Dave Mepham wrote:

>Some have pointed out in the thread about Tower Music that they find the
>second hand market promising, now that Tower seem to be selling 2nd hand
>good as well.  I find it self defeating - by buying second hand there is no
>further funds going to record labels (which will get the support from many
>buyers).  Surely someone who welcomes second hand rather than new product
>has little ground in joining the chorus of complaints regarding the labels
>bringing out less and less new product.  It's a self-defeating cycle, where
>the blame lies both with the 'average' label and the 'average' punter.

The above is true only if buying new vs used CDs is a zero sum game:
every time that someone buys a used CD, a new CD sale is lost.  I don't
think that this is the case....IMO a robust used CD market stimulates
demand and, in the long run, results in more sales.  When the price of CDs
is lower, I can buy more units with the same budget.  There is a buyers
paradox at work with musical recordings: the more that I have, the more
that I want.  Also, I can sell some of my older or less preferred purchases
to used CD shops to finance the purchase new recordings.  And I'll be less
conservative with my purchases knowing that, worse case, I can recover a
portion of their cost on the used CD market.

Tim Dickinson
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http://www.tdware.com