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I had been wondering about, thinking that you might consider slowing down, what with the Superman set and Varèse's new batch-- and you did wait a little.
I suppose you have thought it through, but here are a few thoughts-- more or less useful / useless...
1/ An increase in competition over the last two years or so
a/ FSM has kept up its tempo, roughly, but the Bernstein and Superman sets have introduced a whole new parameter into the CD buying equation, even though everyone may not be interested.
Despite the producing difficulties and the higher production costs, I think they may very well produce more such sets.
Varèse had the Goldsmith set (it was the first such box); the two Conti four-discers are more affordable, but still more than the usual single- or two-disc releases.
b/ Intrada may have become its own competitor, with an accelerated rate.
Here again, everyone may not be interested in every single release, but many do appeal to enough people for the two-week schedule to be a bit tough.
You have been able to net the most incredible releases in that period, and Doug's new column hints at even more, thanks to "a real breakthrough" "[i]In terms of studio relationships".
2/ Shipping
Besides balancing the various CD orders (to say nothing of DVDs, books, and everyday budgetary decisions), shipping costs are not negligeable, especially overseas; I have long come to the conclusion that 3 CDs is a good number (enough and not too many), and 2 the strictest minimum (which I have been limited to recently for other reasons).
Adding CDs for the sake of making the msot of the shipping is not exactly reasonable.
This leads to...
3/ The waiting game
Guessing how long the stock will hold on is difficult; there have been a few surprises, and everyone is always anxious about missing out on something because this was the one time in a few moons when the CD sold out within a day.
Still, I have often seen "I like it, but I'll wait till next time to order both CDs together-- or the next release" messages. I have done so, too.
You have surely noticed this trend, which in the end, amounts to a monthly release of four titles.
In other words, switching to a monthly schedule might not change a lot, and just "officialize" what has become a practice for many of us.
4/ When?
The problem of competition remains.
Would these releases be announced at the beginning, at the end, or in the middle of the month?
If it's at the same time as everybody else, it's too much at once.
If the result is a two-week pause between all releases (FSM / Intrada / ...), it will just be as tough.
Maybe the trick would be not to have a set date: not something as strict as "every first week" or "every 20th of the month", but just "every month", and you judge each time what the best moment is, so that your releases won't be lost in a swamp of box sets and historical releases because the date has come to announce the new titles.
Sorry if this is mostly stating the obvious and it is not of much help.
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