Beginning with the April 2009 General Conference, please note that the Church will discontinue the following products:
- English audiocassettes.
- ASL DVDs, since they are available online shortly after conference.
- A 16-language DVD set.
- Distribution of the Conference Report to English-speaking unit leaders, and the sale of extra copies to general membership through Distribution Services.
For the first time, the Church will begin producing the following:
- Spanish audio CDs.
- Spanish DVDs.
LDS.org provides a complete list of the materials to be made available after general conference, as well as the timing of when they will be available.
Of course, you can listen and watch online in many language in the general conference section of the online Gospel Library (generalconference.lds.org). You can also subscribe to the text, audio, and video podcasts at podcasts.lds.org.
Did you know that at LDSCatalog.com you can also subscribe to general conference DVDs and audio CDs so they are automatically sent to you when they are available? (People in the U.S. and Canada who have subscriptions to audiocassettes will be automatically switched to CD subscriptions.) You can also get a 14-issue Ensign subscription (one extra copy each of the May and November issues).
Are the official report’s going to still be published, or are they discontinuing that medium all together?
Why is the priesthood session not available by .mp3 or video online?
See this comment regarding the Church’s policy on the priesthood session.
I actually remember that comment from October 2008 and was wondering if the ability to log in and watch this conference’s priesthood video would be available soon?
“ldsWebguy 7 Oct 2008:
Next year, when we will provide the ability for you to log in and we can verify that you are a member, or a priesthood holder, we expect to be able to provide the priesthood session online.”
Noticed that LDS general conference podcast was on the top 20 list today while I was on itunes.
The Official Reports will still be prepared as the official record of the conference, but they will only be printed in small quantities for internal use in the Church archives, Church library, etc.
The priesthood session is not yet available online, neither live nor for download. We hope that can happen in the future via your LDSAccount, but we don’t yet have approval nor the capability to do it.
When you make your post here soon (tomorrow?) about having all the General Conference talks online, you should just include a standard explanation about why priesthood session isn’t available, because of course people are going to ask.
A history of the ‘Conference Reports’.
The tradition of having available an ‘Official Report’ of General Conference goes back to 1880 when the first one was printed. That first one was for April of that year only. They resumed it in October 1897 and then it has always been there ever since, and over the years many have regarded that as the more official record than the Ensign even though the Ensign was more complete due to the inclusion of the General Young Womens Meeting and the General Relief Society Meeting beginning in the late 1970s.
Basically this will make it clear that the Ensign has always and now contains just as official a record of General Conference as the books did.
The tapes disappearing is simply a sign of the disappearance of that technology, few things appear on cassette anymore.
I have collected the official reports for the last 20 years and I have the complete collection all the way back to 1965. Why would they abandon this format? I think it is just to save some money, but I thought they paid for themselves. I wish they would instead offer them for a higher price instead of hurting those of us that do not like magazine ink on our fingers. This is a very insulting decision and I am considering printing my own version of this for my personal use.
I just discovered the Offical Reports and think they are a better format than the magazines, the binding and size makes it perfect to keep with scriptures and use to travel when studying and when teaching a lesson. I hope the Church will reevaluate that decision, or come out with a new format to have Conference talks in a book form for a long term addition to our home and church libraries.
I really liked the official report of conference in the booklet form as well. If you carry the magazines with you as part of your “church briefcase” they wear out rather quickly. The booklet form is easier to flip through as you are teaching in meetings and lasts much longer. My official report from October 2008 looks nearly new and my copy of the May 2009 Ensign is worn out. I would definitely be willing to pay for any additional printing cost to have the convenience of the booklet format. Most academic journals are available in booklet format so that you can easily refer to older articles.