What do you think of the current pricing of CD's?


OK, OK, I know we can all burn and copy and download and all that and of course FREE is the best price

but, being realistic, do you think we get a fair deal? Are we being ripped off?



Personally, as a UK resident, I think things have improved a lot in recent years, as competition has become much more fierce (supermarkets and online sales that were once a drop in the ocean now account for a sizeable slice of the pie) and now it is easy to find new albums for less than £10.00, whereas once it would have been nearer the £13.99 mark.

Also, back catalogue albums are being backed well by year-round discounting.


The only real rip-off time is pre-Christmas, when the less savvy nans and grandads do their once-yearly record shop visit and get robbed blind as the year-long sales manage to be mysteriously be suspended just for December.


Any thoughts?

totally agree - since the supermarkets waded in with the whole £9.99 for a new release thing, it's helped loads with prices generally.

some still cost more in hmv but i dont buy them there
and lets not forget online shopping some new releases are even less now

Slash said:

Whoah. I remember back in 1999 when I still used to reside'n London, they'd sell for instance Prince's second album at 16.99£. Imports could cost well over 20 quid, and a lot of "rare" albums were sold as imports.

Novabreaker said:

And those kind of prices are just counter-productive. The UK music industry is selling albums in large quantities again thanks to cheaper pricing - and this is despite the rise of downloading.

Who can afford to risk buying an album out of curiosity when it costs £16.99, or like you say £20? But at £9.99 or less, taking a chance on an artist/ band you have read all about but never heard seems a much more palatable option.
[Edited 5/26/05 3:22am]

I buy most of my new music from British online shops now
7.99£ to 8.99£ shipping to Spain included seems quite reasonable to me

PS Do you have the £ symbol in your keyboard or is it a combination of keys?

PANDURITO said:

The "£" symbol is the upper case on my "3" key. "$" is on number 4.Actually, there is a Euro sign on my number 4,next to the number, instead of above it...How the hell do I get that to come up on screen?!







Deleted pic cos it came up as a red x edit
[Edited 5/26/05 3:45am]

Slash said:

it's Ctrl + Alt + 4.

real pain. and terrifyingly, it doesn't work on these posts. but does in outlook & word.

Slash said:

I guess it's the regional configuration. Your £ is a · (I see a dot) in my Spanish keyboard.

TheFrog said:

Aha! That explains why I couldn't get it up.




Up onscreen I meant.







Posted inside quote cos I'm thick edit
[Edited 5/26/05 3:49am]

TheFrog said:

I use AltGr + 4 on mine, and it works for me! €€€€€€€€€€

Actually, Ctrl + Alt + 4 works as well €€€€€

One thing I think we are definitely ripped off on is on older stuff that appears in these 'bargain' 3 for €30 deals. Quite regularly I see people on here talking about picking up various things for $1 or £1 in a bargain bin. I see the same stuff here, but not in bargain bins. That just doesn't happen here - if they think there's even the remotest possiblity of someone buying it then they'll sell it for €10 and no less. The only things I ever see in bargain bins is shit like "30 Banjo Classics" or "Boston Pops plays your favourite Elvis songs", and for some reason, 'that' album by the Spin Doctors.

As far as new releases are concered, I'm generally happy to pay the going rate, which is usually between €18 - €21. This equates to £12 - £14.50, so still more expensive than the UK, but no fucking surprises there.

AsylumUtopia said:

Buy them online for 8.99 or less at www.cd-wow.com or www.play.com
No shipping charges and very fast.

AsylumUtopia said:

£14.50 for a new album would have been the going rate 5 years ago, now it seems like daylight robbery.

Slash said:

You're right, it is robbery, but it's always been like that. It doesn't help that our VAT rate is 21% and VAT is applied to everything. I travel up to Newry every couple of months to stock up on Wines in Sainsbury's. Taking into account the exchange rate, most wines are less than half the price. Some things like shower gel, shampoo etc. are 4 or 5 times the price down here.

PANDURITO said:

Yes, I would do, and have done. But usually when I want a new release I want it NOW! so I'm not going to wait around for 28 alleged days for it to arrive. Plus sifting through stuff in a wrecka stow is far more enjoyable than point, click and scroll.

AsylumUtopia said:

Now, I woulda thought the same at one point but audio samples, customer reviews and the fact that even if it ain't in stock I can still see the cover/ tracklisting and other info have brought me round to the joys of online "wreka stows"

Slash said:

the cds normaly arrive in 2 days when i order them

AsylumUtopia said:

That's scandalous...!


What are the reasons for that, do you think..?

Slash said:

well, that and the fact that I am an idle bastard!
[Edited 5/26/05 4:42am]

Slash said:

Most likely simply because they can get away with it. There was a survey done last year comparing Tesco prices in Ireland with those in the UK. Many products are up to 50% more expensive in the Irish Tesco stores, and when asked about why this should be so, their response was that their prices are dictated by current market trends. In other words, "because we can get away with it". Tesco are a bunch of loons anyway - their main distribution hub for the UK and Ireland is in Scotland. There's a farmer about 2 miles away from where I live who grows vegetable produce for Tesco. It gets shipped off to Scotland to the distribution hub, and then gets shipped back to the local Tesco store a week later. If there's any logic to this then please explain it to me!

With regard to online 'wrecka stows' - your logic is impeccable, but I guess I'm an instant gratification kind of guy! The last couple of new releases I bought were the new U2 and Beck albums. They were absolutely-must-have-on-the-first-day-of-release purchases, there was no way I was going to wait even a couple of days for them to arrive. OK, I know that's entirely my fault, after all, what's a few more days when you've already been waiting months.

Apart from that, I feel it is my duty to support record shops (not HMV though) in case they go out of business, which would be a tragedy - where would my wife park me when she's trying on dresses?

AsylumUtopia said:

@ having certain records on the day of release - so damn right you'll find me down the record shop. (Don't get me wrong, I love spending hours, days, weeks even in record shops)


And at "where would my wife park me when she's trying on dresses?"