So today a friend mentioned (on Facebook) that he'd bought the Esperanza Spalding CD. I assumed he meant her newest CD, "Esperanza" and then, after some iTunes and Rhapsody research/listening, decided to do the same. Borders and Barnes & Noble had the CD in question for $19.99(!!!!), and Best Buy doesn't have it in their stores. So I clicked over to the Concord Records webstore, since they own Spalding's record label. Lo and behold, they had it available for $11.98 plust $2 shipping.
Guess where I purchased it from?
Yeah.
I don't pretend to understand the economics of offering CDs for sale within bookstores or the state of the music business in general. I don't know if they have to offer certain CDs for $19.99, but one thing I do know; for $19.99 there'd better be at least 2 or 3 CDs in the package. (OK, if it's a single CD of remastered songs or additional unreleased tracks, I can see it. Case in point: the "Deluxe Version" of Tears for Fears' seminal 1984 album "Songs From the Big Chair," but I digress!) I thought $18.99 was bad enough but if Borders is at the point of needing to offer single CDs for $20 then they're going to lose me as a customer. They've whacked the music and DVD section at the store nearest my house and with them, my main motivation to purchase anything there.
I'll gladly wait 3-7 days to get new CDs in the mail if it means I get them for a better price. Instant gratification be damned--I'm NOT paying $20 for single CDs. Sure, I could get CDs electronically via iTunes or other digital download stores for $9 or $10, but I'm old school. I believe something just gets sonically lost in the conversion to MPx format. The sound's just better on CD and besides, I like to read the liner notes.
I mean, you really have to draw the line somewhere.
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