I have a bunch of movies on DVD and BD and I admit I have only listened to a handful of the commentary tracks. It's tough to make time to listen to them.

Just wondering about the rest of you and are they important to you when deciding to purchase a BD or not?

Since I'm obsessive, I listen to/watch EVERYTHING on discs I buy (including the foreign language dubs, which are often entertaining.) Commentary tracks were a novelty back in the laserdisc days, but by now they've lost a lot of that. I used to buy almost every release I could afford that had a commentary track (a lot of laserdiscs that had them were priced higher than those that didn't) but after DVD had been around a couple years it seemed like EVERY movie got a commentary track, and a lot of them didn't really have anything interesting to say. Also while it was cool at first to hear filmmakers' insights, a lot of commentary tracks got repetitive, with stuff like "at the end of the day..." and my favorite, "this actor was great to work with- watch his performance here, he's just great. I actually planned this movie with him in mind, and don't know what I would have done if we couldn't get him, but thankfully we did."

I'm wondering too that probably hundreds of the posters here have hundreds, if not thousands of unopened/unwatched product that it's probably not feasible in their lifetime to even listen to commentary tracks.

I listen or at least begin to listen to almost every commentary track...but after 5 minutes I can usually determine if it's going to be something I'll listen to all the way through or not. For example, I don't care how good the movie is, I'm not going to sit through a commentary where all the person(s) does is comment on what I can already see happening on screen (or tells me what the characters are feeling). On the other hand, even if a movie is bad, I love listening to commentaries that give behind the scenes stories about the actors, sets, production, etc.

For the most part I do. If there's a commentary track on the Blu I buy (having a commentary track does not influence me to buy or not to buy usually), I'll listen to the first 20 minutes or so. Sometimes I'll make it all the way through, or sometimes I'll just turn it off.

I'm one of those weirdos who used to get Tivo guilt if I deleted a program without watching it; so, in my ideal world, I would listen to every commentary track that I've got. Since it's NOT my ideal world, however, I rarely get time to listen to them. It's gotten to the point that, if I'm choosing between two discs and one of them has a commentary track and one doesn't, I'll choose the one without a commentary track just so that I can alleviate some of the pressure.

I generally like commentaries, but don't have time to listen to them. I used to, quite often. These days, I often skip even the short bonus features.

Same here. When I was younger I would love to listen to commentaries. Now days I barely have time to watch the movies themselves.

I do love a good commentary though. Historical commentaries with historians or those who were actually there are my favorite.

only for certain scenes that i want to know some more info. about. but, only ever listened to Shaun of the Dead commentary and I think Swingers.

i enjoy listening to director commentaries...not really a fan of cast commentaries unless it's a comedy. just this past week i watched commentaries for ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST and TAKE SHELTER. mainly i enjoy ones by Tarantino, P.T. Anderson, Edgar Wright, John Carpenter, Eli Roth, Judd Apatow, Jeff Nichols, etc. - essentially people that write AND direct their films.

I'm pretty much in agreement -- the best commentaries are conversations talking about various aspects of the production, anecdotes, etc.

If you like The Kentucky Fried Movie then the commentary track is definitely worth a listen since it's informative and funny.

I try to listen to every commentary track but it depends on who's doing it. Mostly I like writer/director commentaries, most other tracks don't interest me.

I like having the option, but don't have the time to listen to them. Sad but true, I'll only listen to a commentary if I've seen the movie more than a few times on it's own or unless someone like Bruce Campbell is doing it then I'll listen to it asap. lol

Options 3 and 4 probably have some overlap

I've grown to appreciate audio commentaries as I've gotten older (I'm 26 now haha), but when I was younger I would keep on focusing on the dialogue of the movie rather than the commentary track. I couldn't enjoy the movie and the audio commentary at the same time.

I've only listened to a handful of them though. I always try to watch any featurettes first.

I'll listen to every commentary once. But then, if it's either Tim Burton or John Hughes, then I'm just not interested in hearing it again. Those are two of the most boring speakers that I have ever heard in my life. My favourite commentary is the one for A Knight's Tale. And, of course, all the commentaries on the Doctor Who dvds.

I love commentary tracks. They are by far my favorite extra feature. That said, there are a lot of bad ones out there. I generally prefer commentaries of a scholarly nature (like the kind on a lot of Criterion releases) but I also enjoy filmmaker/cast commentaries if they are done well. Generally I prefer when a certain amount of time has past since the movie came out so there's a little perspective, as opposed to a lot of the commentaries on newer releases which are often recorded before the thing has even been released.. Werner Herzog is by far my favorite commentarian (is that a word?). I could listen to him talk about anything and I would never get bored. Bey Logan is another one who I could just listen to for hours and his Hong Kong Legends commentaries are the ones I've probably listened to the most. My all-time favorite commentary is the "in character" commentary on This is Spinal Tap.

I used to listen to them but I don't bother any more. Except for Roger Ebert's fantastic commentary for Dark City, I'd rather just watch the movie than listen to someone talk over the movie.

I love listening to commentary tracks, but I have little time to do so, so I rip them and listen to them on my commute. Yeah, I don't get to see what they're talking about, but often it doesn't matter or I can visualize it based on my familiarity with the movie.

When I do watch them or pretty much any bonus features at home, I usually watch at 1.5X speed to save time.

I used to when I first started collecting DVDs. However, now usually not. It really depends on the commentator and the subject film or TV show. An exception is Matthew Weiner, creator of Mad Men. I find him very entertaining to listen to and love that show.

Most commentary tracks are a waste of time.

Half the time it seems like it's a director or someone attached to production that just sits there and describes what's happening on-screen:

The only commentary tracks I bother with are the funny ones or the informative ones. If it's Joss Whedon or Kevin Smith it gets an automatic listen.

I have listened to a handful overall I just rather watch or do something new then use the time to hear what they say about it. Now there maybe part of the film I want to hear something about and will play that. Overall I do not do much with extras at all these days. I still hear people that made the film going on about something that stopped being new and amazing a decade ago.

I answered no I have no interest. I don't think I've ever listened to one on a film. I do like them for TV shows like the Simpsons because they're actually funny.

Same for me. I used to love commentaries and bonus features. Now, I very rarely utilize any of them.

No. They're way too hit and miss, with a lot more misses than hits.