I'd really like to see the various chip guides go on-line.

The paradigm of buying the latest guide, to keep current with changes, is just an out-moded dinosaur! Look at TV Guides; once an indispensable tool to know what is on TV - LOOK at how we have progressed: My Yahoo is set up so that I have all my channels displayed on my start-up page, most cable/Dish services have a channel line-up information feature (at the touch of your remote), Tivo DVRs will even record things it THINKS you will want to see, based on your viewing patterns. Cutting down trees to continue making TV Guides really looks foolish now, doesn't it?

My hope is that our club takes a leadership role in somehow negotiating a partnership with all the best guides, and putting them on-line as a feature of club membership. There has to be a model where the authors earn the same (or more)$$$, yet club members have BETTER & CHEAPER access than that provided by the only options now: paying full price for the guides, or lessening the return of the authors by going to the ChipBoard and asking for somebody to look it up for free in their copies of the book... (technically copyright infringement).

Perhaps our yearly membership could be increased $10, and for that you'd get 100 free searches in the on-line library of guides (10cts a search)? After that, there are various on-line banking schemes that could automate charging for the cummulative searches over those included with Club Membership.

My parents still get TV Guide, so I understand that some folks just don't have any interest in changing with the times - but I think the real risk here is that the Club could end up being marginalized if somebody decides to independently go on-line with their guide(s).

Having the CC-GTCC in charge of negotiating for all of us with the various guide authors would give us all a little more control over content and would allow us to have a say in how the cost structure is set up and maintained.

Perhaps non-club members should pay more to access the on-line guides, and there could be incentive offers to join our Club? Structured properly; on-line guides could be more accessible, cheaper to access, encourage membership growth, and provide more money to the authors...