Purely as a silly little exercise, I thought it would be interesting to compare the per hour price of a variety of media/entertainment sources for me. We often compare total costs, yet this strikes me as foolish, since not all media/entertainment fill the same amount of time, and thus I wanted to move things to a per hour price. Follow me beyond the fold …
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We all seem to have our set price for how much any media should cost. I’m cheap, so mine are likely lower than many. Only two of my (admittedly small collection of) PS2 games were ever bought new, since $50 seems too much. I don’t buy CDs anymore, only singles, and even then only in $10 batches. I all but gave up on live theatre after leaving England where, as a student, I lived ten minutes from most theatres of note, and could get student rush seats for $20 or lower. When I go to the movie theatre in New York, I usually try to see two films for the price of one, since $11.75 is too much for most films. I get most of my books through publisher payments for doing reviews, since I don’t like spending $30 on a book. I don’t buy DVDs for the most part, since they’re too pricey.
This places most of my media purchases between $1 and $15. Now, on one hand, I’m very aware that there is little logic to this, comparatively. A video game will offer potentially hundreds of hours of entertainment if it’s good, yet I won’t spend $50 on it? Ditto with a CD for $20? But I don’t make sense, so let’s not rely on the presence of a rational Jonathan to solve this issue. Instead, let me push past the irrationality of me, and discuss how these cost decisions affect my consumption. Price makes certain types of consumption more likely and other less likely. Read on below the fold. Read more…
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