I think there is something afoot, Prince is either blocking WB from re-pressing (or Prince himself is waiting until he gets all the masters back). or the CD market is so deflated by iTunes that there is no financial gain from WB (or Prince) re-releasing the more rare albums as they won't sell in large numbers anyway. Most of the WB stuff is on iTunes and prince probably can't be arsed to put the work into re-releasing everything after WB. With the new digital age of music, I do think P has missed the boat big time on the Remastering of his albums. Most of his physical albums can be bought on amazon or ebay. So I can see why nobody's doing it.

Dandroppedadime said:

I think there is something afoot, Prince is either blocking WB from re-pressing (or Prince himself is waiting until he gets all the masters back). or the CD market is so deflated by iTunes that there is no financial gain from WB (or Prince) re-releasing the more rare albums as they won't sell in large numbers anyway. Most of the WB stuff is on iTunes and prince probably can't be arsed to put the work into re-releasing everything after WB. With the new digital age of music, I do think P has missed the boat big time on the Remastering of his albums. Most of his physical albums can be bought on amazon or ebay. So I can see why nobody's doing it.

This. Hopefully one (something afoot) plus one (remastering) equals two (re-releases).

I think most cds are out of print...by Prince or anybody else. The 4.99 bin at Best Buy is filled with titles that were 11.99-14.99 just 3 years ago. Purple Rain is 5.00 at Wal Mart and I doubt they would keep pressing them if they end up in the Bargain Bin.

ALL PRINCE ALBUMS ARE OUT OF PRINT IN BRAZIL.

And imports cost a little fortune. You cant get SOTT for less than R$100, for example.

[Edited 3/14/13 13:33pm]

I have found out of print stuff at flea markets or vinyl stores.

Wow - really hard to get?

I buy CDs from CD Wow cheap as chips -

Sign of the Times - $9.99 Australian and free shipping worldwide.

http://www.wowhd.com.au/CD/prince-sign-o-the-times-2cd/dp/4081#bc=dff2

What I think is messed up, is the pricing on Amazon.

You have some of Prince's most classic albums on CD & MP3, but the CD versions are usually about 1/2 the price of the MP3s.

Why would anyone be stupid enough to pay for the MP3 version when they could save 1/2 the money, buy the CD, rip it to MP3 if that's what they wanted, and still have the CD on the shelf to collect and as backup if the files are lost...

That's messed up.

djThunderfunk said:

Dandroppedadime said:

SuperFurryAnimal said:

djThunderfunk said:

What I think is messed up, is the pricing on Amazon.

You have some of Prince's most classic albums on CD & MP3, but the CD versions are usually about 1/2 the price of the MP3s.

Why would anyone be stupid enough to pay for the MP3 version when they could save 1/2 the money, buy the CD, rip it to MP3 if that's what they wanted, and still have the CD on the shelf to collect and as backup if the files are lost...

That's messed up.

Cuz, Some people love Amazon Cloud. Actually, I buy most of new titles from amazon, they give the cloud version as a bonus on many new cds. It's then great to have the CD and vinyl as well as the copy on cloud on the phone, tablet, computer. Most people do not even care to fool with CDs, you can get them for 99 cents at a good flee market. I know many people that view CDs etc as clutter.

Yeah, well, some people consider digital copies to be valueless and only consider spending $ on a physical product they own, can collect, can resell, whatever...

Prince is one of only a handful of artists that I will pay for digital copies, and that is ONLY if no physical copy is available.

For the vast majority of music out there, I won't pay a penny if there's not a CD on my shelf.

Don't even get me started on DVDs/Blurays. When the industry decides to stop manufacturing those they will be deciding to stop selling me movies & TV shows. Since I buy well over 500 titles a year that'll save me some $, I guess...

If as you say Amazon offers the cloud version as a bonus with a CD, why not buy the CD, get your cloud version, and sell the CD if it's "clutter"?

.....and, nothing you said addresses my point anyway, which is: Why pay $9.99 for the mp3 version of 1999 at Amazon, when you could pay $3.99 for the CD version at Amazon and rip it to mp3 yourself. It. Makes. No. Sense.

I have to admit, I am one of those that hates clutter. Living in a small apartment space is always at a premium. I ripped my entire music collection (approx 400 CDs) to my iPod and have it also backed up on an external hard-drive as well as my PC.

It is handy too, because I can take the ipod in the car or plug it into the home entertainment system and it releases the clutter in cupboard.

BUT having said that - the only CDs I have kept physical versions of are Prince - I love having those and I feel they are part of my collection to have in the physical format as well. It is lovely to look at the artwork and lyrics etc - and hold something physical.

But all other artists are on the iPod and I donated the physical albums to the local animal welfare charity shop so they got a few pennies for them.

iTunes also make it harder as they often have extra bonus tracks and things that you do not get on the physical albums - so if you want those tracks you have to buy their version of the album.

The ONLY thing that really makes me angry though - is that buying from iTunes does not necessarily mean it is cheaper - often JB HI FI have the physical album cheaper than they do, so it makes me feel ripped off, afterall is is cheaper for itunes - no posting out, no printing of album covers etc -but can still cost more -

I think it should be LESS ??????

That is unfair.

djThunderfunk said:

SuperFurryAnimal said:

For old music that diminished in value maybe. So you have a CD that will be worth 99 cents in the future? When people want something they want it right here right now. The CD along with the cloud makes sense to completists, I can wait on shipping as long as I have new music on the day of release. Cloud version is always on amazons cloud, forever. Buying then selling cd and having on cloud is not a bad idea if you wanna fart around with ebayers. People want easy accessibility. If they think of a song, they want it fast, best theory on pricing. But you don't have to tell me just look at what is selling, CD vs digital. People wanna carry whole collections on a phone and be able to stream music to boom box at the pool, that sort of thing. And if they think of a song they want it in the moment.

If you trust that everything you have in the cloud is forever yours, go ahead...

I see things like this: http://prince.org/msg/7/394460

and think twice.

I also wonder how much music I would never have heard of if it wasn't for perusing the record collections of family & friends. When I was young I discovered lots of fantastic music this way. Doubt it would have been as fun to scroll through my uncle's iPod as it was flipping through his record collection.

I'm sticking to this opinion: Choosing to pay $10 for an mp3 version over $4 for a CD that can also be ripped to mp3.... is stupid. In my not-at-all humble opinion.

[Edited 3/16/13 20:00pm]

djThunderfunk said:

The question is whether Prince wants to reissue some of it and put some songs back in, that he had to take out due to album length at the time, or edit it down. I think from Diamonds and Pearls on, it wasn't an issue.