Will, yes, compared to pre-online resources it is cheaper, there's no doubt about that. If I'd have wanted or been able to go to consult the Public Records Office &c. - it would have cost me even more living in the North of England. Which is one of the reasons I get narked about how public records and all kinds of resources &c. being so centralised and invariably located in London/South East and why I'm glad that material is being released on-line.

I know a lot of Scots &c. get angry about the government appearing to think that Britain = England, but I can assure them that quite often for people living outside of the South East but still in England, it seems like the government's take is actually Britain = South West!

However, just because it's cheaper compared to physical travel, I'm not convinced that's a good argument in favour of what you still have to pay. It seems governments are very keen on accruing information but not so keen on giving it back - unless there's money to be made out of it of course.

I spent the best part of £7 and got census data for 2 addresses and 9 individuals - so yes, I think it is expensive. I've fallen foul of other people's transcriptions before and don't trust anything other than the actual census image. People just not subscribed - despite being on the actual image - wrong ages, sexes, names, jobs: you name it and someone else has misread it. If my family history is going to be buggered-up by human error - and costing me money as well - I'd rather that error was mine!