Just got my new issue of MUM yesterday and found this ad interesting:

Genii is now offering you the opportunity to become a Lifetime Subscriber and not only recieve Genii for the rest of your life for one pay-it-now price, but also to help support this great institution in our field that has been published since 1936.

The amount is $1,000 (US), $1,550 (outside US).

Here's what you recieve:
1) A lifetime subscription to Genii, The Conjurors' Magazine. (The subscription is non-transferable- it is only for your lifetime. If for some reason Genii is sold to another company in the future, that company will be required to fulfill all subscription obligations."
2) Any books the Genii Coporation has published free of charge in the past and future. So, we will send you both THE VERNON TOUCH and THE LOST NOTEBOOKS of JOHN HILLIARD free of charge. Any books we publish in the future will also be sent to you free of charge. (One of our earlier publications, 100 by WARLOCK, is out of print.)
3) A choice of 3 books from Kaufman and Company, also free of charge (individual books with a retail price over $100 are excluded from the offer). You must select from books that are currently in print at the time of your subsciption.
4) A lifetime membership to the Genii Archive, the online database which allows you to access, search, save and print out copies of Genii published between 1936 and 1998.
5) A mock-up of the cover of Genii with your photograph on it.
6) Your name will appear in each issue of Genii under the new banner of "Lifetime Subscibers and Supporters." (You may opt out of this if you wish to keep the transaction private.)
7) 50 random issues of Genii published between 1936-1998.

We offer a payment plan of 3 equal installments over 6 months.

wwwe.geniimagazine.com for more information

Depending on your age, this looks like a pretty good deal.

If the current subscription price of $54 never goes up (highly unlikely) it would pay for itself in about 18 1/2 years, not counting the other bonuses.

Mario

They need to sharpen their pencil on that offer.

Not sure I understand, MoonRazor. Don't you think this is an excellent offer?

If that doesn't seem worth it to you, I'm pretty sure they still have the 3 year deal running as well which allows you to pick up a book (Vernon or Hilliard) with it for $15.

Does anyone know if Genii's lifetime is dependent on how many buy the lifetime deal?

If you think that you are going to live for another 19.6 years and that you will be getting Genii Magazine all that time (3 year subscriptions) then you will be getting your money's worth with a lifetime subscription. Add onto that the books and other freebies, not to mention possible future price increases, then the life time subscription is an even better deal.

That said I do not have the 1 grand to drop on this right now and therefore will not get the lifetime subscription.

You have to take the time value of money into account (i.e. a dollar is worth more now than in the future). In addition, you have to assess what is the probability that Genii won't be around in the next few years.

You are right that the value of money will like be worth less in the future but since the cost of Genii will likely go up at about the same rate if not more then we should be able to cancel out those points.
As for Genii not being around in a few years I do not know what that likelihood of that is but it has been around since 1936 or so which would seem to indicate that it has been doing something right. But who know what the future will bring?

What if I die next year. From...uh...you know...being startled into a fatal heart attack by a barking pumkin, or something like that.





p.s. my apologies to FZ

I think it's a good deal if
1. You have the cash and
2. Genii continues to be around
3. You continue to be around

You are getting 5 books plus access to the archives . Not to mention a subscription to a great magic magazine and all future published books.

Also note that nowhere in the offer does it say that the Genii you will receive for life will continue to be a paper based magazine.

It would be cool if they switched to a clay tablet based magazine, although a little impractical I must admit.

That just means that we should have taken advantage of this deal yesterday!

Anyone know if this is still a thing?