Region free players - expensive or hard to get?

[Hard Times Chaney]

I keep seeing people ask if a certain Blu-ray is region free or if it will play both A & B in every other thread, so I'm wondering why so many collectors confine themselves to one region? Is it because they are hard to find where you live or too expensive to buy? Any other reason?

First thing I did when switching formats was getting a region free player. I would have missed out on so many great titles if I had confined myself to just one region and then pray some titles released in a different region zone would play on my region.