Grateful Dead

Knowing what I'm going to get. I subscribe to magazines, who knows what to expect? But...one difference there generally is with magazine or newspaper subscriptions, you are buying at a significant discount compared to buying issue-by-issue -- so I'm not concerned about paying in full upfront for the "unknown" (this despite having a couple of magazines go belly-up in recent years in the middle of my subscription).

Absent that deep discount, I'm more likely to bite on this one if I know that I'm going to be charged as the volumes are shipped, rather than everything upfront. Since the subscription comes with a no-refund caveat, it's not like I can decide to pull out at some point. Think of it as cell phone contract where you still pay monthly instead of a prepaid "subscription." Am I making sense?

At first I thought the same as everyone else: "why lay down a hundred bucks for 4 releases I may have or just don't want?"

THEN tonight I thought, "I shelled out over a hundred bucks to see the two Furthur Chicago shows and didn't know what I'd get...and think of those shows that I went to in 92 (2 at Deer Creek and 1 at Buckeye)- didn't know what I'd get then, but I shelled out the money.....and in all above instances, I was happy!"

Maybe the subscription won't look so bad when you think of however many times you have bought tickets to a full run of shows (91 Garden/MSG, the last 2 Chicago shows, Red Rocks with Furthur, or the Alpine return shows).

I placed the preorder almost immediately and there appears to be no issues with the charges for me. I like the idea of a RTs subscription for a variety of reasons. I would purchase them seperately anyways so it's like killing 4 birds with one stone....and $95. 13 discs (3x4+1 bonus) of music for $95 comes out to roughly $7.31 per disc. Thats a pretty nice price in my book.

Please read the subscription details on this site. It clearly states: "We're just putting the finishing touches on the next couple of Road Trips, and all we can tell you at this point is that they'll both be complete shows (with plenty of additional material to round out the 3-CD format!). "

At least there is 2 months to make a decision. I feel this is very reasonable. This gives plenty of time to get questions answered and to get the bugs worked out of the ordering process. Has there been any issues with ordering domestically?
Another question, when will the credit card be charged the full amount? When the order is placed or when February's Road Trips ships? If I remember correctly, my card has not been charged until the order ships.