ProudGrandma Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 I can either buy a Great Courses US History DVD set from the company for $164 (download) or more for disks... or buy the same thing (I think) from a seller on Ebay, brand new, for $69. (it comes with the guidebook) Is there any advantage to buy directly from the company? The sale on the Great courses website ends tonight...so I need to decide quickly. thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 I see no advantage in paying a much higher price just to get it directly from the source. I have purchased courses used through amazon and have been very satisfied. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 Oh, and don't be fooled by "sale ends tonight". One sale ends, the next starts. 75% off is a regularly occurring discount, I am not even looking until the offer is 80-85% off. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 Well, I wouldn't get the videos at all. The audio is much cheaper through Audible, so that is the way I would go. But, like regentrude, we MUCH prefer audio for The Great Courses. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 yes, what RootAnn says: I would not pay for video for any course that is offered in audio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgiaH Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 We bought greatcoursesplus.com streaming for one year at an annual price of $180.00. We love it. We are watching the U.S. History course now, as well as A New History of Life. I believe the newer courses incorporate more maps and photos. We've looked at individual lectures from other courses as well. In the past, I purchased used DVDs from Amazon and eBay vendors and the quality of the DVDs was excellent. However, there were some series that I would not have purchased had I experienced the lecturer, but some have been great! We like videos, and I can't see us sitting and listening to audio. We don't drive for more than 5 minutes anywhere, so listening while commuting is not an option. Please let me know if there are other courses you are interested in, and I'll give you my feedback. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 (edited) If you have not used any of the Great Courses before, you might also want to see if your local library has any to check it out in advance to see if that type of learning is going to be a fit for your student. We only ended up being able to use 1 course, as DSs found the lecture format too dry for their learning styles while they were still teens. Also, while cheaper audio format is nice, if you have a strongly visual learner, having the video format will very likely keep that student more engaged. (As an extremely visual learner, I have to work about 5x harder to stay focused, and have a significantly shorter period of time of time that I can concentrate / learn from an audio-only lecture, compared to having the visual of the lecturer and the occasional graphic or slide to focus on.) BEST of luck, whatever decision you make! :) Warmest regards, Lori D. Edited December 14, 2016 by Lori D. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 I've taken to buying all my sets used on amazon/ebay and have been very satisfied and saved money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 I would put it toward GreatCoursesPlus. We absolutely love it here. We have several courses on Audible also. Do make sure that you know which format resonates with your dc. Sometimes it depends on the lecturer - some may be distracting to watch; some are better when watched. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 (edited) I would sign up for an Audible account and get the whole audio set for $15. :o Eta: Or possibly free if you've never done Audible. They used to give you a credit just for signing up but I'm not sure if they still do. Edited December 14, 2016 by SilverMoon 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 I would sign up for an Audible account and get the whole audio set for $15. :o Eta: Or possibly free if you've never done Audible. They used to give you a credit just for signing up but I'm not sure if they still do. They still do and they give it every time you re-sign up too. I just got a free audiobook when I reactivated my account a couple of weeks ago. I sign up every time they have a good deal, cancel and then sign up again. I've gotten about a dozen books now at an average cost of less than $5 each with all the freebies and discounts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa in the UP of MI Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 We bought greatcoursesplus.com streaming for one year at an annual price of $180.00. We love it. We are watching the U.S. History course now, as well as A New History of Life. I believe the newer courses incorporate more maps and photos. We've looked at individual lectures from other courses as well. In the past, I purchased used DVDs from Amazon and eBay vendors and the quality of the DVDs was excellent. However, there were some series that I would not have purchased had I experienced the lecturer, but some have been great! We like videos, and I can't see us sitting and listening to audio. We don't drive for more than 5 minutes anywhere, so listening while commuting is not an option. Please let me know if there are other courses you are interested in, and I'll give you my feedback. Does this include all of their courses? So far we have only been borrowing the videos from the library, but my oldest two love them. Having a larger selection and no due dates would be nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgiaH Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 Hi, Lisa in the UP of MI, No, it doesn't include all of the courses, but still there are numerous courses from which to choose. I suggest visiting the greatcoursesplus.com website and seeing if what you are interested in is available. I agree with others regarding your learning style. Video lectures work great for me; on the other hand, I'm not sure my 13-year old son appreciates them like I do. Regarding one course that I found fascinating, my son recently told me the only thing he found interesting was what color combinations the lecturer was going to wear that day! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 ...Regarding one course that I found fascinating, my son recently told me the only thing he found interesting was what color combinations the lecturer was going to wear that day! That was my DSs, as well. :001_rolleyes: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 (edited) Meanwhile, my dd13 kept asking to watch the guy with the purple shirt. I was like ??? She was referring to Robert Garland and The Other Side of History. Dorsey Armstrong was loved via Audible, but not on video. You just never know. Edited December 14, 2016 by lisabees 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa in the UP of MI Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 Hi, Lisa in the UP of MI, No, it doesn't include all of the courses, but still there are numerous courses from which to choose. I suggest visiting the greatcoursesplus.com website and seeing if what you are interested in is available. I agree with others regarding your learning style. Video lectures work great for me; on the other hand, I'm not sure my 13-year old son appreciates them like I do. Regarding one course that I found fascinating, my son recently told me the only thing he found interesting was what color combinations the lecturer was going to wear that day! We've watched quite a few courses already and my oldest two love them. In fact, they beg to watch them. I suspect that at least most of my younger kids will like them as well, though they aren't quite old enough to get much out of them yet. It hasn't stopped them from sitting in on a few lectures. That's good to know that not all courses are included. For now I think we'll just continue to watch them from the library. With our whole system we do have quite a selection, though there have been a few that we've wanted to see that they either didn't have or only had in audio. If Great Courses Plus includes the courses that we'd like to see I think we'll probably get it in another year or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 Well, I wouldn't get the videos at all. The audio is much cheaper through Audible, so that is the way I would go. But, like regentrude, we MUCH prefer audio for The Great Courses. Of course Science and Math courses need the video to support the lecture Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 Of course Science and Math courses need the video to support the lecture But in my experience, the courses where the video is essential won't be offered in audio format at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 (edited) As far as video vs audio, depends on the person. My dh and oldest ds can easily learn by listening only. They prefer it. They both have adhd and sitting and watching someone talk isn't easy for them. But moving about and listening works for them. For my youngest ds and me, we need to see things. I can remember better just by sitting there and watching the person move their mouth. It gives me something to anchor my focus on to. Just listening is very hard for me. My mind wanders all over the place. I've noticed that when I read something out loud to my youngest, he forgets it in about 2 seconds. But if he sits next to me and reads over my shoulder, he remembers. I can read to my oldest without him looking and he remembers just fine. Edited December 17, 2016 by Garga 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pronghorn Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 We did that particuular course free through interlibrary loan. In our system, you can generally get twelve lectures at a time, which keeps it manageable to complete before you can't renew it anymore. Then you order the next twelve-lecture volume. We got the audio CDs so that we could listen in the car. It's a wonderful course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 Of course Science and Math courses need the video to support the lecture Not necessarily. The Hubble telescope one, sure. I've been listening to Biology and Joy of Science and haven't once wished I had the video. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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