[Unimatrix Prime™]

Let's see if I can add a bit more to this issue:

Let's jump to the present day. In the 1980s, when CDs first came out, the average cassette tape cost $8. CD marketers said that the initial price of CDs, which was about $12 then, would soon drop to the point where CDs would be much cheaper to buy than tapes. The high price of $12 was temporary. It only cost the manufacturers about $2 to make CDs (packaging and all), but because CDs were such a new thing, the prices had to be kept high until it had safely caught on. The people bought it, and to this day, we are still waiting for CD prices to fall.

Ashley was right about them saying that CD prices would drop. Realistically... how much does it cost to make a CD? And not just one CD, either... thousands, if not millions of CDs are made for artists, and I quite doubt that it costs record companies more per CD-R than it does for us. Sure... back when CDs were first made, CD costs were a bit much, and like all new technology, prices are high at first, but just like old game systems, $299 becomes $199, then $99, then $49, and soon, you'll find that same "hi-tech" technology in bargain bins. CD technology, on the other hand, hasn't seen such a decline. Certain older CDs which I've seen in stores still sell for the same original price as they did several years ago, and to me, that makes no sense at all. Why pay $20 for a CD, when you can go buy a pack of 100 CDs for about $20, 100 blank cases for $10, and case inserts for about $5. Then, with a good printer, you can make your own mixes, add whatever songs you'd like, and the total CD cost is about $1 to make. Now... for the RIAA to say that the cost of making CDs to justify the "high cost" of shipping out, or whatever they may say, is total BS to me.

Realistically, this won't happen. But what sites like Napster have done, along with the people who use them, is send a message out to the greedy record industries: You charge too much for CDs. You've been ripping us off long enough. Until CD prices go down to their true value, about $3 - $5 with retail markup, listeners will turn to the Web for music. Napster is an inevitable product of history.

Again, a very true statement. Now... I'm not about "let's never pay the artists a dime!", since they really do deserve money for what they do, but again, it's the prices of CDs that force some people to DL songs... songs which they want to here, not what's on a CD. To add extra money to become greedy, self-righteous, arrogant (sorry for getting carried away..) people, and then want more money by going after "little Jimmy" is once again wrong. So you guys want more money? Then make CD prices more reasonable! It's not hard to mark down CDs, since certain CD players cost less than CDs nowadays!

How many of us would go out and buy basically any CD we wanted if the price was that low? I certainly would.. too bad I probably wouldn't want what they're selling. My point however is that CD sales would skyrocket if the price of CDs were that low.

Exactly... I'd be more than glad to go to a store and take home about 5-10 CDs and pay $30-50, vs. going to a a store and buying 2 CDs for that much. If the record industry is that "desperate" for money (like they're going broke...), they can lower the prices and see an immediate rise in CD sales and won't have to worry as much about pirating and going after "little jimmy with his 5 mp3s"

So once again, my original view stands that the RIAA is corrupt, and something must be done to end this issue so both we, as the consumers, and the RIAA, who "need" money, can reach an agreement without sending kids to "jail" for commiting such horrible "crimes" ...