3dollaretc
Rainway: You are once again correct. When ordering these cheapies I didn't give too much thought to who was copying them. (protocol:should that be to whom?) Having received one consignment from them I am of the impression they are mainly copied for the massive Chinese internal black market. Most of the writing on the covers is oriental. New cd's cost about €20 in the shops. Sunday newspapers can give them away free. So its not the cost of the actual disc, nor the copying ,nor the packaging. It's greed along the line the makes them so expensive. Greed from artists,promotors,manufacturers and (probably) vendors. If new cds sold at €12 and new Dvd's sold at €15 there would not be a black market.
Pirates of the Caribbean sold in the shops last Christmas for around €30, I bought one on from cd wow hk for €18, and we are all familiar with how the music industry turned on cd wow. Now the dvd stores are trying to sell them (?) at €7.99. Where has the €22 gone? As long as there's a need to be filled, because of incompetance or greed, there will always be an opening for someone else. In the case of Aer Lingus it was Ryanair, in the case of the music/film industry, which is a cartel, it will be the black market. For whats it worth I borrowed shrek 2 from a workmate about two weeks ago. She got it in England! Pretty good quality, sound a little hissy, and a little bit duller than I suspect the authentic version. And to add to the spice when I informed my 17 year old that he could not swap it with his friends as I only had it for one night, he had already seen it, at a friends house. What do the auctioners always say, Location.