In mid-September, the rumoured price of the new 600XL was £139
with the 400 being reduced to £99.95. With a new series of machines
in up to the minute styling and with still the top specification,
Atari surely can't go wrong and the long awaited mass acceptance of
Atari will come at last. Or will it? There is no doubt that the Atari
machines represent excellent value for money, but let's be honest, the
software - from nearly all sources - is vastly overpriced.
If you did not already know how good the Atari was, would you buy
one? Look through the software price lists and you will see that most
of the software for the Atari is around £25 and above. Now let's
suppose that you buy an average of one program a month - not
unreasonable for most owners - and your total outlay over one year, if
you buy a 600XL and cassette player will be around £500. What else
could you buy instead? A BBC and 12 programs with £80 change, a
Dragon with 12 programs and £230 change or a Vic-20 and 12 programs
and £250 change.
There is no denying that the Atari is the best home computer and
the best Atari software is unbeatable, but let's not kid ourselves,
not all of the high-priced software is of the highest quality and much
of it can be emulated by the other machines. The support that Atari
gets on the software side amongst retailers (other than the
specialists) is pitiful and the reason is that your local
camera-cum-computer shop does not want £20-£30 programs tied up in
stock. Why should he when he can stock and sell four times as much
Spectrum software?
Who then is going to take the step? One or two English software
producers have reduced some of their prices and more will follow but
overall the prices remain high. Will Atari take the lead? Or the
independent importers?
You know that you bought the best machine, isn't it a pity that you
can't afford the best software?
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