iLounge

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2 things that keep me buying cd’s @ my local retailers:

In Vancouver BC Canada we have some of the lowest CD prices in the world ($10 to $15C)

AND

I have a physical/hard copy of the item purchased, that once ripped to my computer (PC or MAC) is prestine for years to come (it only gets used once).

Posted by slfunk on January 9, 2004 at 8:51 AM (PDT)

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$17 CDs?  That get thrown around quite a bit, but at any best buy you’ll find cds for far less.  It gets even cheaper if you buy online or buy used.

Posted by Albert on January 9, 2004 at 9:04 AM (PDT)

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Albert,

At current exchange rates, $10CAD - $15CAD translates into $7.86 - $11.80 American.

That’s pretty cheap for CDs. I’d still save the gas money and buy from iTunes, but that’s still a great price range.

Posted by Atomic Bomb in Mid-Atlantic on January 9, 2004 at 9:08 AM (PDT)

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I agree, but that wasn’t my point.  I was referring to the article that states, “record stores with their $17 cds just simply could not compete.”

Posted by Albert on January 9, 2004 at 9:31 AM (PDT)

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Albert: Ah. I see. Oops.

Posted by Atomic Bomb in Mid-Atlantic on January 9, 2004 at 9:33 AM (PDT)

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Almost all of the “Brick and Mortor” music stores in my area have shut down. We still have Best Buy and B&N for CD’s, but their selection has always been suspect (in my mind).

About 2 years ago, I went into one of the last Streetside Records stores in the area and found it all but vacant of patrons. The music selection was awful. The prices were way too high. So it really doesn’t surprise me that they are closing.

What was really making me mad was monstors like Amazon.com eating all the smaller stores off of the web. CD-NOW used to be a good alternative to Amazon to buying CD’s online. However, Amazon has been allowed to gobble up just about any store they want and is becoming the Microsoft of online stores.

Currently I use TowerRecords for CD’s. However, I have bought over 650 tracks on iTMS and don’t see that slowing down anytime soon. The more tracks that iTMS gets the less I’ll have to buy CD’s. At least the pre-pressed ones. I’m seriously looking at DVD burners in order to back up my iTMS purchases. I would really hate to loose them due to a HD crash.

Posted by Dave Metzener in Manchester, MO USA on January 9, 2004 at 9:35 AM (PDT)

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A bit off topic, but Dave, since you bring up the HD crash, what happens when you upgrade computers?  Will the iTMS tracks expire after a certain number of upgrades (because you’re playing them on different machines)?

Thanks

Posted by Albert on January 9, 2004 at 10:42 AM (PDT)

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Well, one could say that the iPod serves as backup for all of your digital music files—if my harddrive did crash, I know I’ll still have 100% of them on my 40gig.

As far as buying CDs vs. Legal Downloading, I’ll stick to buying CDs. Not only do I find it pleasing looking through thousands of CDs right before me, but it’s also a lot easier than searching through long lists of artists on a computer.

Plus, as someone posted before me, I only use the CD once. Buy, rip, and transfer it to my iPod. If I want to buy a CD for cheap, I’ll buy it used on Amazon.com.

Posted by narco in Burbank on January 9, 2004 at 11:13 AM (PDT)

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Albert; you can have 3 authorized computers at any time.  So, simply de-authorize Computer A and authorize Computer D, and you are still good to go.  Repeat as necessary.

Posted by thenightfly42 on January 9, 2004 at 11:22 AM (PDT)

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Regarding $17 cds..

It really depends where you go for cds. Around where I live (Rochester, NY) stores like Target and Best buy offer decent prices on cds, and usually have good sales on new releases. But stores like Borders, and FYE usually have disturbingly high prices for their cds.

In general, cd prices there are $15-$20. If your lucky, some older albums might be $12-$13. Needless to say, I rarely buy music there, but even so the itunes music store is almost always the cheaper alternative.

Posted by Jonathan on January 9, 2004 at 12:22 PM (PDT)

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For me, the best solution has been to continue visiting the local music stores, buy CDs, rip CDs, then turn around and sell the CDs as used.  Local merchants get business, musicians (and RIAA pigs) get their cut, I get the music I want, and the person who buys my used CD saves a few bucks and gets to choose from a better selection.  On top of that, this comes out to be cheaper than using the iTMS (CD = $12, sell used for $5, total cost = $7 for full CD), and I get to enjoy the cd purchasing “experience”.

I’m curious… does anyone else think this is “illegal”?  One could argue that because I opted to sell the original CD, I no longer “own” the music, so I -should- erase it from my iPod/PC.  In my opinion, I feel like I am making the best out of a less-than-perfect situation (read: DRM).

Posted by Baguerra in Seattle, WA on January 9, 2004 at 12:24 PM (PDT)

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Baguerra,

I think others have mentioned that what you described, buying-ripping-selling, is in fact, illegal.  Once you sell it, you no longer have ownership and therefore fair use rights.

Posted by Albert on January 9, 2004 at 12:36 PM (PDT)

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I am the guy who gobbles up Baguerra’s used CDs. And it is all legal, as I have ownership of the media. RIAA no longer gets my money, and I go to concerts and clubs to support the musicians.

Of course I am extremely lucky to live in LA, which has a) secondspin b) wherehouse music c) rhino records, not even mentioning the excellent LP source: wax records.

Posted by pbox on January 9, 2004 at 1:15 PM (PDT)

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If only Astralwerks and more techno labels and artists would sign….

Then I could escape buying CD’s forever.

Posted by ajservo on January 9, 2004 at 9:01 PM (PDT)

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Call me old fashioned but i would rather buy the CD.  Full at full price mind you but I’d rather buy it than buy any sort of file with restrictions.

I don’t even buy DVD’s either even if i had a multi-region drive.

Posted by CrackedButter on January 10, 2004 at 8:01 AM (PDT)

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Can we talk in £‘s for a sec?! High street shops in the UK often sell CD’s for £12.99-£14.99. I usually pay £7.99-£8.99 on the net - this is a price I find far more acceptable.

2 points regarding this. Firstly the cheaper price means I actually spend more on CD’s than I would if I were to buy them at ‘high street’ prices simply because I’m far more likely to ‘try’ an album, whereas at £14.99 it had better be a great album. Can’t record execs realise this case is not that uncommon?

Secondly I hear that the people that run the British music industry (probably equivalent of RIAA?) are looking to take on companies like CDWOW, Play and possibly Amazon in an attempt to stop their lower prices.

Anyone know details on this?

Posted by bobsyerunkle on January 11, 2004 at 12:11 AM (PDT)

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can someone point out one of these sites that have covers?

Thats my biggest issue with buying from Itunes

Posted by systimax on January 11, 2004 at 4:44 AM (PDT)

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I have a program called ‘clutter’, that came free with Macworld magazine here in the UK a couple of months back. When you have iTunes open, you can ask Clutter to check amazon.com for the album art, although you cannot program it to check every album at once. The author was worried amazon would remove the service if they got bombarded!

I believe it’s commercially available if you can’t get a back issue?

Posted by bobsyerunkle on January 11, 2004 at 9:46 AM (PDT)