You hit the nail on the head for my overall frustration. I was notoriously positive about the Anthology concept after Blue Note, because to me, the records were of fantastic quality and I saw the potential of what they were doing. I just ran through the entire set throughout the day yesterday and it sounds incredible. To me, right up there with MMJ releases. Its also cool that these are lesser known albums that are exclusive to the set.
That being said, they are overcharging. I think the 2 sets I received (Blue Note and Stax) are probably the best bang for your buck (still overpriced) , but the others have been massively overpriced - especially Ghostly, which is essentially a premium box of color variants for otherwise easily obtained records. If there is no exclusivity other than the color wax, and the experience aspect is half baked at best, what exactly are you paying more for? Same with Zamrock. I'm happy for those who ordered it and are excited, but how many of those records are not getting a wide release? Is it even cheaper buying that box versus buying the albums individually? If not, for what exactly are you paying extra?
I am sure the Herbie box will be high quality and I may even purchase it depending on what's included, but the whole thing is just frustrating. Anthology could have been really cool and a concept that continued on for years, but they cheapened their own product through greed and laziness.