JB HiFi has a sale on at the moment with CDs from $7.95. These are all the same CDs that have been in the "sale" bins at $9.95 each for what seems like at least a year.

They can't even give this music away.

The same music is "on sale" on iTunes for similar, if slightly higher, prices.

We visited a lot of trash'n'treasure markets a few weekends back. It used to be the standard price for a second-hand CD was around $15 to $20. These days it seems to be around $8 to $10. When you can buy it brand new for $10, how can second-hand compete except claiming "rarity" on everything? I haven't been in a Dixons second-hand CD store in a while but I suspect their prices must have dropped recently too.

While at said market I bought a couple of rare CDs, one of which I spent a good deal of the 90s lusting over but could never buy because even the bootlegs cost $100+: Metallica's "The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited" EP. I bought what appears to be an original German pressing of this CD for $10. Not that long ago (OK, more than a decade, shut up) it would have cost $250. I also bought Tori Amos' "Under The Pink" Australian tour edition with the "More Pink" B-Sides CD for $5. Again, $200+ very recently (in fact, still $50 on eBay).

The bottom seem to finally be falling out of the collectors market.

It seems to be happening...

Meanwhile, concert sales are booming.

* I feel I should note that one of the major reasons for the Garage Days EP dropping in price is the release of the songs from this EP on the 1998 "Garage Inc." compilation. I still desired an original because the "Garage Inc." has a pressed-in mastering error/skip on "Green Hell" and it has bugged me forever.

Some big music industry related shake up already this year, some of which actually went somewhere...

Rumours recently of iTunes upgrading their music files from CD quality 16 bit 44.1hz to 24 bit 96hz. I suggested something this rash a while back (when trying to make digital something worth "upgrading too" when I still thought digital was competing with CDs). Now I think it's crazy talk (especially as most hardware MP3 players won't play anything above 48hz), and I can't see it happening, but I still think lossless files would make a difference.

Meanwhile there were also rumours of Apple (and Google) negotiating with the record labels to allow "cloud" (I friggin' hate that term) storage of music, effectively allowing multiple downloads of bought songs from iTunes (something App purchasers have always been allowed to do). While those rumours started, Amazon just went ahead and did it. Good on 'em.

USA only. Again. Core problem not solved.

The Australian dollar has hit $1.07 US, making the $1.69 (and higher) per song Australians pay on iTunes compared to US$0.99 even more offensive.

What to do?...

There were suggestions recently that Google should just buy the whole music industry. I suspect the article was talking... again... about just in the USA, but still... only TEN years ago people were suggesting the same thing of Coca-Cola.

And today, I particularly enjoyed this article from The Guardian on how effective each of the given reasons for buying-instead-of-getting-for-free are.

More on why I still buy music later (I haven't figured it out myself yet).