Kevin Sutton responds to Bob Draper: >>Remember folks that it costs only around 60 cents inclusive to >>produce each cd these days. > >NO! I hate this argument because it is completely narrow minded >and false. The cost of producing the physical cd has absolutely >nothing to do with the retail cost. Where do you propose to pay >for marketing, transport, distribution, retail employees salaries, >retail overhead, printing, etc. etc. etc. Although Bob is way off the mark, Kevin didn't hit the bulls-eye either. First, the cost of producing the physical cd *is* one of the costs that makes up the "total" cost of the unit product. Second, the total cost does not determine retail price; supply and demand result in a price equilibrium. No matter how high the cost of production, you can't sell at or above that cost level if the demand is not sufficient, if consumers are not willing to pay that cost. My view is that Kevin would be wise to refrain from condemnation of another's price premises when his own are incomplete and contain errors. >You can bet that most major label stuff will be reissued sooner or >later. The question is, are you willing to wait? absolutely not. If I've got the bucks, I'm buying it now. I see no point in waiting just so I can pat myself on the back on saving a few measly dollars while missing out on the recording. I'll never understand the Depression era mentality of some folks, particularly when they were born long after the Depression. >I have customers every day who drop hundreds of bucks at a time and >never bat an eye. Some of these people are too stupid to realize that >Naxos and other inexpensive recordings are just as good as their DDD Deccas >etc. With that opinion of his customers, I couldn't have Kevin working in a store I owned. Those individuals are not stupid, but simply unaware of the details, and a good customer representative will try to make those customers more aware of what's going on. Even then, the customer will often insist on the premium priced cd, because there is the tradition of assuming that higher price and higher quality go hand in hand. The fact is that this premise is "usually" spot-on. Further, there are plenty of Naxos recordings which are not as good as the full priced spread. One of the jobs of a customer representative is to give out good advice, and telling them all to buy Naxos cds is bad and negligent advice. I know I'm being a little harsh here, but customers are NEVER stupid - that's an excellent way to go out of business. Customers are a treasure and need to be treated as such. And, the typical mature classical music buyer insists on excellent treatment or he/she goes elsewhere. Don Satz [log in to unmask] [As the participants in this discussion insist on avoiding classical music topics, this discussion is closed. Please forward any responses privately to the participants. -Dave]