How much would you pay???

[Nephrinn]

I don't mind paying the $8 fee for basic access, but I agree with others that the premium content for $25 is a bit too much. Mostly because much of the premium content is available to me in another, more convenient form (white rabbit press kanji flashcards, grammar books, ect..)

I get two things out of JPod101 and that's the amazing podcasts and the lesson notes PDFs. Honestly, I sort of wish the podcasts WEREN'T free so I could pay for them because they are so darn good and informative. I feel like I'm ripping them off every time I listen to one...

Perhaps the Jpod101 crew could put together a nice CD/DVD set of all their podcasts and lesson notes and sell those as learning material...

[Ulver_684]

Lots of banter about the new format and the subscription fees. My question is simple. What do you think a fair price for the web-service is/what price would you be willing to pay?

Current prices are:

Basic
1 Month Subscription $8 USD
6 Month Subscription $36 USD
12 Month Subscription $60 USD

Premium
1 Month Subscription $25 USD
6 Month Subscription $120 USD
12 Month Subscription $180 USD

I pay $66.00 dollars for a three months Premium choice and now it expire so fast!
so I recommend the 12 month Premium Subscription $ 180 USD it takes a whole year to expire and you will learn alot.

Why didn't I renew when JP101 was giving out a 25% discount! I was silly and selfishness with all those dumb comments on the JP101 lesson!

[untmdsprt]

People!! Are you forgetting that JPod101.com is brought to you by Erklaren?!? If Japan is anything like the US then they may use JPod101 as a tax write-off. If not that then maybe a community service or show corporate goodwill toward the community.

$60/year for the basic service is nothing! I just spent that much on two more of the graded level readers. When my current subscription ends in June, I plan to buy the basic year.

Granted the premium service seems kind of high, but I haven't used all its features. How about introducing a mid-level scheme? Or even an ala carte price?

The JPod crew are doing a great service by bringing us this podcast. They must love doing it since it's still here. How about we get their opinion?

[padrik]

$60 is not bad for basic I dont think, if your new to Japanese.

I have basic, but I honestly only listen to intermediate and am still hoping for a advanced to show up someday. The newbie and beginner stuff has too much english content.

For more advanced members, maybe add some blogs or stories all in Japanese without the explaination or have the explaination also in Japanese, no english, and we would value it more I am sure... I do think its great for beginners though.

カール

[yoshifeatures]

i agree with most users in saying that its too little value for such a high cost. their is enough content on the web thats free and has equal if not more value.
if jpod wants to justify the price we need some features that you cant find for free elsewhere.

[Yamanchu]

I've bought the basic subscription for 2 reasons. Firstly I now get the casual and the formal version of the lessons, the shortened version, having only the Japanese is very good for revision, and secondly I just felt guilty at getting the lessons for free. And let's face it, they impart a lot of knowledge and are very good.

[ESteen]

Lots of banter about the new format and the subscription fees. My question is simple. What do you think a fair price for the web-service is/what price would you be willing to pay?

Current prices are:

Basic
1 Month Subscription $8 USD
6 Month Subscription $36 USD
12 Month Subscription $60 USD

Premium
1 Month Subscription $25 USD
6 Month Subscription $120 USD
12 Month Subscription $180 USD

I think the Basic subscriptions are priced perfectly for what you get. I don't think the Premium subscriptions are worth that much more, though. I am a college student (i.e. I have absolutely no money) and $25 a month is more than I would willingly pay for the Premium features. To be honest, I would rather pay a one-time fee for the extra features that the Premium Subscription offers than keep paying $17 extra a month. It would be better as a one-time-fee anyway. In any given month, I have no idea how much time I'll get to spend online-- but it never ends up being worth the extra $17 a month.

I have an idea! Maybe they could put the review and the quizzes on audio, that way they can be taken anywhere-- I would pay $17 extra a month for that!!! They could have it as a part of the Premium Podcast. It's hard to explain so let me give an example: for "audio flashcards" they could say something like "Watashi wa Yoshi desu." and then pause, during the pause you would say the translation, then they would give the answer (they could also do it in reverse, where they say the English and you give the Japanese translation). For quizzes they could do things the same way, except instead of getting the answers right after the questions, they could ask all the questions first and then have all the answers at the end (you'd need a piece of paper and a pen, or a good memory, but it's better than having to be in front of a computer in order to study or quiz yourself). I'd love to see that feature for all the lessons-- I'm sure it would be too much of a hassle to do one audio quiz and one audio flashcard file for every single lesson, so they could have a quiz and audio flashcard file for every few lessons...maybe every five...or ten. I don't know, it's something to think about!

If I see this feature on JapanesePod101.com, I'll be a Premium Subscriber-- otherwise, I'm sticking to Basic.

[Javizy]

I honestly don't know how anyone who regularly listens to the podcasts can justify not signing up for a basic subscription. For the price of a couple of Starbucks coffees you get a month to download all the PDF's you want, while doing your bit to ensure the future of JPod. Japanese teachers don't just grow on trees (except maybe Sakura ); it's obvious a lot goes into these lessons, and it amazes me that the crew manages to put them together in a day.

I agree that the premium subscription is quite badly marketed. Grammar references and such should be part of a standard account; when it comes to this, you're competing with a massive array of free websites, software, textbooks, and so on. It's the media content that's the real selling point - no one else offers anything quite like it. Things like bonus tracks, culture classes, and video should be premium. When you consider the popularity of iLove, I'm surprised it wasn't further exploited.

I think that Miki's package in the store is a great idea (although I'm yet to buy it because I'm 'saving it' for when I'm a little better), and I would definitely be interested in similar packages at different levels/about different topics (I think the various stages of a visit to Japan would be an obvious choice).

It's thanks to JPod that I got into learning a language, and I wish you every success. It's poor that there are people who listen to the show, leech the bandwidth, and give nothing in return.

[dmills]

As someone that is a one-year premium subscriber, I have to say that I love the site... However, I don't really feel like Premium was necessarily the right package for me to have gotten. It doesn't seem much better than basic to be honest.

That said, I'm still willing to pay $15 a month to keep jpod101 up and running. My job is working with Japanese students and it makes financial sense to me to pay for an evolving study tool.

[theyuminatorx82]

All u subscribers must be happy but for someone who is trying to get the most out of the free stuff it is annoying to be trying to download a torrent file that no one else has. I have used 4 diffrent torrents and can't seem to download it because no one else that has it has there bittorent up. So could someone please make a direct download feature or just email me all the beginer audio files at . I really want something to do in the car.