity. That's just not going to happen. Am I a bit bummed or steamed about this? Sure, and why shouldn't I be. But I keep plugging along, making the payments that I can do. There's lots of people who actually can't make their payments, so I'm glad that isn't me.

I heard on Facelist today that "music deserves to be heard, not nickel and diming people," and "Either way, I'm not paying an astronomical amount of money to hear jingles from TV just because record labels get all frumpy if you don't give them money for an obsolete business model," and that apparently $4.16 per month is just too damn expensive an expense, and really shouldn't all works just be fair use to everybody who wants to use them and share them while dreaming of rainbows and unicorns and ponies and such.

Dan comes here and takes the position of "if we don't pay, we're screwed." No sir, if you don't pay, you don't get goods or services. That is the basic foundation of economics. You want Terry to say "we'll give you this for free an in exchange I hope that translates into you buying memberships." Maybe that's worked elsewhere, but that's not what Terry chose to do, and it is that attitude of "I've been wronged because I don't get what I want" that earns such derision. Your idea, Dan, is like a parent saying "I'll let you have dessert first but you have to promise to eat all your broccoli first." And that just ends in tears anyway.

I'm reminded of those stellar users JonSea and erica, who wanted music for free and then whined because we wouldn't help them get what they want for free. I'm not going to take Mark's tack, though I think if you have some free time and you're able to move your arms and legs you could make enough money in a weekend to cover the subscription cost, but that's your deal.

One last thing. My parents tell me that there are several people at the family business who are living paycheck to paycheck, that any sort of financial problem would sink them. I don't get that. I've scrimped and saved and gone without, and now I have enough money to get by. If you don't have fifty bucks lying around, I'd say that the problem isn't that you can't afford to buy a subscription, but that you're straight-up unprepared for those curveballs that life throws at you, and that's much worse than missing out on the Gauntlet of Villains drum bed.

[chris319]

This whole issue of game shows being a life and death matter is getting old. Be thankful the cues were found.

And game show music cues from a show that was on and off the air 30 years ago, no less.

Here's what I just posted on Facebook in response to a fanb0i who was whining that it's not all free:

Here's what you should do: send the owner of the museum an email asking him how much of his own personal funds he spent recovering the WHEW! cues, and how much of his own funds he's put into the collection in the 30+ years he's been doing it, and to include the BMI and ASCAP fees while he's at it. Then ask yourself if you'd be willing to spend that much money so others can have something for free, keeping in mind that if he hadn't spent that money there would be no museum and a lot of this stuff would have faded into history.

YouTube has an arrangement with BMI and ASCAP yet with their millions of users and the advertising they sell on their site, they can afford it, or they would have been sued out of business quite a while ago.

[J.R.]

Awesome post.

)applause

[chris319]

apparently $4.16 per month is just too damn expensive an expense, and really shouldn't all works just be fair use to everybody who wants to use them and share them while dreaming of rainbows and unicorns and ponies and such.

Remember, this is the ilk who have a tantrum when TPIR plays Losing Horns when a Harley is lost playing Range Game, then post a video of said tantrum to YouTube for good measure.

To add to Travis' story: when I worked at the CNN Los Angeles bureau back in the '80s, cable TV was around $20 per month, but on my meager CNN salary I really had to think about whether I could justify the expenditure, particularly when I could get all the off-air VHF channels for free. In the end I opted against getting cable, so I wound up working for a company whose intended market was the general public, yet due to my low CNN wages I could not justify consuming the very product I worked to put on every day. To add to my plight, in the '80s California real estate prices were skyrocketing, so by the time I could save, say, $10,000 of my CNN wages for a down payment on a home, the required down payment would have gone up to $20,000 (yes, real-estate prices were doubling within short periods at the time). So home ownership was but a far off, distant dream. Since then, one of my favorite quotes has become, "I used to cry because I had no shoes, 'til I met a man who had no feet."

Moral of the story: In life you play the hand you're dealt.

[jjman920]

I'm sorry can we not talk about how expensive cues are (they really aren't and if you really love music, it's worth it) and talk about stuff in life. For heaven's sake, Driver's Education classes through even the most basic of agencies with the most basic education packages cost three-hundred and ninety five dollars (they've got packages up to $600). What happened to a class in high school? I need a license, and I can't get one until I pony up the dough. I'm ready to do that now after saving up, but my goodness is that insane. That's being screwed. Not being unable to scrap up $50 in 2 months.

So just so I'm understanding this correctly, the cues will never be available for streaming, right? Or will they appear on the site in the future? I understand that this is for actually having the cues on your computer, but I just wanted to know if they'll ever be available.

[Matt Ottinger]

"I used to cry because I had no shoes, 'til I met a man who had no feet."

So I asked him, "Hey, can I have you shoes?"

[clemon79]

I need a license,

Your definition of "need" isn't appreciably better than Dan's is of "getting screwed."

[TLEberle]

I need a license,

Your definition of "need" isn't appreciably better than Dan's is of "getting screwed."

I disagree with that. I bet my parents were getting a little put off at shuttling me everywhere at age seventeen, age eighteen, age nineteen and age twenty, and I was getting tired of taking the bus everywhere and being at the whimsy of the schedule and drivers.  The car has become a default mode of transportation. Getting to listen to television production music isn't even close to the same degree.

But that's what earning money and saving up is for, right? You have it so that when a thing comes up, the money is there. Yes, it eats a bowl of reproductive organs that you have to pay for a class, but wait until you own a car and some malady befalls your beloved chariot.

[chris319]

"I used to cry because I had no shoes, 'til I met a man who had no feet."

So I asked him, "Hey, can I have you shoes?"

I would never have expected a remark like that from you. Seriously.

[jjman920]

I need a license,

Your definition of "need" isn't appreciably better than Dan's is of "getting screwed."

That is true. The line between need and want (getting screwed and not getting screwed, apply it as necessary) is a tenuously thin one where some people end up believing they're on one side, when in fact they are on the other. I have reached a point in my life however where driving is becoming a bit more important than I'd expect it to be.

My point, however, was to echo that there are a lot of people who have far more important things from getting a license to paying bills to buying a home to who-knows-what, than getting the Whew! soundtrack.

But that's what earning money and saving up is for, right? You have it so that when a thing comes up, the money is there. Yes, it eats a bowl of reproductive organs that you have to pay for a class, but wait until you own a car and some malady befalls your beloved chariot.

This is also true. I just can't wait to get involved with insurance companies!

[Joe Mello]

And that's too bad.

My other major TV interest has a large swath of fandom who were raised primarily if not exclusively to steal things and not pay, so I've probably heard most of this stuff already and for higher stakes.

I think if you were an already-paying customer, then having a couple of questions is reasonable.  After all, if I'm paying money for a service, I want to make sure the value that I'm getting is worth the money.  I am the target audience for this and my only gripe is that I'm no fan of PayPal

[clemon79]

The car has become a default mode of transportation.

Yet I know more than a couple of people who do not own a car and avail themselves of Seattle's public transportation system to get around, and seem to manage just fine. Does it require some lifestyle choices and does it limit your options? Yes, absolutely it does.

My point was only that "need" is an incredibly strong word and to use it when you're ranting about someone else complaining about something trivial takes some balls.

[aaron sica]

Same here. I have rent due next week, and a few other bills. But I don't feel like I've been screwed. If I can pony up the $50 by the end of the year (shouldn't be tough) then awesome, if not, then I'll live. I'll be bummed, but I'll live.

This whole issue of game shows being a life and death matter is getting old. Be thankful the cues were found.

Due to circumstances I won't discuss here, my rent is due next week and the entire check will go to rent. I can't think it would be that hard to budget X amount of dollars a week so at the end of the year or sooner, if money is tight, $50 could be accumulated for the library. Do I *want* access to the library? Hells yes. Do I *need* it? No.

Shame on all of you who confuse needs and wants and whine when you can't have it.

[MikeK]

Due to circumstances I won't discuss here, my rent is due next week and the entire check will go to rent.

Lucky you.  I haven't worked since June and I haven't received a paycheck since early August.  And my mortgage is due on Wednesday.  Unemployment only goes so far.

Shame on all of you who confuse needs and wants and whine when you can't have it.

QFT.  What the whiners need are a mortgage/rent bill, a car note, student loan payments, and other monthly financial obligations.  Whining about $4/month will then look absolutely ridiculous.