DVD vs Download guitar lessons
 

I'm curious...between identical DVD and Download guitar lesson options which would you choose and why if they were both the same (or close to the same) cost?
Thanks in advance for your insights and advice.

I really like the downloaded video lessons that Homespun sells as opposed to an actual dvd. The computer stored lessons can't get scratched or lost and can always be viewed through the desktop software or from my phone or the purple website via pc.

I guess I'm dating myself (no roses, please, just a good movie and dinner) but until a few years back I still had some lessons on cassettes ordered from Homespun. For those of us who remember these things, their life expectancy was about as long as a common household fly. To their credit I contacted Homespun reps years after I ordered them and .... I got a free replacement set.

I've also ordered some lessons through download and I do like them a lot, too. But if you have the CDs (and I have some of those) you can generally make some backup copies to store on your computer or better yet, your backup drive. And you have the "hard" copy too, which is also very good.

And if you have slow internet or computer problems you might have some problems with the downloads. But often the downloads are a good deal cheaper than the CDs themselves and with the postage often needed.

But overall I still give the edge to the downloads.

I prefer download lessons because I can run them through Transcribe! to loop and slow down sections. I prefer not to use whatever proprietary platform the provider of those lessons might have. Since I make more than one backup of the lessons, I can restore them if need be.

A handy aspect of Transcribe! is that you can save your current settings to a file and put that on your "desktop". If you do that before you exit for the day, you will be able to start where you left off, as well as have all your section markers, EQ settings, etc. To get back into the lesson, all you have to do is click on the file icon and it will run Transcribe! and load your lesson to exactly where you left off. Transcribe! has had the capability of handling audio and video files for some time now.

Tony

Depending on the vendor, the online streaming versions often use a product / technology called "Sound Slice" which closely syncs the tablature with the video. So as the instructor is playing, a line will run through the tab always showing where he or she is. And more useful, IMHO, is you can highlight a portion of the tab, a measure, two measures, a quick little four or five not section and then the video will just keep playing that highlighted portion in a loop or you can easily stop and start it. I find this capability incredibly helpful and useful.

I know a number of teachers use it. I've only experienced it with True Fire. When I'm streaming it works. When I download a lesson and use it offline, that technology is disabled - I think it needs to work with the sound slice system in an online manner, so it only works when the lesson is streaming. So, for that reason, I prefer the streaming material when that technology is available. I have a few Homespun lessons as well - I had a few old cassettes and a couple of DVD lessons and updated the DVD lessons to streaming because we don't have any convenient DVD players anymore. There's still one in one of our Macs, but it's not handy to a good playing location.