in answer to your question, it is excelent. definatly worth the $25 (@ best buy) for the "regular" special extended edition (without the bookends, national geographic dvd, etc.) the added parts really round out the movie. im a big fan of the books. while i thought the theatrical release was acceptable, i didn't love the movie untill i saw the extended version. yes you have to change the discs but i feel it is a small price to pay for such a great movie. several other movies have done this (pearl harbor, godfather II). if it is that big of a deal i would say get a changer. or maybe someone would like to make an empeg like device that we could rip all of our movies to that way we could watch our entire collection without getting up from the couch.