News broke on Tuesday that the High Court in London has ruled that
CD-wow was
in breach of European Laws regarding import and sales... To you and me that means the only place to legitimately get CDs for a reasonable price is now illegitimate. It makes you not want to even bother trying to abide by anti-piracy laws.
When Oasis' latest album came out, I remember doing a quick price check for comparison. Most outlets (online and off...) were offering the new release at around £12.
HMV was the scummiest, offering a disgraceful £16 (I can't remember the exact price - it may have been 15.95, but definately the far side of £15) for a single CD. CD-wow had it for £8.99, as they do for all their new releases.
iTunes has recently announced the triumphant decision that if you are willing to pay an extra 25% for your songs, (which are already nearly 15% more expensive in the UK than in Europe) you get the benefit of being the actual
owner if the file - which can be used any which way you please. Of course, the recording industry has served an injunction against
allofmp3.com from trading for daring to have a more efficient business model. Rather than charge by song, it charges by the amount of data - for the average consumer this means that a regular three-and-a-half minute song costs roughly 12-14 pence - with the artist and the record company still getting royalties.
But since the record industry is intent on enslaving the record-buying public into paying extortionate fees for a piece of plastic that costs roughly £3 to produce, or a unit of computer data that is probably immeasurably minute in fiscal value. And the reward for this loyalty?? Maximo Park and My Chemical Romance.
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