How much would you pay???

[Satsujin]

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

[Satsujin]

For myself I think that I wouldn't pay anything for the basic service as I would only be interested in intermediate lessons which are only posted once a week ($2 dollars per-lesson). I may however be interested in a payment per lesson. I think $0.50 would be a reasonable price for this service.

For the premium service I think the basic pricing scheme is reasonable and I might consider $60 a year charge. If you consider the amount of learning material you could purchase simply by going to a book store for less than $180 and what is freely available on-line through other sources the current price seems just too expensive except for those who are in love with the JPod crew.

[Brugg]

I also find the premium pricing a bit high, but the basic subscription seems reasonable, as i am learning from all the lessons. I'm too busy with other things to have any use for the extra materials right now, but whenever I start studying more seriously I will consider a basic subscription.

Concerning the premium subscription, i think it's a bit hard to say the right price, as things still are changing, but $180 still seems too much. $100 is reasonable enough for a year.

[edit: made myself make more sense]

[Jason]

I really like the pay-per-lesson idea.

I also think the premium service is a tad too expensive, at least for the variety of services there are now. However, I think $60/year for premium is much too low. I think somewhere in the $100-150/year range would be more reasonable and still fair to the JPod101 team. Especially if it would attract more people to the Learning Center, that would make up for the loss in lowering the price.

[KeithH]

I would agree that the premium service is a bit costly. The most value for me is the podcast, and that's already free. You can't find anything like it anywhere else right now. To go along with that I could see paying for the transcripts. However, the premium services, as I understand them, can be found at other places online for less or even free. I spent less than that for the two book Genki series including the audio CD's. So, to me, it's not a good value. All the same, I'm glad that JP101.com is trying something new and these extra features, while out of my reach right now financially, are certainly appreciated.

Keep up the great work!

[The Frankensteiner]

I'm gonna get the 7 day free trial and then decide whether or not to get the premium service. Although all those extras do sound tempting. I've been longing for a way to quiz myself.

[kurt]

Basic is priced fairly. Premium pricing seems out of touch. As more content is added the cost will be more reasonable.

Do not give away the News, Videos and Culture podcasts. These should be a bundled into a paid plan.

[Belton]

Well I like it that the audio content is free and that the archive of audio content is free, I hope it remains that way.

I do have to think a little about the premium price. As it works out to about a buck per lesson give or take, that's reasonable at the moment. Of course I'd like it to be less.
I'm not sure where my-don't-give-it-any-thought price is. I doubt I will pay for 6 months or a year up front at once. And could see myself dropping back to basic.

I might prefer a per lesson fee but I could see it as being fairly hard for Jpod to manage and administrate.

The bandwidth and all the effort must cost a fair bit. It's difficult to produce 6 bulletins a week with written support. I'd hate to estimate the man hours involved. (ganbatte guys)
I 'm glad there are no ads (or is my filtering software doing a very good job?) The sponsorship of the premier translation and interpretation service is great but I wonder if they benefit. I doubt Jpods audience are likely to use them. Somehow jPod has to cover their costs.

I think the price could come down and revenues go up. But finding that sweet spot must be hard. And if they start experimenting with pricing the forum is going to light up with complaints prehaps. Not easy to run a pay service. And they need to retain subscribers as well as get new ones in.

I'm sure they have plans. (I hope they do!) I also wonder if they'll run out of steam or if the beginner lessons actually start becoming Intermediate lessons...

My big hope is that Jpod doesn't become short lived. A lot of good sites haven't updated in ages and some have disappeared. So to that end I don't begrudge them my subscriber fee.

[Jason]

(or is my filtering software doing a very good job?)

Nope. We're add-less.

...if the beginner lessons actually start becoming Intermediate lessons...

There'll always be new people just starting to learn. So I don't think the beginner lessons will ever morph into intermediate.

My big hope is that Jpod doesn't become short lived.

We hope so too. As long as we have the support of our wonderful members, I don't think that'll be a problem. It's not like there's a shortage of material to cover.

[piculum]

There'll always be new people just starting to learn. So I don't think the beginner lessons will ever morph into intermediate.

Hmm... sorry, that doesn't make much sense to me.
For the new beginners - there is the lesson archive, huh?
But the old listeners can't stay on the same level and should advance along with the lessons. At least I guess so.

[Fruitsbasket]

Yeah I dont think I would pay much either. But I LOVE japanese pods! I listin to them in bed!

[KeithH]

I WANT to buy the premium membership, but I just can't justify the cost right now. If it were twice the cost of the basic plan right now, I could swing that. If JP101 were my only resource for studying, it would be an easier decision. But, I'm spread a bit thin now and can't make the time commitment in order to justify $15 a month.

[usagi]

Mina-san,

Well, I am going to be brutally honest here. I hope no-one feels offended but my answer is going to be *nothing*.

I did find all the features in the learning center very useful and I had a great deal of fun using all the tools available on this site. I have been here since DAY 1, so I have really explored everything in-depth!!!.

Now for my reasons: If you search the web carefully, you will find all of these tools and more for free. Sure, you need to put a bit of effort into this, but let me just say *google is your friend*!!! There are plenty of free sites where you can even get JLPT practise tests, listening exercises and study material.

It´s a tough business, but I cannot justify paying for something simply because I think the people are nice.

Sorry, if this sounded offensive - that was not my intension. Just trying to explain why I am leaving.

[norgus]

I'd have to say that I wouldn't pay very much, maybe about £5 a month (roughly $10) for premium. I do value the quality of the content the jpod101 guys put up, but like a large proportion of the jpod101 community, quite likely, I don't have enough time to dedicate to studying from just this site.

If the only thing I was doing was studying Japanese (university student or something) then I'd value this higher as I could get more usage out of it in a month.

Maybe a clocked low hourly rate would be good? Purchase amounts of pure time rather than real time periods like months or years.

I'm just throwing in my opinion, take it how you like.

[Jason]

It's not much more for a year's premium subscription ($15/month if you divide it up) right now.

I'm not sure how well buying blocks of time would work out. It sounds like it would be a major pain to implement. It's an interesting idea though. Hourly rate could possibly be doable though.