PC Magazine has now said it out loud what many of us may have been wondering privately. According to their article, a justified price for a Compact Disc Audio would be around $1.4. I am sure that the music industry can answer to this with all kinds of figures but statistics, but according to my common sense – and apparently many others too – the price of an audio CD is seriously and artificially bloated.
Price fixing. The music industry began to act like a monopolist. With the advent of the CD, it found that it could continue to gouge its customers. While the industry lectures the public on illegal copying, it gets busted for price fixing. So much for the morality argument.
When Edison first released his prerecorded cylinders, they sold for $4 each. With mass production, he eventually brought the price down to 35 cents, nearly a 90 percent reduction. If the same ratio held true with $16 CDs, the cost of which has been perpetually propped up by price fixing, they would cost $1.40. Since it costs less than 25 cents to mass-produce a CD, $1.40 is reasonable and profitable.
PC Magazine
Written by: Lasse Penttinen @ 30 Sep 2002 9:49
Fair price for an audio CD - $1.40
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- 11 comments
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Dela
WOW!! Never mind $1.40, $16 is cheap. It costs €25 here in Ireland for an audio cd!!!!!!
You can call me James if you like as I have had some questions about the name Dela!! lol loaded!!30.9.2002 13:44 #1
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A_Klingon
The RIAA has sh-- all over it. It has for years, but few were paying attention.
Pink Floyd said it all years ago in their 1975 album "Wish You Were Here" - from the song, "Have A Cigar", a ficticious but telling discourse between the mega labels (RIAA) and a talented band:
[RIAA]:
"Come in here dear boy, have a cigar; you're gonna go far...
"I've always had a deep respect, and I mean that most sincerely... [gagg]
"We're just knocked out...
"We heard about the sellout...
___"We're so happy we can hardly count___
"And did we tell you the name of the game, *boy*? We call it "Riding The Gravy Train".
The RIAA's days [the gravy train], as they have come to know them, are numbered.
-- Mike --
30.9.2002 21:12 #2
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MrFat
Check this out. How about the BIG BOYS" of the record labels, having to pay out $67 million, in a anti-trust suite that they lost, for jacking up the price of cd's, to keep companies like Wal-mart and Target from selling discount priced cd's!
Now tell me, am i "STUPID", or did the "Big Boy", kind of got caught with "The Cookie Jar Empty, And Crumbs On There Mouths"? The "RIAA, and the "BIG" Record Companies, all can KISS MY (_*_)! Everybody and there GRANDMOTHER!, knows that it cost less that 2 bucks to make a cd! But the "Greedy Record Crooks" wanted all the money for themselves! That's why i refuse to pay over $10 for a cd(AND I RAISE HELL ABOUT THAT!)
sppppss!....anybody wanna buy a mp3?30.9.2002 22:06 #3
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seanbyrne
I buy CDs online now. The cheapest I know of is cdwow.ie (Ireland). They're selling most albums for 14 euro. Their DVDs are 22 or so Euro.
I found it strange why their CDs were cheaper until I received my order a week after ordering. The packaging had Hong Kong customs information on it! Anyway, it's a lot cheaper than the stores around here ;-)1.10.2002 04:43 #4
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Dela
Damn Right, you'd get robbed in this country no matter what you bought.
Can anyone guess how much it would cost for a pioneer dvd burner here in our fabulous country (Ireland), about 1200. I saw the same one for less that 300 on the net!!!1.10.2002 07:51 #5
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Ghostdog
Really? Is that Pink Floyd´s song? I´ve only heard Foo Fighter´s and Brian May´s re-make.
Anyway....
Finally someone willing to speak their mind!
I thought 120 finnish marks was enough. But nooo! Apparently 10 FIM more isn´t worth noticing. And in euros? A 1.7 € raise isn´t something to be concerned over.
But when 20 € is already too much for a CD?
And all the same time they whine about piracy. Those evil pirates are taking my money!!!!
If a CD would cost 1.40 dollars you would be much more likely to buy one then copy it from a friend. Even 3 dollars would be quite within exceptable limits.
But what about the real world? Will people stop and take notice? Will the masses boycott record-stores?
Doubt it. Unfortunetly.1.10.2002 09:27 #6
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A_Klingon
Yep, that was a Pink Floyd original, GhostDog. They (Pink Floyd) were, in a sense, "riding the <RIAA> gravy train", but they also knew that the RIAA was full of shit, and systematically gouged any and all artists who were hungry enough to trust them, or need to eat food ....
Dela, I have an Irish-made (TDK) cdrw (rewritable) disc, that I must have reburned over 200 times as a test disc. So *yes*, you have a fabulous country!
-- Mike, the Klingy --2.10.2002 00:44 #7
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Ghostdog
The 90´s were full of one-hit-wonders. Bands who made a few hundred thousand for the company with a single and an album, but then forgotten.
Does anyone actually remember Captain Jack, Paradisio, Alexia, Emilia...(the list goes on)?2.10.2002 08:34 #8
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Jake
I think 70´s and 80´s music is best all the time. Like Scorpions, Bon Jovi, Black Sabbath and so on. But never forget Finnish Hurriganes :)
Jake2.10.2002 13:21 #9
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Dela
Hey Klingon!! Try spending some time here. I'd give you 5 days before you get so sick of this country that you would go to any lengths to get out (I'm talkin about the city's here, They're disgraceful, Dublin is ((believe it or not)) one of the roughest European Citys).
Now when your talkin about Cork & Waterford and that, yes It can be pretty beautiful but you'd get sick of the green. The very very green grass thats spreads over 70% of the country.2.10.2002 13:38 #10
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A_Klingon
Well, I love the wide open spaces, green fields, rolling hills, the country in general with it's clean fresh air, good food, warm people, comradeship, campfires, good ales and beautiful women.
But based on those scary prices you're quoting me for dvd burners and simple music cds, maybe I'd better steer clear. I'd rot in h--- before I'd plunk down 25 pounds for a single music cd, which is probably copy-protected anyway. (honestly). You have my sympathies, Dela.
-- Klingy --2.10.2002 23:55 #11
