Monitor Duty has this to say about the eventual Lord of the Rings DVD boxed sets:

Box sets? Can there really be anyone who loved these movies who hasn't bought them already?

Considering that the hard-core "LOTR-is-the-best-movie-ever" crowd has been gleefully buying two versions of each movie on DVD, one with the theatrical cut and one with the super-terrific-happy-special edition, with full knowledge in buying the first that the second will be out in just a few months, why wouldn't the studio expect that the lemmings will line up for a boxed set as well? Just throw in ultra-super-terrific-happy extras and outtakes and they'll fall all over themselves to buy it.

What's sad is the eager willingness of these folks to fork over their money for these things with nary a complaint. If George Lucas were to try the same nonsense with the original Star Wars movies, Skywalker Ranch would be burned to the ground with torches. The fans would still buy every version, of course, but at least they'd have the good sense to grumble about it, for God's sake.