And people actually pay that much?
Is charging 20 dollars for a CD ridiculous?
- Thread starter aimeeandbeatles
- Start date
LOL!!!!!!!
And now for something on-topic.
If they moved the price of CDs down to $10 people would still download most of their music. The problem is the music industry missed the boat. They shunned digital distribution of music for too long, and they still shun it today to a large extent. Because of that downloading music for free became engrained in the culture of the youth. You can't just remove that by dropping the price of a CD. It's too late.
There's no reason that digital distribution of music shouldn't lower the price of a CD below $6-7. I know CDs are cheap to produce, but by reducing the "middle-man" you remove mark up prices. By digitalizing music you not longer have production costs or shipping costs. By lowering the price of a song below a dollar you entice the culture that has grown up stealing music to begin to pay for it again. Furthermore, the advent of the internet allows companies to sell their goods directly instead of through a retailer. That should, in theory, remove at least part of the mark up.
And yet CDs have been getting more expensive.
True, I'd be happy to pay $20 for a number of albums if I could download quality versions of them. DRM-free lossless FLAC downloads, with high-quality scans of the album art... but they continue to ensure that downloadable content is inferior to the physical cds.
Irish Caesar
Yellow Jacket
I wouldn't pay more for a CD than I would for a harp...
Actually, I can't remember the (second-to) last time I bought a CD. And the last one I bought was much less than $20...
Actually, I can't remember the (second-to) last time I bought a CD. And the last one I bought was much less than $20...
scy12
Deity
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Lozzy_Ozzy
Rapture
Over here in England we often get CD's for £16+ on release (tharts around 32$).
And yes people do buy them.
And yes people do buy them.
GinandTonic
Saphire w/ Schweps + Lime
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Because of the abserd prices everyone pirates music in the UK. Judges, lawyers, policemen and teachers.
I cant think of anyone who still buys themselves CD's. As presents perhaps. Even my 60 year old father has it all on computer these days.
Ansar
Détente avec l'été
I don't buy CD's, so I don't really care.
Leonel
Breakfast Connoisseur
A general rule is that a music CD shouldn't cost as much as a McDonald's meal plus desert.
RedWolf
Deity
I stopped downloading illegal music years ago - it was a hassle and I didn't really feel like getting sued. However at the same time I pretty much stopped buying music period. CD's were ridiculously overpriced. I always said that if I could buy music a la carte for about a buck a song I'd so - because thats what music is worth to me - particularly if I have the ability to buy ONLY the ones I want.
I eventually started buying digital music from the Canadian site www.puretracks.com but the DRM frustrated me to no end. Protected WMA files are a hassle and they limit the number of burns you can do of each. So you're burning the file and it fails? Too bad - you lost one. Try to play it on your "plays for sure" MP3 player.. doesn't show any of the song/author information. Plus the whole license technology is cumbersome - I reformated my hard drive once (after "exporting" licenses) and then imported them - none of them worked. After scouring the net I found a patch to fix the problem. The best thing to do with these is to brun as CD audio, then rip as MP3... DRM gone. Selling music and then restricting the legal use is borderline criminal in my opinion and impeding the use of digital music. I work in the IT sector and I found that I have to jump through digital hoops to make these things work properly - my mother for example couldn't ever hope to use them.
On the upside - the record industry is starting to release some of their iron fisted control and MP3's are starting to become available for purchase.
I eventually started buying digital music from the Canadian site www.puretracks.com but the DRM frustrated me to no end. Protected WMA files are a hassle and they limit the number of burns you can do of each. So you're burning the file and it fails? Too bad - you lost one. Try to play it on your "plays for sure" MP3 player.. doesn't show any of the song/author information. Plus the whole license technology is cumbersome - I reformated my hard drive once (after "exporting" licenses) and then imported them - none of them worked. After scouring the net I found a patch to fix the problem. The best thing to do with these is to brun as CD audio, then rip as MP3... DRM gone. Selling music and then restricting the legal use is borderline criminal in my opinion and impeding the use of digital music. I work in the IT sector and I found that I have to jump through digital hoops to make these things work properly - my mother for example couldn't ever hope to use them.
On the upside - the record industry is starting to release some of their iron fisted control and MP3's are starting to become available for purchase.
Lambert Simnel
One across
Everyone ? I don't. 4000+ tracks on my iPod, and every one of them paid for [/smug mode off]. No doubt I'd sell my soul at some price level, but we aren't anywhere near that.
And I invariably buy CDs as well. I mostly listen to the music after ripping them to the PC and dropping them onto my iPod, but my main in-house music system uses CDs, not PC stored music, and is a far better listening experience. After all, even with loss free ripping, when I play back I still have the whirr of my Dell's fan in the background, and with classical stuff especially that's quite an annoyance.
GinandTonic
Saphire w/ Schweps + Lime
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A lot of people have water-cooled living-room pc's, or those network-enabled dvd/ divx jobs, or just a quiet laptop with a server in another room.
Thing is all the people I know who make music/ sound-systems or similar on a professional or semi-professional basis have their tunes on a server. If it is good enough for a guy with a five grand sound-system, who am I to tell the difference?
robo-snickers
frisco pimp
its called limewire friend
azzaman333
meh
99% of music CD's aren't worth $20.
I wait for the sales. The new album comes out at £18, soon drops to £10, and I can either buy it then or wait longer until it's £5.
The same for computer games. 2-for-£10 instead of £40 is worth a year's wait.
I have bought all my music, and downloaded none illegally.
The same for computer games. 2-for-£10 instead of £40 is worth a year's wait.
I have bought all my music, and downloaded none illegally.
Portugal
Yaaarr!
But it's not illegal, it's file-sharing; their just sharing - isn't that what they teach you in kindergarden anyway?
UNfortunately, Mango, it's more pervasive than that. What got ingrained in the culture of the youth is instant gratification. They want the $30,000 car NOW, they want the high position in the company NOW, they want, they want, and they want. There is no longer a concept of working your way to the top and truly earning what you get. Rather it's "I'll take what I want, whether or not it is legal or moral to do so."
A $20 CD is only stupid if nobody is willing to pay that for it. If enough people are still willing to pay, well then that's just the market at work.
A $20 CD is only stupid if nobody is willing to pay that for it. If enough people are still willing to pay, well then that's just the market at work.
Lambert Simnel
One across
Well, with £5000 on your sound system, you're getting into a different world than I'm in, my friend, and I would also have to rely on others' testimony. From what I've heard, for the same amount of money, you're still far better with a proper SA-CD & hi-fi set-up, than relying on PCs. (Actually, you may well be better back with vinyl and the old Linn Sondek.)
Anyway, my previous post was really only commenting on my own personal circumstances, and, with the hi-fi and PC set-ups I have, the sound quality and listening experience are far better on the CD player than with the PC set-up.
Any comment, G&T, on my becoming the first person of your acquaintance to still resolutely pay for their music ?
