November 17, 2005

  • This past year, I've noticed that I've been purchasing a lot of music
    CDs.  I believe I've got over 40 new music CDs, which must be a
    record for me. At first I thought that maybe it's because there's a lot
    of bands that I like releasing albums this year.  Kinda true, but
    not really.  Then I thought that maybe it's because I have an
    insatiable need to listen to new music.... a possibility, sure. Is it
    because I buy a majority of my music CDs from Best Buy which has
    awesome great sale prices (especially on the first release week)? That
    could be it too. 

    The music industry has blamed downloading as the source of their
    problems in selling CDs nowadays.  Consumers has blamed the music
    industry for putting out too much *crap* for people to want to
    buy.  They are bought wrong.  Downloading actually works
    wonders in getting people to buy music CDs, but only if the people
    downloading don't abuse the system and just rely on that to get their
    music.  The so called lack in quality of music today is no
    different than it was twenty years ago, so that excuse never really
    works. I think the real problem is still greed. The industry is too
    greedy for profits that they charge too much for their products, while
    the consumers are too greedy to want to pay for products they actually
    want. It's an evil cycle, no doubt.

    At this time, the standard suggested retail price for CDs is $17.99,
    which is honestly a ridiculous price. All that price will do is
    alienate people from actually taking the plunge on buying a new CD.
    Thankfully there are stores (like Best Buy) who automatically mark down
    the price to a manageable level of $9.99 - $12.99 (in some cases as low
    as $7.99). I don't know if that's still too high for some consumers,
    but I think that's the magic price range the industry should officially
    follow. I think my 40+ new music CDs that I bought this year is
    testament to that.