ERO going Pay-to-Browse for online PRs etc

[vabbott]

I contacted the ERO for the purposes of writing a news article on this and they told me the charges would be as follows:

1 day £5.00
1 week £15.00
1 month £25.00
6 months £50.00
1 year £75.00

That sounds fair to me Its cheaper than a rail fare for me
Ronnie

[warncoort]

Being in Australia,much of my research in Essex has been in abeyance pending another holiday,so the prices are quite reasonable.

[findem]

Thanks for posting the charges keldon,

Whilst I understand the economics behind the decision I do feel the that the charges are excessive, for GBP5.68 I can eat out, getting a heaped plate of good food at my favourite places  .  I would imagine that people on low incomes, eg pensioners and the like, who are unable to visit the ERO will be disadvantaged.  I can't speak for the pensioners in the UK but here in Australia pensions are far from generous, also in New South Wales recent large increases in the cost of electricity, gas and water hasn't helped.

I also understand that for those who would have to travel distances to the ERO, when considering costs of travelling, it's not a too bad deal but the reality is that if there were no Pay-to-Browse there would be less reason to need to travel/visit.

I suppose I'll have to hoard my searches until I have enough to get my money's worth, at GBP5 a go, no more quick checks/rechecks 

I have always sung the praises of the ERO and especially the staff, I have experienced nothing but kindness and helpfulness from them.  Of the ERO itself, it made me immensely proud that my home county, by putting that much of the PRs online and free to view, were so far ahead of any other county, introducing Pay-to-View has taken the shine off somewhat.

I just hope that before the charges commence the ERO have all the PRs online to at least 1837.

Regards.

[Diblet]

At the annual rate of £75.00, that only works out at £6.25 for a month of what I presume to be unlimited look-ups.

Still sounds like a bargain to me. With all the work that's going into making the project possible, I really don't mind contributing towards it.

 

[stonechat]

I assume this means that the ones currently visible for free will become part of the charging scheme

MY own ancestors are not from Essex, but my wife has some

[mike175]

With many Essex ancestors I've made good use of the SEAX site and will almost certainly subscribe if they are expanding the collection available online.

Many other authorities would do well to copy the Essex example, and if the ability to charge for their services encourages more of them to do so it will be to our advantage.

Mike

[smudwhisk]

They've had a notice on SEAX for some time saying they were exploring ways of making more of the records available online, but in the current climate it's not surprising they've had to go to pay per view. 

I agree with previous comments, that if the images are as good as those currently available, it would be worth a subscription, particularly if more of the Wills appear as it costs me quite a bit each time for Wills photocopying.  The quality of many is significantly better than the microfiche images of which I have a number too.   I've been waiting (im)patiently for them to make some of the later registers available as I have a few brickwalls and it's at least a 4 hour drive each way to get to Chelmsford so they've remained brickwalls for now.

I would imagine that all that is currently free will come under the new charging scheme at the end of August.  Wiltshire RO started charging for Wills that had previously been available as free downloads when they expanded their database ... mind you it hasn't expanded much since and at £5 per Will download it's not cheap.


Nicola

[smudwhisk]

At the annual rate of £75.00, that only works out at £6.25 for a month of what I presume to be unlimited look-ups.
 

Considering the LDS are now charging £7.50 per film for 2-3 months (seems to vary which page you look at) and you have to look at these at one of their family history centres, it only works out at the price of 10 films per year and some of the Essex parish are very large.  Similarly, if they are going to make post-1837 marriages available, think of all those certificates you can save money on.

Nicola

[coombs]

Looks exciting. Look forward to it.