Should I upgrade to Diamond/
Asking opinions about whether or not I should upgrade to Diamond from Platinum. I am a College Senior with majors in Classical Greek and Archaeology and I am headed to seminary next year to pursue my MDIV. The major works that would be included in the upgrade would be the ICC, Smith and Helwys and Black's New Testament Commentary. How important are these particular resources to an MDIV student?
Thanks for your response
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Hi Kristin
I cannot answer your precise question but might suggest an approach to take.
1. Only pay for resources that you need.
2. If you find you need a bunch of resources see if you can find a bundle that includes them and compare the price of the bundle to the individual prices.
3. If you find you need an expensive resource check if it is included in a bundle and compare the prices. If they are close then check the bundle for resources you will probably need and see if you think that the extra will be money well spent.
4. While obtaining resources for Logos is not instantaneous it is pretty quick so there is no need to stock up on stuff that you might need unless it comes in as very inexpensive.
5. If you need a resource buy it. Don't wait for a sale. If you can do without it until a sale crops up you didn't need it and probably still don't.
tootle pip
Mike
Now tagging post-apocalyptic fiction as current affairs. Latest Logos, MacOS, iOS and iPadOS
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Unless your dynamic price is too good to pass up, the drop in value between Platinum and Diamond is pretty substantial. I would say you probably do not need it. What are your long term plans? They might be helpful for something else.
Using Logos as a pastor, seminary professor, and Tyndale author
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Hello, Kristin,
Denise recently resurrected an old post that makes me wonder if you might want to find out from your Seminary if they enable a student discount, and perhaps a special package for their students. https://blog.logos.com/2012/06/is-your-school-a-logos-bible-software-partner/
Vaya con Dios!
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I wound up getting Diamond and then jumping to Portfolio. If you qualify for an Academic discount, you get an even better deal.
How much you actually use is always questionable, but Logos is for the long hall and the price is dirt cheap bundled compared to print. Much of what you learn in school will be what you read in Logos.
Blessings on your studies.
The mind of man is the mill of God, not to grind chaff, but wheat. Thomas Manton | Study hard, for the well is deep, and our brains are shallow. Richard Baxter
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Kristin Dantzler said:
Asking opinions about whether or not I should upgrade to Diamond from Platinum. I am a College Senior with majors in Classical Greek and Archaeology and I am headed to seminary next year to pursue my MDIV. The major works that would be included in the upgrade would be the ICC, Smith and Helwys and Black's New Testament Commentary. How important are these particular resources to an MDIV student?
In your place I would be more inclined to add a package from a different stream (Baptist, Reformed, etc.) to your existing Platinum. There are usually gems to be found in all of those streams that might offer better value than Diamond.
The new site makes it hard to compare packages in different streams, but you can use this link to the old site to help you to do that:
Assuming you went for a Gold package, and you were particularly interested in commentaries, you could add ACCS (Anglican, M & W), Calvin (Reformed), Mentor (Baptist, Reformed), RCS (Lutheran, Reformed), BST OT (Anglican), Blacks (M&W), Feasting on the Word (Anglican), Gospel According to the OT (Reformed), Leupold (Lutheran), ITC (M&W), Keil & Delitzsch (Lutheran), Lenski (Lutheran), NT For Everyone (Anglican), OT For Everyone (Anglican), REC (Reformed), Social Science (Lutheran), Life Application (P&C), Two Horizons (Lutheran), Wesleyan (M&W).
Or you could look at one or more of the Library Expansions, perhaps looking for packs that suit the modules in your MDiv program: https://www.logos.com/search?Product%20Type=Library%2520Expansions&sort=newest&pageSize=60&sortBy=Newest&limit=60&page=1&filters=producttype-libraryexpansions_Product%20Type&ownership=all
This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!
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Kristin, the ton of suggestions you're getting from experienced and caring Logosians may prove overwhelming. One voice you're not likely to hear unless you contact them directly is "the right person" at your Seminary. I strongly suggest you ask the Seminary Admission Department to put you in touch with someone in their Faculty or on their Staff who can knowledgeably advise incoming students. It could be a "Director of Studies" or a "Dean of Students" or a "Librarian". Whatever the title, look for someone who both cares about students and knows what resources are likely to be assigned and otherwise useful.
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I truly appreciate everyone taking the time to respond. Very helpful. I think I will give my powder dry and I will certainly be following up with the seminaries that I am applying to.
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One thing for sure... apply for Academic Discount before purchasing anything.
The second thing ... don't buy Ultimate or Portfolio ... those have too many of useless classical stuffs ... not so helpful for in general sense. Look for BP that relates to your Classical Greek and Archaeology.
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Will do. Thanks again
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Kristin Dantzler said:
Asking opinions about whether or not I should upgrade to Diamond from Platinum. I am a College Senior with majors in Classical Greek and Archaeology and I am headed to seminary next year to pursue my MDIV. The major works that would be included in the upgrade would be the ICC, Smith and Helwys and Black's New Testament Commentary. How important are these particular resources to an MDIV student?
Thanks for your response
I found Platinum to be more than sufficient for seminary. It's actually the recommended package for seminarians because of the biblical language resources and reference works. Over the years that I've been a Logos user (since 2015, Logos 6), I have repeatedly looked into upgrading to Diamond but have never seen the value being worth it.
I have seen more value in broadening my library with some of the various denominational packages. I have purchased some level of pretty much all of the denominational packages (except SDA and Messianic). I also purchased the Academic Premium package when those packages came out (you may want to look into those for seminary). But I don't own a single package above Platinum. I own Standard Platinum (L6, L7), Methodist Platinum (L7, L8), Verbum Gold (L7), Anglican Gold (L8), and Starter or Bronze for every other denomination except SDA and Messianic. Not saying you should invest in all that, but my point is that I have seen more value in broadening out across traditions versus continuing to upgrade within the Standard packages.
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Kristin Dantzler said:
The major works that would be included in the upgrade would be the ICC, Smith and Helwys and Black's New Testament Commentary.
I think ICC is in Academic Professional. Make sure you take a look at that and see if it's a better value or not.
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Kristin Dantzler said:
Asking opinions about whether or not I should upgrade to Diamond from Platinum. I am a College Senior with majors in Classical Greek and Archaeology and I am headed to seminary next year to pursue my MDIV.
Kristin, I largely agree with the advice you have been given - focus on resources you will use, academic discount, compare with other tradition packages, etc. I would like to expand on thinking about resources you will use. In the academic context of seminary work on an MDiv then you will be required to use academic oriented / "critical" commentaries. Of the ones you named, the ICC certainly falls into that category. Other examples are the Word Biblical Commentary, NICOT and NICNT, New American Commentary, Pillar NT, and others like those. If the packages you buy do not include commentary sets like these, then you likely won't be able to use much of your Logos library in your seminary work.
This doesn't mean that other commentaries are not good and profitable. Each week, I personally use commentaries that are extremely profitable, but yet I would not use them in an academic paper. The issue is, for lack of a better term, "academic heft" to use in your seminary work.
Hope this helps. Keep studying!
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Kristin Dantzler said:
Asking opinions about whether or not I should upgrade to Diamond from Platinum.
No.
Eating a steady diet of government cheese, and living in a van down by the river.
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Greg Corbin said:
Of the ones you named, the ICC certainly falls into that category.
Some of the ICC set falls into that category - but a large chunk of it is dated.
This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!
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I am a pastor and have MDiv and DMin degrees. Standard Platinum is the sweet spot for those who are in pastoral ministry or preparing for it. After Platinum, I would judicially add resources when I found that I needed them. I would certainly want to have NICOT/NICNT which are not in any of the libraries. They would be far more helpful for pastoral ministry than the volumes you will get in Diamond. It's a lot of money, but the set does occasionally go on sale.
Pastor, North Park Baptist Church
Bridgeport, CT USA
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Very helpful comments. I will look to add to my resources accordingly.
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Very helpful comments and it gives me an idea of resources I should look to add as the opportunity arises. Thanks everyone.
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Kristin Dantzler said:
Very helpful comments and it gives me an idea of resources I should look to add as the opportunity arises. Thanks everyone.
Good luck in your studies 👍😁👌
DAL
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Thanks very much
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Kristin Dantzler said:
Very helpful comments and it gives me an idea of resources I should look to add as the opportunity arises. Thanks everyone.
One set that would be valuable to add is the Word Biblical Commentary which will be on sale this weekend (Aug 30-Sep 3) for just $399.99.
Pastor, North Park Baptist Church
Bridgeport, CT USA
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Thanks for pointing this out. I had about 7 of the volumes and just took advantage of this price to complete the set.
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Kristin Dantzler said:
I had about 7 of the volumes and just took advantage of this price to complete the set.
[Y]
Pastor, North Park Baptist Church
Bridgeport, CT USA
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Now that I'm way down on my payment plan, I went ahead and upgraded to Portfolio. I had to return it at first due to payments being to high per month, but now, I'm within my budget again. I even added the new BECNT Colossians and Philemon volume by Beale and the last few Guzik's commentary upgrade. Hopefully, after this, all I'll have to do is buy books on a "need to buy" basis and of course, new upgrades when they become available every 2 years.
Logos is a great tool for studying God's Word! It's worth the investment!
DAL
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