Generally good advice, though the waiting game has its perils for DVDAs such as myself. I also follow the 'View First' rule, and always ask myself: how many times am I going to want to watch this? How much would it cost me to hire the DVD that many times? (Ignore the weirdly high probability of one of my local libraries buying the same DVD as soon as I have.) Where possible, go with the cheaper option.
This pretty much stops me buying full-price DVDs, but unfortunately hasn't prevented me buying more ex-rental tapes than I have space for. I'm slowly replacing these with DVDs, but using the same logic.
Maybe this isn't as bad a problem in Melbourne (where I bought a huge load of DVDs on my last visit), but one of the other temptations here is that the waiting game has its drawbacks. When dealers here mark down a DVD, this often means that they won't bother re-stocking it once it's sold - so if I don't buy it then, I'll have to buy it by mail-order at full price, if I can find it at all (I have the same dilemma at library book sales, hence the house full of books). I'm still kicking myself for not buying the DVD of 'Once Upon a Time in America' from JB HiFi (which completely dominates the market in Perth) for $13 - replacing the tapes would have freed up enough space on my shelf for another three or four DVDs. OTOH, I'm glad I kept resisting the temptation to buy 'The Civil War' and 'From the Earth to the Moon' on VHS and waited until I found cheap DVDs.
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Date: 2006-01-23 01:30 am (UTC)This pretty much stops me buying full-price DVDs, but unfortunately hasn't prevented me buying more ex-rental tapes than I have space for. I'm slowly replacing these with DVDs, but using the same logic.
Maybe this isn't as bad a problem in Melbourne (where I bought a huge load of DVDs on my last visit), but one of the other temptations here is that the waiting game has its drawbacks. When dealers here mark down a DVD, this often means that they won't bother re-stocking it once it's sold - so if I don't buy it then, I'll have to buy it by mail-order at full price, if I can find it at all (I have the same dilemma at library book sales, hence the house full of books). I'm still kicking myself for not buying the DVD of 'Once Upon a Time in America' from JB HiFi (which completely dominates the market in Perth) for $13 - replacing the tapes would have freed up enough space on my shelf for another three or four DVDs. OTOH, I'm glad I kept resisting the temptation to buy 'The Civil War' and 'From the Earth to the Moon' on VHS and waited until I found cheap DVDs.