Conference cookie::notes$archive:cd_v1

    
    ...and whatever happened to the myth that CD prices would drop further
    once more plants came on line?  Certainly there have to be a number
    of the plants working now, not just the handful of a few years back.
    But the prices seem to have more or less stabilized around $15-$16.
    Is it going to take pre-recorded DAT to drop CD prices?  Except
    there's no reason for them to compete, any more than cassettes and
    records do.
    
    Another things that bothers me even more is the lack of price variation
    among CD's.  While Strawberries is certainly short of a music-store
    benchmark, they slap every single CD, whether it's old or new, popular
    or unheard-of, with the same $16 tag.  Records and tapes don't do
    this.  And most CD cut-out bins I've seen so far have been less
    than impressive, as in I can live without eight hundred copies of
    the "Guys and Dolls" soundtrack even if it is only $6.
    
    So in other words I'm steamed and I want cheaper CDs.  But I buy
    them anyway, don't I?  Damn, I hate these consumer conundrums.
    
    Matt
    

    Well, even $16 is cheaper than I have to pay in England.

    Looking at what LECHMERE in Nashua has to offer it seems like

    - CD priced in the $9 to $11 range usually are ADD or even AAD.
	I manage to find only 1 which was DDD.

    - higher priced CDs there are in the majority DDD

    Thomas

    Unless a disc is "hard to find" there are few reasons to pay more
    than $11.98 for non-classical recordings.  I have around 65 CD's
    now and have paid full price on maybe 4 of them.  My collection
    has been built by using CD clubs (see note 756) and by shopping
    at Lechmere.  Lechmere is a CD distributor as well as retailer,
    so they cut out at least one middle-man and can sell their disc's
    cheaper than most.  The selection can be fairly good if you hit
    the sale early, like on Sunday when the flyers come out.  Oh, by
    the way, I hope you have a Lechmere in your area.  If not try the
    clubs and keep searching.
    
    John
    

WHen I was in DC, there was a place called The WIz.. All of there single
discs were 11.99, or less. Too bad I live near Boston...

greg

    The Wiz is also available to residents of the New York / New Jersey
    metropolitan area. There seems be to one every two or three blocks
    here in Manhattan. So the next time your in the city or New Jersey
    stop in.                          
    
    						Teddy

.2>    Well, even $16 is cheaper than I have to pay in England.

	I usually pay less than #10 (UK pounds), and *never* over #10.50
    for a single disk.
    
    	Keith

    re:.3
    
    That may be an reasonably accurate observation, but the explana-
    tion for it is equally reasonable and has nothing directly to
    do with what parts of the recording/mixing/mastering process is
    done digitally.
    
    The pricing scheme adopted by the major labels offering "mid-
    priced"� CD's is to offer releases of older material at the "mid-
    price", while new material is release at full price. Since the
    bulk of DDD material is relatively recent, and the bulk of older
    material is AAD, the pattern becomes obvious.
    
    --- jerry
    
    � I find the term "mid-priced" to curiously vague. "Mid" relative
    	to *what*? In terms of CD prices, $9.99 is not in the middle
    	of anything (with the obvious exception of a couple of special
    	cases being priced at circa $6). I suppose maybe they mean
    	mid-way between the normal CD price and the normal LP price.

    
    Re. .1
    
    	I disagree with your concept of Strawberries' pricing scheme.
    Last Saturday I purchased a CD in Strawberries for $3.99. This is
    the first time I have seen a price  this low anywhere. The CD was
    "Into the Rainbow" by Max Lasser's Ark (Max Lasser is Andreas
    Vollenweider's guitarist). I've found many CDs of older Verve jazz
    recordings for under $10. As long as the demand for current releases
    continues to increase,  what reason do the manufacturers have to
    drop the prices? As `cutouts' and discontinueds such as the one
    I have mentioned start to hit the stores, lower prices on selected
    CDs will become more common.
    
    /Brian

         A woman I was talking to this weekend was telling me her room
    mate buys CD's in Worcester for around nine or ten dollars apiece.
    All she could tell me was it was near Maurice's, (The Pants Man),
    which is right off Kelly Square.
         Can anyone out there confirm this?
    						Thanks,
    						Steve
    					(new to this conference)

    slightly tangential:
    
    BCD in harvard square has marked down some slow-moving used CDs
    to SEVEN DOLLARS.
    
    	happy hunting/bruce

>    < Note 902.7 by RDGENG::KEDMUNDS "So this is an ellipsis..." >
>.2>    Well, even $16 is cheaper than I have to pay in England.
>	I usually pay less than #10 (UK pounds), and *never* over #10.50
>    for a single disk.

    I should explain that �10 = $16.42 at the moment. So I'd stand by
    my statements of savings in the USA.
    
    F'rinstance I got The Beatles White Album on CD last week (where
    I CANNOT remember) for $19.98. This translated to less than �12.50!
    At home I'd pay at *least* �19.00!
                        
    - Andy

Be glad you're not in France, where typical prices are FF160-FF210 ($27-$36)!!!

I bought two CDs in Germany last month, DM21.90 & 23.90 ($12 & $13), one of
which I had been wanting to buy, but didn't want to pay BCD and Newbury Comic's
(the only places that had it) price of $19.99.

/john

    
    It is my understanding (please correct me if I'm wrong or if you've
    heard anything else otherwise) that CDs are still high priced are
    because of investors and manufacturers.
    
    They've got this paranoia that DATs (Digital Audio Tapes) are going
    to take over the world and all CD products (players, disks,
    accessories, etc.) prices will have to be reduced.  Once DATs hit
    the market in a major way, CD prices will begin to drop.
    
    Since CDs are a relatively new technology (hence research and
    development costs [debts] still exist), investors want to realize
    a good ROI to cover their @#&%* before the big drop.  Since the
    demand is still great, there is no need for them to drop their pricing
    strategy.
    
    							Dan
    

Listening to "Introducing the Style Council" which I picked up for DM21.50; the
lowest price I've ever seen in Germany.

The "Special Price" insert lists the following artists as being in the Special
Price Series:

	Abba, Abc, Ronnie Aldrich, Bananarama, Chris Barber, John Barry,
	The Beatles, Bee Gees, Big Country, Black Sabbath, Stanley Black,
	Blancmange, Bon Jovi, Bronski Beat, Brook Benton, James Brown,
	J.J. Cale, Carmel, Frank Chacksfield, Eric Claption, Cream, Roger
	Daltrey, Dexys' Micnight Runners, Dire Straits, Fats Domino,
	Dubliners, Dutch Swing College, Santa Esmeralda, Everly Brothers,
	Georgie Fame, Ella Fitzgerald, Genesis, Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto,
	Benny Goodman, Grenadier Guards, Barclay James Harvest, Ted Heath,
	Jimi Hendrix, Billie Holiday, Engelbert Humperdinck, The Jam, Harry
	James, Horst Jankowski, Tom Jones, Quincy Jones, Bert Kaempfert,
	The Kane Gang, Gene Kelly, Mark King, Kitaro, Mark Knopfler, Kool
	& the Gang, Syd Lawrence, John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Level 42,
	Mantovani, Paul Mauriat, John Miles, Modern Jazz Quartet, Nana
	Mouskouri, Georges Moustaki, Nazareth, Los Paraguayos, Oscar
	Peterson, Astor Piazzola, The Platters, Rainbow, Demis Roussos,
	Neil Sedaka, The Shadows, Shakatak, Bob Sharples, Peter Skellern,
	Status Quo, Rod Stewart, The Style Council, Donna Summer, Tears
	for Fears, 10CC, Toots Thielemans, Thin Lizzy, Judie Tzuke,
	Vangelis, Andy White, Roger Whittaker, The Who, Zamfir.

Then it says: "As CD Special Price is an international activity, certain
titles may not yet be available in your country."

    There is a Music shop on Rte 27 in Acton (The Pink Church) that
    sells CD's for $10.98.

    
    re .16
    
    Have you been in there yet?  It is called Acton Music, I keep
    driving by but haven't been able to stop yet.  What kind of 
    selection do they have?
    
    Ken
    

    
    re .16 and .17 re Acton Music.	I go in there every wednesday.
     They have "Lotsa CDs".   You wouldn't want me to make any judgement
    calls about whether any of them are "good" or "good buys", now would
    you ?
    
    	Reg
    
    	("Lotsa";  integer variable with a current value at the high
    end of a range the user believes to be credible)