How much would you pay???

[norgus]

What I meant by purchasing chunks of time was like, you pay in £20 or whatever and it goes into a time 'credit' and then the time counts down as you use the service (that way you could give bonus time if you buy a lot all at once etc)

[Jason]

I know. I still think that could be very hard to implement.

[Drusy]

Since I'm often busy, I'd like to spread out the learning time to allow me to learn at my own (slow) pace, like only doing this once a week.

For me, a cheaper subscription option based on timeframe would be perfect

How about buying login "keys/codes" that can only be used once for a limited time to access the basic or premium content?

For example, I pay $10 for a set of 10 premium login keys. Once I use one login key, it will expire within 12 hours from the time I log in, and if I want to login again, I'll have to use another key/code.

Hopefully something like this can be feasible for implementation

[seanolan]

As a current Premium subscriber, I have to say I don't know that it is worth it. I enrolled for three months of Premium because I didn't feel that the seven day trial really gave me enough opportunity to decide. I like the premium features, and I use them, but I don't know that at $20/month (or as low as $15 if you buy a year, but come on, a year in advance? That's a lot of outlay!) it is really worth it. I tend to agree that $10 is more realistic.

The arguments about free services being available that provide similar services to the premium services are valid. And while the quizes on each lesson are nice, we are talking a mere 2-10 questions about each lesson, and the beginner lessons have many errors in the questions. The word and kanji bank are nice, and I use them about once every 2-3 days for practice, but honestly, it's more because I have already paid and might as well use it than because it's a great feature.

Don't get me wrong. I like the podcasts and think that the lessons are good; great even. But I think that you'd have more luck attracting more subscribers at a lower rate for premium service (incidentally increasing the income). You guys have put in a lot of work on this, and it's more as thanks for that than for the use of premium that I don't mind the cost I've paid. But I don't know that I will renew at a premium level after Dec 29th unless it is cheaper or some features I cannot live without are introduced.

Sean

[suzume]

I'm planning to combine a textbook series with JPod and other resources as a beginner, so the basic level is adequate for me. I like the lively dialogues, and the lesson and kanji notes for reading and writing practice. I also like the survival and culture classes.

The features in the Learning Center seem superfluous at the beginner stage, and time-consuming to navigate. When I've passed JLPT 3 I may decide the premium subscription is worth the price, if similar materials are not available elsewhere, but only because I have the means to pay for a year in advance.

[DanRoddy]

I have to say that I think there is a certain imbalance in the pricing structure: the site's best part is its listening material, and that is free; the PDFs are okay, if error strewn, and with the free soundfiles are pretty good value at only 8USD a month.

However, upgrading to premium (at three times that cost) offers access to a range of elements which, as has been mentioned previously, is often available on the web for free. I wouldn't mind paying for access to this in one place if they were well implemented, but really they aren't that slick.

For example, I can add kanji to my kanji bank, but having done so, what can I do with it? I can print it out and, er, that's it. I'm not even offered the opportunity to run a test of kanji in my own learning centre. Nevermind that the testing process is a little simplistic (I have found free websites that implement the testing procedure at least as effectively and commercial software that blows it out the water for less than the cost of a single month's premium subscription).

The JLPT test questions are amongst my favourite parts of the site, but there is no support material to back that up; not even so much as a translation available to help me fathom out where I went wrong. (That said, the fact that the test results are recorded is a great development - I first signed up just as they were introduced and the lack of recorded scores was one influencing factor on my not continuing my subscription.)

What is particularly galling is that, as a premium user, having stumped up considerably more money than a basic subscriber, I get nothing to show for it at the end. Premium content is all online while the basic content is solely downloadable. This means you have the peculiar scenario where Premo users pay lots for a short while, a Base user could, in theory, sign up once every six months, download all the PDFs they can, then spend ages working their way through them accessing the free audio files as necessary (actually folks, that's a bad idea - if we all did that JPod would simply cease to exist and that is BAAAD).

For all that, I LOVE JPod. I work in learning technology, designing corporate learning packages (you know, company induction and product training and so on), and I would kill to get the chance to cook up something that would impart just a fraction of the learning that JPod has the power to disseminate.

What's more, I get the sense that things are going to improve, so I've stumped up for a three month sub and hope to see enough between now and the end of my time to warrant doing it again.

[metablue]

I love Jpod. I wouldn't be learning Japanese if not for them. I buy the premium subscription even though I don't use it much (because I prefer flip cards that I can use in my car while waiting for an oil change or whatever), because I see it as sponsoring the podcast. I think the podcast is the best, and it's absolutely amazing that it's free. I wish Jpod could fund themselves based entirely on the podcast. My nightmare is that they run out of money and have to stop podcasting. It's not so bad if other people aren't paying because they can't afford to, but if they can and they're finding the podcast useful, then pay!

[Bueller_007]

I buy the premium subscription even though I don't use it much (because I prefer flip cards that I can use in my car while waiting for an oil change or whatever), because I see it as sponsoring the podcast.

I think that's a very respectable thing to do.

[jkid]

I can't imagine how expensive the subscriptions must be for those living outside the US. I wonder if the team has taken this into consideration given their global audience?

[GoddessCarlie]

The prices are very expensive for me here in Australia, and to be honest I don't think it is worth the price at all. I would think maybe once a year I would pay the $8 and do a mass down load. I don't think that the premium goodies are worth the amount to be honest. If they charged half the price, maybe. But what they are asking now does not feel like i would be getting my money's worth.
I do love the podcast, I really apreciate it all, but I simply can not justify spending that much money for what they offer.

[Marshdrifter]

I'm on the annual plan at the premium level. I use the learning center a lot, including the quizes, flashcards, &c. &c. I agree with others that there isn't anything there I could find elsewhere, but it's here and in a central location. I also agree that the premium is a bit stiffer than I'd really like to pay. I'm hoping the Learning Center will continue to grow and improve. Consider how far all of this has come in the past year.

Additionally, like others, I feel I should support JPod101. Easily the most valuable and important part of all this are the free podcasts. Not everybody can afford or justify the premium or even the basic amounts and that's fine. This year I found myself in the rare position of being able to afford it and could easily justify it by knowing it'll help keep the free portion going.

It's been a fun and informative year. I hope that it lasts for many more years to come.

[metablue]

I should qualify what I said above about flip cards. There is much more in the Premium content than flip cards. The reason I don't use it is because I have a really hard time studying anything unless there's an exam the next day. It's particularly difficult to study online because there's so much to distract me. Just one click on the browser and I'm off reading forum posts instead, no matter how good the content. Believe me, only studying the day before an exam is a terrible strategy, and I've been trying for years to overcome this. It's just an uphill battle that never ends.

The flash cards I carry with me work because they're there when there's nothing else to do. If I'm waiting at the doctor's office, I can whip them out and start studying, and there's nothing to distract me.

If I could carry a wireless tablet around with me and access JPod in the doctor's office, I would use it a lot more. But right now there's a limitation in my brain that the technology can't overcome. Well, except for the podcast, because it doesn't feel like studying and I can carry it with me everywhere. No doubt that's one reason why podcasts in general have become so popular.

[Immacolata]

This is the internets. All-you-can-eat billing is the way to go I think. I've paid for a year's subscription in the high hopes that they will ramp up on the intermediate lesson. The "money" in japanese tuition is at the beginner level. That is where you find all the hopeful kids who wants to learn japanese so they better can understand their manga or animé.

Once they have given up and you're left with the really dedicated pupils, the income flow is a trickle. Which is why you will find an abundance of material on how to start learning japanese, but not a lot on how you move further down the path.

So far Jpod101 have not disappointed me. They are doing intermediate lessons in the first place, a bonus, I never expected them to get this far. Seeing that they did I decided that I'd take them up on their 30$ for one year basic subscription offer.

[Corban]

I like (and don’t like at the same time) to post message on forums because I start to reflect about things too much… and my logic can get completely wrong but…

There is some misbalance between Basic subscription and Premium subscription both in price and content. I think it’s a matter of user’s value scale and point of view.

For me, at this particular point of time, what I get as user are:
1. Audio – 50% of available content that comprises 80% of value. Audio is just amazing and easy to listen. It’s for free.

2. Basic pdf files (transcript, vocabulary, kanji). It’s another 10% of content and 10% of value because I don’t have much time/willing to work through them. It costs $8 per month…

3. Premium files (notes and line by line audio files for iPod). It’s 10% of content and 10% of value because I like to browse written info on my iPod.

4. Other online services (grammar, dictionary, flash cards, quizzes, etc). It’s remaining 30% of content and… 0% of value because my connection speed is slow and I don’t like to work over internet anyway.

So for the moment I’m a “download” type of a user and for me value of Basic content files is equivalent to value of iLearning notes and audio files…

Amount of work required to compile files of basic content is roughly equivalent to amount of work required to compile iPod notes and line by line audio files of iLearning center, at least I think so.

Let’s do some math. In Ukraine if you earn $10 per hour you are lucky. As for me it should take no more than one hour to compile basic files (assuming person who does it have good qualification). It will be maximum 31*$10 = $310 per month to pay for compilation of basic files. Even for 100 users with basic subscription it will cost $3.1 per month for single user. In Tokyo numbers might be as high as $30, 31*$30=$930, $930/100=$9.3 for a single user. I hope jPod has more than 100 users... Well, I agree that Basic subscription can be $8 or somewhere around.

Now let’s do it programmer’s way… Worth case scenario is: all users have basic subscriptions (which is likely because of local relative discrepancy between Basic and Premium subscriptions). We have around 10000 users registered in forum. How many have subscriptions?
100? 500? 5000? I don't know...

Let’s move to Premium area... I’m willing to pay $8 for notes and line by line audio files from iLearning because they have same value for me as basic files. But to do so I should pay another $25-$8-$8=$9 for nothing I’m interesting in… Well, it’s not that I'm grudge another $9 for jPod but that is kind of unfair… jPod’s site is really good. As a programmer I can estimate amount of effort and time required to make it as good as it is. But, I’m not interested in online services at the moment…

Well, I see things this way (correct me if I’m wrong):
1. Basic subscription pays for “free” audio. It was jPod decision to make audio free. I respect this decision and will support it with basic subscription. Nothing wrong with this as long as basic subscription I pay will keep jPod going. Truth is that I’m kind of hesitating: what if basic subscription is not enough to keep jPod going? Should I forget about "unfair" and pay extra $9? May be these extra $9 are what really keeps jPod going? Tell me...
2. iPod notes and line-by-line audio have nothing to do with Premium subscription. It’s simple work with Mac OS X editor and a sound editor you use to produce main audio files. This is what I’m really interested in Premium subscription.
3. Online services are hi-tech “conveniences” and should be paid as such by those who use them. Tech team, you’ve done big work and you’ve done it great but it should be paid by those who actually asked for online.

Conclusion
Instead of two subscriptions (actually they are memberships: Basic and Premium) it would be better to have real subscriptions (set of simultaneously available options), i.e.
<check_box> access to basic files (pdf) for $8 per month,
<check_box> access to iPod notes and line_by_line audio for $8 per month,
<check_box> access to our great on-line Learning center for $9 per month.

Users will check only those options they are actually interested in and will pay per option. I think this scheme is more “fair” and will be clear to the users. Also it will add to survivability of jPod – some options can be dropped to go on. Just like samurai could sacrifice his hand to win a battle. I hope it never gets to this though.
Technically, when user clicks on a link, site’s script will check user's subscription options and will display subscription page if requested option is not subscribed yet. It’s easy to say but might be hard to implement.

P.S. The best business strategy I've ever seen is partnership. Make users your partners - let them know what they are paying for and they will... Don't rely on charity.

P.S.S. Oh my, I've spend all my free time today to write this post, it's time to bed, tomorrow I've got Aikido training at 7 am. Oose!!!

[bernards]

I am a visual learner. The premium subscription is overpriced in it's present form. It'll be great if there are accompanying videos with some acting. That would make the $25 worthwhile.