Iditarod Insider-Opinions Please

[CynCyn37]

I am new to following the Iditarod. I need your opitnions.

Do any of you subscribe to the Insider? Is it worth it?

thanks in advance,
Cyn

[dilli]

If you have a broadband connection, you would probably enjoy the II content.

If you have a dial up connection, be aware you will not be able to view the live stream start, restart and finish.

You will be able to download and view archived files from those 3 events after they have passed and II puts them up on the site .. the archived live streamed videos files that are or are over an hour took my dial up over 9 hours to download in order to watch them without buffering hiccups.
Daily videos are far less painful to download and view.

Also, and I am not sure how long II will continue to make this special offer to II resubscribers, but for the past two years they have offered us a free dvd of the previous year's Irod (example: earlier this year, II offered resubscribers the 2007 dvd) .. no shipping charges .. they said the free dvd would be shipped within two weeks of resubscribing, but it actually tiook them longer than that to ship mine. No biggie.

[mamamia]

I've been a subscriber for a couple of years and I've thought it was worth it...for the most part. There have been glitches and growing pains and our dial up friends will tell you that its not worth it for them. Last year, though, when they were doing helecopter shots of the running teams using panasonic gyroscope mounted cameras the content was amazing! Having followed the race for years by crunching numbers on the internet and only having still photos for visuals it was really a thrill for me to see the mushers in action. It might be worth it just to be able to access last year's archives. Shortly after the race, in the aftermath of the Brooks affair, Panasonic seccumbed to the pressures of the animal rights folks and withdrew their support for the race so I don't know if we will be able to get the same amazing footage we did last year. (Panasonic supplied the equipment to test and market a new generation of camera.) I haven't spent enough time at the I'rod site this year to see what they have planned but I went ahead and subscribed again any way. I think the price is right.

[Moose]

Hi CynCyn! I subscribed for two years but have not renewed (yet) for this year. I haven't decided whether I will or not. The price isn't the issue. It's more that my stupid computer for some unknown reason won't allow me to hear audio with their video. There's video other places now that I can hear, and KTUU streams the starts and some of the finish and they offer reports in between. I'm good with all that. I enjoy Jon Little's articles, but I think they're published outside of II. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong.) If there's new stuff to be had with II, I might renew, depending on what it is.

Sort of a non-commital opinion, huh?! It's the best I can do.

[CynCyn37]

Thanks y'all! I am sure I will succumb before Saturday!! I mean, gosh, it's only 20 bucks. I can skip 4 hamburgers!

I have DSL, so I have a really FAST connection. It was cheaper than dial up (for a year) here in Texas. Weird, huh?

[CynCyn37]

Gotta tell you. It was worth $20 just to see Lance Mackey and how excited he was!!!!!! Too Cool!

[cat]

I love my Insider. I'm a teacher so I play the videos on a big screen in the computer lab for my students while they write Iditarod stories on their computers. The blizzard shots, Danzel gorge, shots mushing with the Ak range ranging behind & even the intro this year are awesome.

[tanglefoot]

loved it!!! was awsome to be at work inthe uk and sneeky take a peek now and then