Antone received South Park commentary cd's yet? (1 Viewer)

[Tom Ryan]

...and the irony of the whole piracy issue is that even though these commentaries weren't released officially on mp3, they're far easier to obtain than the actual cds are! Almost no one has gotten their cds, but the commentaries in different formats (mp3, even integrated with the episode itself) have been available for quite a while on the internet.

 

[Adam_WM]

FROM SOUTHPARKSTUDIOS.COM:

Comedy Central has RUN OUT of Commentary CD's! Please keep your eyes open in places like Ebay.com for copies of the commentary.


"OH MY GOD! They're run out of CD's!"
"YOU BA$TARD$!"

 

[Tom Ryan]

What does THAT mean, run out? Look on eBay? Does this mean nobody can get their commentaries...ever? If so, they'd BETTER refund my $3.50

 

[Eric Peterson]

Well if this is true, I better get my $3.50 plus my 0.37 cents for the stamp, plus a complete refund for the price of the discs. I would not have bought this set if it wasn't for the commentary offer. I had this item crossed off of my shopping list when the commentaries were pulled, but added it back on when the offer was announced. I sent my offer in about 1 week after the discs were released, and haven't seen anything yet. I'll have to see if my check has been cashed.
This sounds like I'm going to get screwed for the second time this week. The first was for the Glengarry Glenross Rebate and now Southpark.
!!!!! !!!!!!

 

[Jeff Krispow]

Kind of funny Jeff, how you seem to be the ONLY one who's received the commentary disks so far!
Well... I'm still (not so patiently (obviously)) waiting. Hopefully they'll come soon.

Um, I think I'll agree with you on that one... well, at least partially. I seem to be the only one on this thread that's received the CD set — but that's, what, 1 of 10 people or so in this thread out of thousands?. One friend of mine received theirs in the mail yesterday, and they sent out their form the same day I did (on release date... 11/12/02). Then again, a couple other friends who did the same thing haven't received theirs yet either. Whatever.
But seriously, I did receive my set. Came packaged in a small plain brown cardboard shipping case from International Data LLC (coming from El Paso, TX). Apparently they're not doing bulk shipping on these things either, since it had a postage meter stamp for I think it was $2.27. (Hmmm... I guess that means the remaining $1.25 of my $3.50 went towards the cardboard shipper + "handling". These guys are definitely not making any sort of profit on this release.)
I've got my CDs now, so frankly I have little incentive to continue posting anything here. But I thought TedT's posting was kinda funny in its own way... so I'll speak my mind one more time. At least on this small thread on the HTF board... again, you've got like 10 people here who didn't get their set (+ what, 2?, nutballs over at SouthParkStudios BBS making crap up), out of thousands. But then again, I did — so I guess that means that 10% of the HTF members in this thread received the discs... which just started shipping over the past week. I mean, what else can I say — I got my package and I'm a satisfied customer.
However, if some of you folks choose not to believe me, well, that's your perogative — there's not much I could do to change your mind. What, should I go take a scan of my hand holding the CD package or something? No, because I'd then probably be accused by someone (not by you TedT...) of doing some sort of Photoshop mockup. (And just for the record, I'm not even going to touch upon the wacky allegations posted by someone else about me, who tried - badly - to twist some of my words into his own strage theories. Congrats to Justin for saying exactly what my wife and I wanted to say about the MSCL debacle. 1 or 2 guys who own a comic shop, ripping people off for hundreds, is nowhere near a corporation like CC with thousands of employees who had a free mail order offer with a $3.50 s/h charge. Sheesh!)
Anyway, just like in every other posting I've done on the HTF, I was simply trying to help out and keep folks informed of what was going on with this thing... from MY experience. If you don't want to believe me, fine, whatever. Normally I'd say something like, "Get over yourself," but what's the point — obviously nothing I say or do will change your mind at this point. But I'll try... A little about myself — I've been involved in the LD industry since ~1981, in various professional capacities AND as a reviewer (up until I got nailed by a nasty genetic disease about 5 years ago... ick...). I'm well known in the LD and DVD circles as an incredibly trustworthy source, and on most of the current DVD forum groups as well. Feel free to take a look at some of my other postings here or elsewhere, or go poke around the reviews on my own LD/DVD website (badly out of date since I've been ill, so beware). I think they'll speak for themselves that I know what I'm posting/writing about, that I've always tried to help people out with full and complete information, and that I'm not "making up" anything. In the end, why would I make any of this up? There's no reason for me to do so... If you don't want to trust in me or believe in what I'm saying here in this thread, then hopefully my other postings will speak for themselves.
In closing, I'll just say this once again... if you are concerned about the status of your CD set, don't just sit here continuing to whine and complain. Pick Up The Phone and call customer service yourself... it's really easy. Ask them about the status of your order, and/or ask if/when your copy has shipped. Have some of you done this yet...? No, probably not...
As for the set itself, pretty cool so far. I've only had time to listen to the first couple of tracks/episodes, and I haven't heard anything that would warrants pulling these off the DVDs for "standards" purposes. Give me a break... this is South Park, a show that destroys all "famiky standards" anyway. But the commentaries are pretty interesting and informative, and even held the interest of my family (well, myself, wife & son... my daughter kept demanding that we stop the commentary so she could watch "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" again... go figure). It's also strange to hear Matt and Trey speaking when they are 100% sober. Very strange, but the coherency is welcome just the same. Well, that's that again. If anyone has any REAL questions about the CD set (oh, I don't know, like "Who's silkscreened on the discs," etc.), I will be more than happy to tell you. But on't ask me any questions about what's on the commentaries as a whole, because I've only listened to the first two so far.
In closing, I'll just say this again, in case some folks skimmed over it earlier: Pick up the phone and call CC regarding your shipping status. It'll only take a minute to do.
I sincerely hope the rest of you find a happy surprise in your mailboxes soon! And my best regards to you all (yes, everyone... while some of us may disagree on things drastically in this thread, I have no ill will towards anyone.)
So there.
Best,
Jeff K.
P.S. I just saw the notice that someone posted about CC running out of CDs. I took a look myself, and it's actually posted on the front page at the website, not by some twit in their BBS forum. Okay, that's really, really weird. Again, I can't stress enough that you should call customer service and find out for yourself what is going on. I'd find it hard to believe that CC would only do one quick mailing to customers last week and that would be the end of it all. More than likely, CC had filled their allotment of CDs for this offer WITH THE ORDERS ALREADY RECEIVED, and has stopped accepted newly-mailed orders. I just took a look at the mail-in form, and it clearly states: "Offer valid only in the USA and the District of Columbia and while supplies last.", so they can shut down their offer any time they wish. Howeverm nowhere did SouthParkStudios.com say that the people who've already had their checks cashed wouldn't receive them — they are only implying that no NEW orders will be accepted (so if you haven't gotten your order in yet, then it's eBay time). That would make sense, since there have been a few reports of people recieving their envelopes back, with the checks uncashed. If your check was cashed, then your order was accepted. So call them up to make sure your are in their ordering system and that they have your correct shipping address, and find out when your copy shipped/will be shipped. And please post your phone call finding here for everyone else to benefit from. (Okay, I'm definitely going now.)

 

[Adam_WM]

Ok, I just called Customer Service. My checked was cashed in December and my CD's are on their way!!!!!!!!!! They said they shipped out the other day and I should receive them at some point next year. Can't wait!!!

 

[TedT]

Relax Jeff. Little defensive there, no? I DO believe you. It's ok. Relax! Chill out, dude.

It's just funny how we both live in CA, sent out for them in November and according to the phone # I called two weeks ago, they said "we'll be sending them out end of next week", yet out of ALL the message boards I check (not just this one), you seem to be the only one who has it! It's odd, but I believe you.

I DID say I was getting impatient. I was told to wait 6 weeks and it's been ELEVEN weeks!!!

I'd download them from somewhere (?) but no one has posted on WHERE to download them from, plus it would take me about 2 weeks to download all of them (not everyone has a cable modem!). Still, 2 weeks does beat 11 weeks and I want to hear these damn commentaries!

I'm still kicking myself for selling my Rhino disks to buy this set.

 

[Jeff Krispow]

Whoops, my apologies Ted...

Ack! I guess I didn't make it quite clear in my last massive missive, but I certainly wasn't directing all that posting towards you personally, Ted. As far as my directed TedT response goes, I was just agreeing with you that it was slightly strange that I was the only HTF'r to receive the CDs so far. I wasn't alleging that you yourself didn't believe me, or anything else. So, sorry again Ted, for any misunderstanding there might have been — just was agreeing with 'ya!

But I do thank you for stating your own phone experience, cause it does confirms what I said before. When you called two weeks ago, they told you it would be shipping out "at the end of next week" — which is exactly what they've been doing. (Only mine went out a couple days earlier, apparently.) Just like you, I read a few other forums as well, and it does seem a bit off that I am the only one who got this so far. Then again, most of the folks who sent away for this probably won't be posting in these forums. Still, it's definitely odd — maybe CC is using a single trained chimp to package, stamp and mail these things out (cheap labor, you know), and he/she/is can only get out 5 or 10 of these a day. I guess they're really just sending this out in some weird "as received" order, plus they probably only have a couple people dedicated to doing the actual shipping duties.

As for all the other stuff, I was just partially addressing a variety of other earlier postings, and "snuck" in onto the end of my posting. I don't like it when my words are twisted, where rumours are repeatedly spread (er, "reposted") without verification or any attempt to do so, or the possibility that there is — or that I may somehow be part of — some huge secret corporate conspiracy regarding this matter. I also didn't appreciate a couple personal, nasty emails I received on this subject (and no, they weren't from anyone who has so far actually posted in this thread... I guess it's easier for him/her to harass me annonymously via email than make a public posting/statement), so a big part of my previous posting was for that individual. Sheesh, I'm just a customer like the rest of the folks in here. Sure, I'm glad I got mine, but in the big scheme of things, if I didn't, I just get mildly annoyed and move on with my life. It's nothing to get all worked up over, or make threats over (especially directed towards me). I just wanted to see some of the other reasonable folks here take matters into their own hands, so we could all find out for ourselves what our status is with CC. Yeah, like Ted did a couple weeks ago, and like Adam just did today (Alright Ted & Adam!!! ... although I really hope Adam's package arrives quicker than "next year.")

Oh, and Ted... I've completely given up on trying to figure out how the hell USPS works. I've had letters and packages get across the country from Los Angeles to D.C. in just two days. But on the other hand, I've also had items take 10-14 days just to go 5 miles away here in Los Angeles. It's like to get from L.A. to Orange County, they first have to send it to a hub in Siberia, then route it through Philly, then take a side trip to the Cayman Islands, and then hit the Valencia main hub, where it gets misfiled and is re-routed all over again. I just give up on trying to make any sense out of it. (But I will say that I'm getting a bit annoyed myself at the USPS... a DVD shipment I had confirmed shipment of two weeks ago still hasn't shown up. Needless to say, I'm getting impatient, partially because I want to watch this set, but also because the longer it floats around in the USPS's hands, the more likely I'll have a floater or two...)

Definitely 'nuff said.

 

[Tom Foley]

"Get over yourself"

Yeah, amen to that.
Jeff, really, nobody is doubting you about the CDs. But if you've had yours for a couple of days now, I'm sure many people are reading this wondering, "How are these things being distributed? How many are going out at a time?" Confusion reigns.
I took your advice and called customer service. Liz, I believe her name was, was courteous and quickly pulled up my name and correct address. She said that mine would be mailed either Monday or Tuesday. This got me thinking:
Folks, you better call too. I don't know, something now makes me feel that with the limited quantities available, if you call and check to see if they have your name, they'll make sure you'll get it. Otherwise, you take your chances.
TedT: if you really want the MP3s, go to alt.binaries.southpark. If you have no idea what the hell that is, welcome to the wonderful world of Usenet. Find a free Usenet reader on the web, like Xnews, read one of the MANY tutorials out there on how to use it, get into your ISP's mail server, and download away! The MP3s were posted there a few weeks ago, but something tells me the demand is high enough that they'll be reposted almost every week. If you're more interested in Usenet, you may want to look into easynews.com which archives almost every binary group on Usenet, going back five weeks on most groups, all in simple http format. Downside: it costs $10 a month for a max of 6 gigs of downloads, which can be totally worth it, especially if your ISP has download limits. Other than that, I'm sure if you search more message boards, you'll find somebody hosting them on their personal site, or you'll find it on Kazaa, if you're into that sort of thing. Personally, I'd put money on southparkstudios.com offering the full tracks as MP3s in a few weeks to make things easier.
Which gets me to: how the hell can they run out? I'm sure that they budgeted this thing as an expense, and therefore something that they would only allow up to a certain amount of units (nice catch on the fine print there, Jeff). But how BADLY could they have underestimated the demand? This whole thing just gets uglier and uglier, not unlike the stock price of Comedy Central and Warner Home Video's parent company, AOL Time Warner, which is now below $12.
Don't panic, folks. Just because they ran out of CDs does not mean you won't get yours. But, I would guess that if your check has not yet been cashed, it's not looking good.

 

[Craig S]

Damn! I just sent my order in a couple of days ago. How can they "run out"?? Can't they just press up a new batch??
Guess I'll just snag the MP3s and burn my own... :rolleyes
This situation is exceedingly stupid.

 

[Adam_WM]

HAHAHAHAH! I received them today!!! WOOHOO!!! GOOD LUCK TO THE REST OF YA!!!

 

[TedT]

ADAM_WM: yeah right. SURE you got them today!

Just kidding!

Can't wait to get home today and see if any packages are waiting for me!

 

[CraigF]

Guess I'm SOL, since I didn't send away yet. After listening to a couple of the CC partial commentary clips, I now think I'd like to get them too bad I didn't do that before!
Would appreciate it if anyone ever sees these commentaries become available in MP3 e-mail me or something (they probably don't want such stuff here). There seems to be some speculation around that CC may make these available shortly, don't know how valid it is...visited tons of sites yesterday looking for the commentaries, no luck.

 

[Scott_J]

My check was cashed January 23rd. I sent it in a couple days before Christmas. I hope I get it.

 

[TedT]

Well I called a couple days ago and left my name & #. Today they called back and left a message verifying the address with the wrong apt #. I called back and they said they just sent a batch out today. They called me back after the phone call and said they DID correct my address.

Pretty good service & response, but then again, this whole fiasco should never have been done in the first place! (the commentaries should have been put on the DVDs themselves! edited or not!)

 

[Thomas H G]

What's the customer service #?

 

[Thomas H G]

Nevermind

 

[Steve_Knutzen]

I called them yesterday and left my phone number and they left a message for me today. They said they'd be sent out Monday or Tuesday. Pray for me people. *Crosses Fingers*

 

[CraigF]

I just want to give a public "thank you" to the guys from this forum who offered to help me. You know who you are... I must say, you are the most helpful of people I've encountered on any A/V forum, and it's much appreciated.

 

[Beast]

If anyone can help me out in a similar way to how you helped CraigF out, please PM or E-Mail me. I wanted these darn commentaries, and it sucks that they seem to be sold out. Thanks in advance. :frowning: