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Don't understand this Amazon business practice

CPA

CPA

Elite Member
Sell a CD for less than the MP3 (sometimes as much as half) and get all the songs free in MP3 version. Wha....? Just sell the damn MP3 version at the same, lower price as the CD version and save yourself the cost of shipping and carrying excessive inventory.
 
CPA said:
okay, valid point for audiophiles, but for the common music-listener it seems like a strange practice.
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I bet you its some BS brought forth by the record labels regarding digital music.

What I'd REALLY like is getting a free ebook copy of each physical book I buy. I'd buy waaaaaaaaaaay more books!
 
Wonderful Pork said:
I bet you its some BS brought forth by the record labels regarding digital music.
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Thats my guess too. A quick search shows many discussions about this but no official word. Some blame record industries some blame amazon for price discrimination. Since I hate record industries far more than Amazon I will go ahead and continue to blame them
 
Record companies have always been scared of the new business model so they are usually contractually obligated to sell the MP3s for a certain minimum price. Selling the CD for less with free MP3s is a way around it.
 
Wonderful Pork said:
I bet you its some BS brought forth by the record labels regarding digital music.

What I'd REALLY like is getting a free ebook copy of each physical book I buy. I'd buy waaaaaaaaaaay more books!
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CDs and paper books need to go away. It's half way through 2013, there is no need for physical media anymore.
 
CPA said:
Sell a CD for less than the MP3 (sometimes as much as half) and get all the songs free in MP3 version. Wha....? Just sell the damn MP3 version at the same, lower price as the CD version and save yourself the cost of shipping and carrying excessive inventory.
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Hmm, in my experience, I've always found the actual CD being sold (sold and shipped by amazon) for a couple bucks more than the mp3 album.
 
Schfifty Five said:
Hmm, in my experience, I've always found the actual CD being sold (sold and shipped by amazon) for a couple bucks more than the mp3 album.
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Take a look at several of Anthrax's older albums. Was going to pick up some of them in MP3 format then realized that the CD is half the price or less, and then they throw in the MP3 album for free. That's great and all, but I didn't want my wife knowing I just bought a bunch of Anthrax albums. What the hell am I going to tell her when I get all of these CD's delivered? :colbert:
 
BlitzPuppet said:
While I agree with you on CDs....but books? Really? They'll always have their place.
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Much like using candles for lighting.


:hmm:




Though I will say, I'm no fan of "cloud" things. As long as it's on someone's server, it's not really yours. And if they go out of business, or otherwise determine that the cloud services aren't worth it anymore, I hope you have a local backup.
 
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Anubis said:
for someone like me who refuses to pay money for lossy quality music i love it
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This makes absolutely no sense. HD audio is easily accessible in MP3 format. I did a blind test with seven self-proclaimed audiophiles on my home system and none of them could reliably tell the difference. Before you get all hot and bothered about my equipment not being good enough to distinguish between the two: B&W 802 Diamonds, McIntosh MC402 amplifiers, active room correction, etc. etc.
 
MrDudeMan said:
This makes absolutely no sense. HD audio is easily accessible in MP3 format. I did a blind test with seven self-proclaimed audiophiles on my home system and none of them could reliably tell the difference. Before you get all hot and bothered about my equipment not being good enough to distinguish between the two: B&W 802 Diamonds, McIntosh MC402 amplifiers, active room correction, etc. etc.
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Yeah but with the physical CD at least you have the choice on what encoder you use and the settings/file type you output to. Most online services have limited options.
 
xeemzor said:
CDs and paper books need to go away. It's half way through 2013, there is no need for physical media anymore.
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Going to be awhile before you see physical books go away. Ebooks only account for 20% of sales in the US and is expected to slow, while hardcover are rising slightly. Paperback has only seen ~1% drop in sales.

I'd say another 7-10 years before there is any significant impact to physical books.
 
Every time I've bought an auto-rip enabled album the physical disc was more than the mp3 version. Granted I've only bought 4 or so but I have not seen what you're talking about.
 
vi edit said:
Yeah but with the physical CD at least you have the choice on what encoder you use and the settings/file type you output to. Most online services have limited options.
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I'll give you that. I claim it makes little to no difference once a certain level of quality is established, though.
 
CPA said:
Take a look at several of Anthrax's older albums. Was going to pick up some of them in MP3 format then realized that the CD is half the price or less, and then they throw in the MP3 album for free. That's great and all, but I didn't want my wife knowing I just bought a bunch of Anthrax albums. What the hell am I going to tell her when I get all of these CD's delivered? :colbert:
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I'll give you my address. I'll take the CDs, you still get the mp3s on your account, and your wife will never know :sneaky:
 
Last time I bought some music I noticed this also. 3 of the 5 albums I bought were cheaper as CD with autorip vs just the MP3, and one was the same price. So, I bought 4 CDs, one digital album, and downloaded them all from Amazon that night for my trip I took the next day. Sometime the next week the physical CDs arrived that I have stashed away with the rest for safekeeping 😀

I agree it is weird, but whatever.
 
Yah, just bought a hard cover book for $2.99 compared to the digital download for $12.99. A no brainer actually.
 
Heh... Amazon decided to AutoRip some old Weird Al CD's that a bought a long time ago, and put them on my cloud player. I'm not going to complain about it.
 
Licensing agreements prohibit them from selling mp3s below a certain price. Same thing goes with ebooks.

The key difference is that CDs/books are physical products and Amazon can get wholesale rates, and then resell for whatever they want. No such thing as wholesale for digital goods.
 
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