DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

I’ve been on a music binge lately, picking up over a dozen new releases over the past two months.

As an inveterate comparison shopper, I use the fact that I’m equidistant from any number of online music stores to my advantage, even if it sometimes means I spend 10 minutes saving $1. (It could be worse. In fact, it used to be.)

So I’ve noticed a surprising downward price pressure on CDs, even new releases. Not only does Amazon offer significant discounts on most new CDs, the same products show up on Half.com within days of release for even less money. Some examples:

What would cause CD prices to drop below half of MSRP within a couple weeks of release?

We know that CD sales have been in decline since 2000 (or maybe earlier) — down 25% by 2005, at least another 14% in 2006, and at least another 20% this year, according to The CD Is Dead! (Long live the CD!)

Meanwhile, digital music sales are way up — e.g. Apple is now the 3rd-largest music retailer in the US — and peer-to-peer filesharing is gaining popularity (despite being illegal).

Remember the CD price-fixing lawsuit of 2002? Here’s a great quote:

Former FTC chairman Robert Pitofsky said at the time that consumers had been overcharged by $480 million since 1997 and that CD prices would soon drop by as much as $5 a CD as a result.

Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble still charges $18.99 for Systematic Chaos.