I have not joined NPGMC this year but from what I hear, it seems like it is possible to discuss and chat there too.

I'd decided not to join until I had a reasonable idea of what it is I'm subscribing to and for. Based on the lyrics posted here, and Brendan's description, the song 'Reflections' sounds just like my kind of Prince. That said, I'd rather wait until Prince releases music through CDs. Downloading does not suit me.

Therefore, my only real reasons for joining NPGMC at this point in time, would be to discuss Prince. Is the discussion forum there comparable to the one here at the Prince: Music and More forum of the org?



.
[This message was edited Sun Apr 20 13:13:57 PDT 2003 by Anji]

I guess this place rocks.

There is a discussion forum there that looks very similar to prince.org. They even have avatars.

Whether it will be better than this place remains to be seen. Past experience has shown that place to be filled with fawning fans that aren't exactly the type that can discuss Prince music in a balanced and intelligent manner. But prince.org the last couple of weeks has almost been devoid of any music discussion, so it wouldn't be too difficult to surpass right now.

For dial-up users I can tell you that it takes you several minutes just to get there due to the graphic-intensive nature of the site. You definitely have to save the address to the discussion area -- or any other area you frequent -- or you'll spend many minutes just trying to get to the area of your choosing.

It seems like the club has learned from at least some of their past mistakes. Although they seem to have made many new ones and still have really poor technical people providing their service. If I wrote software this poor I would be fired in short order.

The most important thing they needed to do was separate the concert benefits from the music. And that's precisely what they've done. That's what caused a great deal of the chaos last year, as some people thought the concert benefits were worth $100 by themselves and so the music was basically free to them, while others didn't assign any value to the concert benefits so they understandably felt they paid more than retail for "ONA", "ONA...LIVE!" and "Xpectation".

But Prince has so many addicted fans that plop down their money now and ask questions later that there's still chaos.

It would seem wise to me to do what you are doing and wait until you see what the club can do for you before spending your hard-earned money. That's what smart consumers do.

I live in Minneapolis so there's an excellent chance that I'll have concert benefits to take advantage of, so I signed up now. The other tiny benefits are a small bonus (access to the site, previews of videos, a preview of a new song, the lyrics to another new song, and the possibility that exclusive music will be sold through the club). But make no mistake, I spent my 25 bucks primarily to get the potential concert benefits.

Damn the edit.
[This message was edited Sun Apr 20 14:57:19 PDT 2003 by Brendan]

Thanks alot, Brendan. That info is very helpful. Aside from the web-design issues, it sounds like things are progressing in the right direction - the excitement sounds like it's back where it should be and I'm glad the 'join-fee' issue has been addressed. I look forward to seeing how this year develops and if there's enough incentive for me to join, I'll hopefully see you all there.

Has anyone posted any interesting threads of thought there yet? And if so, what types of topics are being discussed? I think I'd actually quite like to get into some Prince discussion on that site, aswell as the ones on religion and truth.

This is a great thread, because I was thinking the same thing. I never jump into something right away until I see that most of the bugs have been worked out, so I'm waiting before I "re-up" my NPGMC membership. I was curious about the forums, too. I certainly plan to stay with the .org, but I wonder if we'll get less traffic due to the forums on NPGMC?

The forum there is exactly like PrinceFams, so if you like that one you're good As of early, early this morning it consisted of 6 pages of "I love this site!!" & "what's the password for the VIP room?" threads, lots of dupe greetings/thanks & not a moderator to be found I posted a thread asking how the band is taught new music b/c I'm very curious about how he works w/ his band. Don't know if there are any replies, it's probably lost in the muck :X

You'll probably like it Anji, it's only $25 right? Worth checking out

Anji, if you like a lot of asskissers, it's the place to be.