I was saving the pennies for the upcomming DG release of Mahler 2
(Kaplan/VPO) when I started to question what I was doing.  Is it worth
paying full price for any CD again?

Pros

- You get the CD you want now.

Cons

- The chances are it'll be in a sale within 6 to 12 months.
- Major companies have regular promotions marking stock to the next price
  bracket.
- The 'critical dust' settles and that overexcited review in Gramophone
  or BBC Music is tempered by more even voices.
- Record companies are repackaging and reissuing stock so quickly these
  days it'll probably be cheaper sooner than you might think.  There are
  some astonishing DDD CDs out there at superbargain prices: Chailly's
  Stravinksy ballets, Weil's Schubert and Haydn masses, Tilson Thomas'
  Ives cyle, Herreweghe Bach canatas ...  The quality and prices of these
  CDs make Naxos look expensive by comparison (watch out Klauss!).

Why is this happening?

- The market is saturated with multiple recordings of staple reptoire.
- it's illegal, but people have easy access to CDR and burn their own copies.
- again illegal, but with digital radio people make perfect copies
  from the airwaves.
- older LPs are losing their 50 year European copyright and are freely
  available for transfer by other companies, again putting pressure on
  the market.

Provided the reviews are good, and I am happy with what I hear myself,
I will buy the Kaplan M2.  However, I will wait until the price falls
in a sale, which I'm betting will be in the second half of 2004.

Kind regards,

David Harbin
Nottingham, UK