Universal to cut CD prices to battle declining music sales...

[ragingfish]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/961201.aspThis offends me! They cut the prices to $10??? $10 is STILL way too expensive!!!I buy my music at target for sometimes as low as $7!!! And it's rare I buy music, cause it's just too expensive...I have to be crazy about the artist...(i.e. Alana Davis, Sarah McLachlan...)

[meathead333]

yeah, i heard about that too. i will still buy cd's anyways....its kinda a hobby. but, ill still burn music too. some stuff id rather buy, other stuff i burn before i buy to se if i like it or not. they can come arrest me if they want

[cibomatto]

Attached files

[cibomatto]

[Vibe Rater]

Too little too late.

[savedbyzero]

I could care less about freakin' major record companies. It's a load of crap. There needs to be more bands out like Fugazi...

[redlava]

The record company has driven a wedge between themselves and consumers starting with the increase in price followed by the dumping of horrible artists into an already flooded market, and finally begining to sue downloaders. This is a last ditch attempt to "lure" people back. The record company knows that everything is going downhill and they are trying to make as much money as they can before technology forces them to change the way they market music.On the otherhand, consumers need to stop being so (removed) tight. Instead of spending money to get a CD they want they just download it off the net. Personally I think that is wrong. A few songs here and there I think is fine, aspecially when you consider that there is a new pop artist with no talent with a new single out that sounds the same everyday. But some people D/L entire CD's because they are too cheap to buy them. OOOOOHHHH $14, my god I am broke forever!!!!!Just my 2 cents.

[ragingfish]

I do agree. There needs to be a balance between downloading too much and being forced to spend money on a CD you don't want but for one or two songs...I download the newer singles every now and then...and I'll often download a handful of other songs from that artist to determine if I like them...If I do, I buy the album! May not buy it new...I'm an advocate of buying used music on Amazon...but I still feel if I want something, you gotta pay for it...

[Kari]

Three words - iTunes Music Store.Want one or two songs? Any track you want for 99 cents. Preview 30 seconds of each track from the entire album for free. Want the whole album? $9.99, no matter how many tracks there are.Burn it yourself as many times as you want. Only restriction on burning is you cannot burn the same playlist more than 5 times. Easy fix - delete the playlist and make it again. Put it on your iPod...I think you can put it on up to 3 iPods, and 3 additional computers.The selection is huge, too.

[ragingfish]

Then there are us PC users who can't enjoy iTunes yet...But in all reality, if I like an album that much, I prefer the "factory" album...factory label, liner notes, the works...just makes up a good part of the "CD experience..."

[Kari]

But you will have iTunes soon...Dec I think.

[Vibe Rater]

What's the quality like on iTunes? ie: what bitrate are the MP3 files? How long does it take todownload a song from iTunes on a broadband connection? Is the customer service satisfactory, like if you had a problem with a download or say you lost your connection for some stupid reason duruing a download, do they look after you? Just curious. Thanks.

[Kari]

The iTunes music store isn't MP3s...it's AAC format, which, at 128, is just as good if not better than my 160 MP3s. I'm currently working on converting my entire library over to AAC because, on average, it's about a meg smaller per song for the same sound quality.I've never had a problem with a download...even if you lose your connection or have to force quit iTunes (which is very very rare), the download resumes the next time iTunes starts up.On my college network connection, it took me about 10-15 min tops to download the entire AM Radio - "Radioactive" album. So it's real quick.

[KSNeptune]

Given that Apple is selling millions of songs online for 99 cents each, and there are usually more than 10 songs on a CD, $10 is probably a fair price to at least try to improve sales.But I think the music business should realize that many don't buy CDs because thay are forced to pay for several songs they may NOT want, just to get the one or two they heard on the radio and are wanting for their own collection. I think music stores should offer a "build-your-own-mix" service where you can select ANY 10-15 songs from ANY artist(s) and have them burned to a mix CD for you. Perhaps no ready-made CDs at all, just rows of Kiosks where you can listen to anything in the collection, select your songs, then have the device kick out the CD complete with custom label, info insert, case, and a price sticker on it.And if all the buyer wants is one or two songs, they should be able to have them burned to a small business-card sized or mini-(single) CD for a porportionatly smaller price.Who agrees?KSNeptune

[Vibe Rater]

Everyone agrees with you. That is why you have absolutely no future in the recording industry (RIAA). Let me get this straight. You want to give the customer what they want? Are you nuts?I'm thinking of suing the RIAA for forcing me to steal music for the last 3 or 4 years. They force me to steal by not giving me a viable alternative to buy the music. I've been forced into a life of crime and I can't stop myself. It's their fault damn it! The communist eggheads at the RIAA don't get it. They say the P2P services are taking a huge piece of the valuable music pie away from them. You see, they are not taking a piece of the pie from anyone. In actual fact, they are making the pie BIGGER. The RIAA is just pissed that they didn't think of it first. So, the pie is not and never has been a fixed size. The pie can, and will get bigger, if you give the people what they are asking for at a reasonable price. So far, the RIAA has failed miserably and are trying to blame everyone but themselves. Losers? The big losers are of course, the artists and the customers and music fans. Winners? The winners are the lawyers. The world has passed the RIAA by. It has always been that bands would go on tour to promote a new album. Now they must release an album to promote the tour. It's is called reality. The RIAA hasn't seen it yet.