FMP World Sub - findmypast.com

[kiterunner]

Findmypast World Subscription !!

I've only just seen this, so I don't have all the information about this yet.

http://www.findmypast.com/

There is a limited time "pioneer" offer of 4.95 US dollars per month for this sub, which includes the US, UK, Ireland and Australasia.

That would be just under 60 dollars for a year, which is less than 40 GBP.

The normal price is going to be about 250 US dollars for an annual sub. There are also 6-monthly and 1-month subs available, with 20% discount opening offers.

I can't find an up-to-date price list for the UK site but I paid about £100 for an annual sub earlier this year. The Australia & New Zealand site annual sub is currently 69.95 AUD full price or 62.96 AUD with an introductory discount, and the Irish site annual sub is currently 59.95 Euros. The US only sub is currently half-price - 4.17 USD per month instead of 8.33 USD. It doesn't show a yearly rate but this would work out at about 50 USD instead of 100 USD.

So, it looks as though the introductory offer would be a bargain if you want access to the US, Australasian and Irish records, even if you already have a UK sub.

The Australia / NZ site is also offering a world sub but it only has a 10% discount - currently 224.96 AUD discounted from 249.95 AUD.


What I haven't managed to find out yet - if anyone knows the answers, please post!
1. Is the US site world sub only available if you live in the US? (Please say it isn't!)
I believe I now have the answer to this and it is open to everyone.
2. If you take out a US world sub, can you use it on the various national findmypast sites, or only on the US site? This may seem a trivial point, but the US site has a completely different search facility from the UK one (at the moment).
3. Can you upgrade an existing UK or Australasian sub to the world one?
4. Does the world sub include all available records for all countries (i.e. is the UK part of it the equivalent of the Full subscription, or the Foundation one?
At the moment they say only 90% of UK records are available but they are still adding records.

Link to the US site:
https://www.findmypast.com/

It is worth bearing in mind that all this means that you can try out the new search facility for UK records on the US site, for free, and see if you find stuff that has never turned up using the UK search. It is a completely different interface but I don't know whether it uses the same cogs and wheels underneath it all!


(Something that occurs to me from looking at all these sites is that findmypast now seem to be offering an "introductory discount" for new subscribers which is equivalent to the "loyalty discount" when you renew a sub! Words fail me.)

[kiterunner]

Hmmm, although it shows the price as 4.95 USD per month, when you click to subscribe, it says it will take one payment of 59.40 USD to cover the year.

Worth pointing this out in the terms and conditions:
"When you subscribe, it is on a continuous membership basis, meaning that your subscription will automatically renew unless you cancel it. You can cancel it in the "my account" area. If you do not cancel the continuous membership within FIVE DAYS of the expiry date, we will automatically renew your subscription and will take the next payment two to three days before your current subscription ends. We will send you an email at least 10 days before your subscription ends, to remind you of the automatic renewal. This is to make sure we don’t cut off your access to findmypast.com. You can turn off continuous membership at any time from the “my account” area. You must opt out of the continuous membership before the expiry date if you do not want your subscription to automatically renew. We cannot provide refunds for a continuous membership subscription which has been renewed in this way."

[kiterunner]

I've bitten the bullet and signed up, and as far as I can see, it doesn't actually let you view images of the GRO marriage indexes yet, only transcriptions, but it doesn't show the year of a marriage on the transcription, so it could be quite annoying if you were using it as your only site for research. But it does say BETA at the top of the home page so I'm sure they will be improving things! The images for GRO birth and death indexes are available, and the years for these are shown on the transcriptions, so I expect it will be sorted out soon. I've sent them an email mentioning it, anyway.

[kiterunner]

If you've been waiting to be able to search the parish registers on FMP using spouse's name or parents' names, you can do this on the US site! Just put the spouse's or parent's name in the "keyword" box. I don't think it works if you put both parents' names in at once but it's a great improvement on the UK search in that respect.

[Kit]

The Aussie price is totally ridiculous. The Aussie dollar is roughly at parity with the US dollar. I hate that prices are so exorbitant here. I never buy aussie ancestry either, a world UK sub is only slightly dearer than the middle aussie package.

But thanks for the info Kate. I'm like you and subscribed earlier this year but this way I'll have access to everything until July next year.

[kiterunner]

I think the search facility on the US site is the same as the one on the Aussie site, Kit, though I don't know whether all the Australian and NZ records have been added to the US site world sub yet.

I've found the new search is pretty good on the whole but not so good on some of the Australian records - I think it was Government Gazettes or some such, where I suspect they have been indexed using OCR software word by word and so if you search for a name such as John Smith, it comes back with every entry that has a John and a Smith on the same page. But I suspect we will miss certain features of the old search on censuses if the UK site switches over to the new one. At the moment you can use both searches (for UK records) because even if you only have a sub on one site, you can search for free on the other and use the results that you get to go back to the site you are subscribed to and view the record.

[GenieDi]

Thanks Kate, just gone for it, haven't had a sub for ages.

[Kit]

I haven't used the aussie site Kate, it's just the inflated prices we get here in Oz that annoy me.

I've had a quick look at the aussie records but I'm finding it a bit hard. i have found out that my 4g grandfather was buying land basically right up to when he died. I didn't realise he went out west with some of his kids.

Off to look at UK records and to try the parish records with parents names.

[Mandy in Wiltshire]

I've got a full sub on FMP that runs out in October. I might sign up for this one under my other email address and let both subs run side-by-side until October, then not bother to renew my full sub. I get the loyalty discount now but I still pay over £100 for an annual sub.

I mostly only view UK records so it doesn't make any difference to me whether I access them through .com or co.uk. I could buy an Ancestry sub with the money I save...

[kiterunner]

I used the same email address to subscribe to the US site as I use on the UK site, Mandy, and it all went through o.k.