AIO phasing out non-Club episodes

[Bob]

From their release via Facebook:

BIG NEWS:
We’re saying goodbye to CDs in the spring of 2026 and going fully digital.
That means longer storylines for your favorite characters. Less waiting between multi-part stories. More flexibility for fun, one-off episodes. But what about downloads? Will there still be 24 new episodes a year?
Take a look at our new info page which features FAQs and an entire Official Adventures in Odyssey Podcast episode where Executive producer Dave Arnold and showrunner Marshal Younger join producer Bob Smithouser to answer questions about the transition.
https://adventuresinodyssey.com/nextlevel

Perhaps the most pertinent fact, though, obscured by the reference to CDs, is that in the FAQ section, they indicate that they will be phasing out downloads for new episodes as well. In effect, every episode after album 80 will be a Club episode.

My initial reaction, cross-posted from my reply to Bren's share on a Facebook post:

It's disappointing, but it's a sensible policy, and it's a sign of restraint and their dedication to a niche group of their fans that they didn't do this sooner.

CDs are obviously out of fashion; most families probably don't even have disc players anymore. As for digital downloads, these have some of the same problems; in a world where the average person has been trained to rely on cloud products, rather than keeping up with local downloads, you have to be a little geeky to take advantage of this option.

Moreover, the old 'compromise' position has been bad for the show. Fans, and at times apparently even the writers, have had the idea for years that an episode being a 'Club episode' means that there can't be any character development. Although I've argued for years that this needn't be necessarily true, I grant it's hard to work around the fact that you can only count on half of your content being heard by some of your listeners. I suspect this limitation has come up in some way or another in every writing team discussion. Going all in on the Club, for better or worse, is a way to permanently resolve this tension.

This also props up the show financially. As I have mentioned in many previous discussions on the Club, I suspect the 'silent majority' of AIO listeners, historically, have listened without paying, even though they could pay if they really wanted to. (Anecdotally, I probably gave more money to AIO during my time as a Club member than my family did in all the rest of my life put together.) While some people will probably stop listening, or only listen in bursts (like the fellows who subscribe one month and catch up on all the new episodes during that time), it's likely that many people who've been sitting on the fence will commit and become full-time subscribers.

At any rate, the Club has gotten to be a genuinely good deal in its own right. $15 was out of line when they tried it early on, but $10 is a reasonable price, and it has accumulated value the more things they put online. Every AIO episode, every AIO video, Clubhouse magazine, the only discussion forum that's still alive, access to exclusive comics (even if you think they're glorified fanon, I feel they still offer value)... if this is what we're 'stuck with', it isn't a bad lot. There are certainly plenty of other things people pay for that offer a lot less.

The complaints I've seen about it since fit broadly into three categories: philosophical ('this ties into the insidious world agenda of "own nothing and be happy"'), financial ('our prices are much higher now than before'), or practical (either 'we have a bad internet connection', or 'we don't want our kids using phones or Bluetooth speakers instead of CD players').

Ultimately, I think the financial aspect is key to the first two issues, and that fans don't realize the economics at play here. Cassette album #2, "Grins, Grabbers and Great Getaways", according to an ad shared at AIOWiki, used to retail for $25 in its early days. According to the CPI calculator, that would be $62.34 today. I suspect fans claiming they are prepared to pay extra for digital downloads would resent it if FotF took them at their word and adopted this pricing scheme. Historically, AIO has kept prices the same, or even brought them down (in spite of the dollar losing value), but there comes a point where this has to be corrected if the show is to be sustainable. The Club does this, and overcomes people's psychological reluctance to pay a lot of money at once by 1) giving them the option to spread the cost out over time, via monthly payments, and 2) offering a lot of extra content up front.

As far as the difficulties with internet access or controlling childrens' access to electronics go, those are regrettable issues, but I feel that they are resolvable; we just need someone to take the time to think them through and come up with a solution that will work for these special cases.

[djchatswithu]

From their release via Facebook:

BIG NEWS:
We’re saying goodbye to CDs in the spring of 2026 and going fully digital.
That means longer storylines for your favorite characters. Less waiting between multi-part stories. More flexibility for fun, one-off episodes. But what about downloads? Will there still be 24 new episodes a year?
Take a look at our new info page which features FAQs and an entire Official Adventures in Odyssey Podcast episode where Executive producer Dave Arnold and showrunner Marshal Younger join producer Bob Smithouser to answer questions about the transition.
https://adventuresinodyssey.com/nextlevel

Perhaps the most pertinent fact, though, obscured by the reference to CDs, is that in the FAQ section, they indicate that they will be phasing out downloads for new episodes as well. In effect, every episode after album 80 will be a Club episode.

I did have a felling the Cd's might be phased out when I heard the scene (can't recall which episode, but I think it was a Club one) where Whit's company UPF had decided to stop printing physical books due to the cost. it's true that things are getting more expensive and as someone who does pay for the club it is an expense. Several comments on the Facebook page have suggested either a monthly payment plan for the club or even on demand printing. These are both viable options, though it seems that physical Odyssey media will soon be gone.

There are good and down sides for both sides. As someone who initially started out listening on the cassettes (borrowed from a friend of course, I'm not THAT old) I can see why they would change with the times, but I've always loved the excitement of going into a store and picking out a new DVD or Cd of anything. On the other hand they do take up a lot of room and can get scratched and lost over time. As several other people pointed out, I live in an area with bad internet, and even the radio can be tricky depending on the station you're listening to, so I agree that there is still a need for some form of physical media.

One option would be to drastically reduce the number of albums produced, but not stop production entirely. they could cease production of the numbered albums but still produce special collections like Novacom and The Blackguard sagas, (whose packaging uses cardboard rather than plastic) or sampler albums like the life lessons collection, bringing out one each year containing 3-6 selected episodes, some old and some new. I believe they did something like it in the 90's and early 2000's. It would cheaper and of course still wouldn't allow everyone to access the entire series, but it would still give those who like to collect the cd's something rather than nothing.

One more thing I'd like to point out is the art, how will that work. will these digital only albums still have 'cover' art, or will each episode get it's own individual piece like the club episodes. Whatever happens, it seems the '11th hour' is coming (in more than one sense of the word!)

[Polehaus53]

I am a bit late. But I do have quite a few thoughts on this earth-shattering news. I wrote my thoughts here, but I'll repeat them for the Soda Shop here and share some new thoughts as well.

I can't say I am very happy about them not airing new episodes on the radio AND not making new episodes available for downloads. It is essentially eliminating the ability to be an active Odyssey fan for anyone not in the Club. I myself and most older listeners can pay for a Club subscription and stay caught up with everything going on. However, the target audience for AIO, ages 8-12, oftentimes are not in a position to be able to do so. And I have a feeling that most families will prioritize their other streaming services (Disney+, Netflix, etc.) over an Adventures in Odyssey streaming service. At the very least the Odyssey Team should keep digital downloads and airing on the radio as options for new episodes. The FAQ page states that sales in digital downloads have gone down, but surely they are selling more digital downloads than CDs. At the very least, if someone who is not in a position to have the Club, they can at least listen to the newest episodes on the radio or purchase the latest episodes via download. But if both of these options go away, there will be no possibility to keep up with what is going on. (Unless AIOWiki editors decide to faithfully write detailed plot summaries for all new episodes. Hmm, maybe something to look into: How to keep non-Club members in the loop.)

It's probably a long way from now, but I am waiting for the prices of AIO CDs on eBay to go up as people fight for the last ones!