The charges alleged that the big five had illegally coerced retailers to artificially inflate retail prices of new CD's. To fail to do so would have meant disallowment from carrying the said CD's.

Without admitting guilt, the big five have promised not to behave in such a way in the future, hoping to avoid further probes by the FTC.

In the past year, the FTC had found against the big five in a similar suit, which showed that the studios did not permit the advertizement of sales on new CD's.

The CD's on average were jacked up by one dollar or more.

This does not necessarily mean that all cd's will take a tumble, but now smaller retailers will have access to the new releases that they did not have before. And they can sell them for whatever price they want.

This can in time, force the major retailers to demand lower wholesale prices in order to compete. This would mean an overall lower price on CD's.

Last I checked, I think we decided that this was the best way to beat piracy. You know, to make music affordable.

It will take a few months to implement the settlement. In fact, 5.5 million CD's are bieng donated to libraries across the nation as part of the settlement. In some states, you may even be eligible for up to a one doller per cd refund, depending on the cd, and when it was purchased.

So here is hoping something good comes out of this.

[rant]

A measly friggin' dollar!? CD's can -- and should -- be cheaper, dammit!

[/rant]

The original intent was to force the big chains such as WalMart, KMart, etc. not to use CDs as a loss leader. The intent was to keep record stores in business. Also, it never really affected the price they could sell records for...it only affected the price they could place in advertisements.

Also (and I say this even though I think the big-5 record companies are scum), CDs are not overpriced as compared to vinyl albums in the mid 1960's if you consider inflation.

I'm seeing CD prices ranging from about $12-20 around here. The largest record store in Boston (Virgin Records) prices most recordings at about $18.99, though some independent stores charge less.

Even used record stores seem to be raising their prices; a few years ago, I was paying about $3 apiece for used vinyl in good shape; now it seems that most LPs are fetching $5-7. Ouch.

THE 11th COMMANDMENT:
Thou shalt not pay $15.99 for a CD. Neither shalt thou accept $12.99 as a sale price.

And no, I don't download all my music - only the stuff that is otherwise out of print, and unavailable anywhere else.
I have a favorite 'record store' chain - Bull Moose Music. There aren't too many places where you can get insense, body jewelry, and hair dye - and still be a 'record store'! Typically, the CD's I've purchased at their locations have been priced at $14.97 or less. The exceptions include double disc sets, and imports. Brand-new LP's tend to be marked around $9. Couldn't tell ya about cassettes - I never buy em, unless they're blank!

Oh ... and it's my opinion that record stores in malls are evil! Everything in malls is overpriced!

Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration ... maybe not ...

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quote:

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Also (and I say this even though I think the big-5 record companies are scum), CDs are not overpriced as compared to vinyl albums in the mid 1960's if you consider inflation.

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Also, CDs (new releases) generally contain a lot more music than vinyl LPs did. LPs were typically ~40 mins total playing time. CDs routinely exceed 60 mins these days. That alone could justify prices being 50% higher. I don't like CD prices any more than anyone else, but if you look at the big picture, it can be argued that they aren't all that over-priced.

I really do have a problem understanding the logic that people use to justify theft of music (or movies). "CDs are too expensive and I can't afford them, so therefore I am justified in stealing the music I want". I guess I'm weird or something, but I wouldn't be caught dead with a bogus copy of a CD, videotape, or any other copyrighted entertainment. Don't want to hear one or watch one.

The big five will no longer artificially inflate wholesale prices, and will allow them to all retailers.

As for if prices will take a tumble, hard to say, only time will tell. If you don't see a tumble now or for a year or so, don't just say it will never happen.

Remember once upon a time that Nintendo once controlled the video game industry. After an out of court settlement that barred them from demanding that retailers carry only thier decks and games, the competition began rolling out.

It took a few years, but now Sony and Sega are now major competitors.

So it takes time, but you have to wait it out and see what happens.

Also remember that the refunds are about one dollar, not actually the overcharge. Sorry if I did not make that clear earlier. This is an out of court settlement, not a judgement.

Dave

An even more apples-to-apples (and extreme) example would be how I paid more money for my copy of The Eurythmics Greatest Hits CD than I did for their DVD. The plain CD has 14 songs. The DVD has 21 music videos, complete with Linear PCM 2.0 audio every bit as good as a CD. It is easy to see which is the better value.

CDs are highly overpriced, particularly in terms of the events that brought on the justifiable lawsuit. CD prices had been dropping, particularly through big discount warehouse stores like Best Buy. It was not difficult in the early to mid 1990s to find new releases for as little as 10.99 or even less than that.

Then the collusion happened between the major labels and some key retailers. That drove prices skyward toward the stinking $18.99 and $19.99 levels you can easily see when visiting a Sam Goodys store (one of the retailers named in the suit).

The recording industry is losing money for two reasons.

Reason One: CDs are priced in a level the market will not bear. DVDs, video games and lots of other sensory entertainment is available as alternatives to pre-recorded music. So, to sell more CDs, they have to be priced much more competitively. And, believe me, it doesn't cost much at all to replicate CDs. You can get a glass and stamper master set made for $2000 or less and use it to replicate many thousands of CDs for perhaps no more than a penny per blank. The disc, printed packaging, jewel case and shipping cost make the total cost around $1.50 per disc --if even that. Production costs? If you are a major label shipping hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of units you can amortize that cost within that $1.50. The rest is all profit.

Reason Two: much of today's popular music just plain sucks. I don't even want to waste my time listening to half the shit on the radio much less waste any of my money buying it. I mean, damn, I have Morpheus on my computer and haven't fired it up in months. I can't even think of any listenable MP3s to download! The RIAA needs to turn around and have the people they are "protecting" improve their freaking product!

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But the prices for cd media has always been hi here.

Since getting my cd burner i have found that i have been buying atleast twice as many cd's (pre recorded) than before, i've found that burning a copy of a friend's cd has given me more time to fall in love with the cd and convincing me to purchase either the retail version for the collection or buying another selection from the artist's catalogue.

BOBBY...i think you need to find a better radio station, as a last resort you could listen to my local radio station which is at www.rtrfm.com.au , it is better than most, they play everything from theatre organ music to dark goth to reggae to anything else you could think of?