I don't see new CD's coming down. They are as expensive as they've ever been on the high street. While internet prices are cheaper, they are still too expensive.
CDs are definintely still very expensive in Ireland compared to UK, rest of Europe and especially Asia.
However, I do see a lot of new releases being sold at reasonable prices for an initial period over here in HMV and Tower. Reasonable being €15 or so.
iTunes is not on a parity with buying a CD. You are buying low quality tracks at 128kps nothing clost to the quality of a CD, and then you have DRM on the files which is a pain in the butt! Again no DRM issues with a CD. If you don't like it you can resell it. Wheres the resale on iTunes songs?
I completely agree. However, for many people, 128kbps AAC (which btw is about equivalent to 160kbps MP3) is good enough. I myself, while I would never consider buying an album on iTunes (preferring to buy the CD and rip it at 190kbps) have in fact downloaded chart remixes from iTunes that I might not listen to enough times to justify buying a CD Single, as CD Singles are still expensive and becoming increasingly hard to find.
The DRM is a pain but Apple claim it is not their fault.
You can always burn to CD and re-rip without the DRM anyway.
Downloading MP3's is much like home taping on cassette. There was a lot of rubbish about that aswell. It has been argued that people are downloading and exact copy, and its easier to download. Also that it robs sales from real CD's. But thats seem at odds that CD's and traditional media were in decline before MP3 and that most of the MP3's online are low bitrate. Also a lot of people aren't that IT literate and prefer not to get their tracks though a computer. Didn't some surveys show that a lot of people who download MP3's also buy a lot of music? Fans are going to want to collect the albums, the cover are, read the liners etc.
It's hard to generalise. I have downloaded things to see if I like them - and then bought the CD later. I have also "borrowed" MP3s from others - but again, if I like the album and keep it on my iPod, then I will buy the CD as I prefer to own my music on my own terms and in better quality.
A lot of music doesn't get into iTunes because they don't have an agreement with the publisher for that label/artist.
I suppose it's only a matter of time before more publishers sign up.
The music industry seems to be doing everything they can except dropping prices. They are strangling their own market. Theres been cases where they've refused to release an album because it while it will make a profit it won't make enough profit. Theres lots of artists in the past who needed a few albums to find their feet before they became popular. Let consider them lossleaders, and an investment in their development and future profits. Yet if you cut off a budding artist or overprice their CD's they are effectively stopping that development. How often would you chance your arm on a new album? How about if it was €5?
That my 2 cents anyway.
I agree - if CDs cost less, more people would buy them.
However, I can't see the music industry reducing prices when sales are already in decline.
As a final thought, I have sort of gone off buying CDs on the Net as they have been taking so long - well over a week - to arrive that I prefer to spend a few Euros more and get the instant gratification of
see-it, like-it, buy-it. Also, I have been burned a few times with the multiple versions problem - it isn't always easy to see which version you are getting especially on sites like play.com who don't give accurate information.