The Pricing Gap: Do CD prices elsewhere POUND your pocketbook into submission?

Because the US doesn't feature better pricing than Canada, I tend not to budget for a LOT of CD buying when I travel there now, and I just tend to get things that I can't find back home, or things that are super-discounted because they're used, etc. How about the rest of you world travelers?

New CDs 23-27 Euro=about 14-16 Sterling I guess.

If I was in London I would definitely find (a)lots of stuff I can't find here and (b)lots of albums for 4/5/6/7/8/9/10 sterling.

What's the furthest you've ever traveled to get cheap CDs?

That might be about to happen for me w/r/t Australia and NZ -- given the current exchange rate, looks like my dollar would go quite a long way. Though more than likely I'm going to concentrate on getting more obscure/local releases than anything else.

Japanese CDs are the ones that usually run the most for me. Probably about $20. Major retailers there, like HMV or Tower, will also hit you up for mega-shipping costs -- sometimes approaching the entire value of the CD. I rarely order from those kinds of places because of it.

I'll plug places like Aquarius and Forced Exposure because they'll sell the same stuff at (usually) better prices.

There is a 24,5% value added tax on CD's in Iceland, so it really hurts the bank balance to buy new ones. Fresh CD's cost the equivalent of 25-35 US Dollars, which is why I usually buy my music second-hand or go abroad to get it. I don't specifically go abroad to get cheap music - I'd have to buy thousands of CD's to make a saving - but as soon as I decide to go somewhere, I start making a list. I also ask relatives to get stuff for me when they travel abroad. Once, I ordered a relatively cheap CD from Amazon.com, hoping to make a saving, but with the postage and VAT it came to slightly more than it cost at home. This is when I discovered that the VAT is calculated off the purchace price PLUS the postage.

in the UK it's really bad. the exchange rate here (in canada) is so good but I was talking to someoone I met through the drone on news group a few days ago that the costs of manufacturing CDs is cheaper here than in the US though i don't know actually.

But the fact is there are record shops in London that sell recs at good prices (at least with the type of music i buy). you can really see the difference and how much HMV and tower recs rip off the customer. the biggest saving was when buying 'Harras'. On the shop I bought it, 10 quid. At tower, 30 quid. The biggest but by no means the only good saving.

a lot of the more 'mainstream' indie releases: just wait for the 2nd hand rec shops to get it and you can save a bit.

''Japanese CDs are the ones that usually run the most for me. Probably about $20. Major retailers there, like HMV or Tower, will also hit you up for mega-shipping costs -- sometimes approaching the entire value of the CD. I rarely order from those kinds of places because of it.''

I can feel your pain! I want to get as many PSF releases as I can but it's impossible with the kind of prices I have to pay. It's the only label that I'm actually interested in getting everything (maybe Incus and Matchless is a more realistic goal).

I want to get as many PSF releases as I can but it's impossible with the kind of prices I have to pay.

For stuff like that, it's usually better for me to just email the artist, or if they have a website, go there directly. The cheapest I've ever gotten a new CD from Japan is $16.

get ready for jb hifi's crazy year-round savings bin ned!
new release cds here are about 12-15 us bucks, which is pretty average i guess.
my favourite trick for hip hop cds that don't get a local release is to buy them second hand on amazon instead of getting them imported. people don't seem to be able to get rid of their old hip hop albums fast enough, and they end up costing about the same as a (cheap) normal new cd here, including the postage. bargain!

In Belgium new (single) CD releases retail for between 16 and 22 euros, depending on the shop. I usually refuse to buy anything costing more than €20 on principle.

get ready for jb hifi's crazy year-round savings bin ned!

Hey, if it works. ;-)

holy carp!
And here I was thinking 30 bucks for Story of Harmelodia was steep this morning.
your thread, your amg review and now your going to make me poorer.

JEEZE LOUISE, 30 bucks for that album? Where did you buy that, anyhow? You can find it fairly regularly in the used bin (though admittedly the boys don't get any money that way). I remember this one place out in Mr. and Mrs. Sauga had a whole buttload of them for $4.99 apiece...maybe not any more, though.

yeah, i once saw a european metal couple in this place in toronto called "Cheepo" and they had a stack of 40 or so metal/black metal cds. this place is a wharehouse style used place with decent stuff no more than $10 CDN, but seriously, this shit was sick

Now that the dollar is about 3 reais a hot new expensive cd by a foreign band is about 10 american dollars. Used cds go from 3 to 5 dollars and if you search enough you can probably finda most cds for 7 or 8. I bought Spice Girls' Wannabe for about 1,5 dollars yesterday

Its may sound cheap but its still expensive for the lifestile here

i actually heard that cd prices in australia were insane. some of the highest in the world, but that was a few years ago. i may've dreamt that actually, but i've beleived it to be true to this point.

''i actually heard that cd prices in australia were insane.''

well...it might make Australians think twice before they buy INXS albums if nothing else.

Then they should export more, the world needs more early Church.

Did you get the title for thus thread from a junk email Sean?

Then they should export more, the world needs more early Church.

Convenient too seeing as the early albums have all been reissued. ;-)

SA's downward-spiralling currency means I pretty much can't buy anything now unless it's locally printed or 2nd hand. Anything imported (this includes stuff like The Avalanches, Boards of Canada, Dismemberment Plan, hell even "The Infamous Mobb Deep") costs me upwards of R250 (that's like $25). When my current shiny pop-binge ends I'm gonna have to start selling my body for records. Anybody in the market for a pasty, skinny white kid, currently featuring scraggly facial hair? (no pervs)

Graham...no, but if someone wants to offer me great CDs at bargain basement prices, that's okay by me! Call now!

I would like to see a UK or even EU wide policy of VAT Free CDs, if books are VAT free why not music?

Increase the tax bands ! for the rich ! why only two bands of tax in the UK this has also stuck me as a very rigid scheme ! reintroduce the 50 per cent tax band for say the over 100K mob - and scrap direct taxtion on items such as CDs.

I object that 17.5 % of the price of each CD goes to the Government ! Why don't Bard, BPI and Which ? magazine etc press for real change in making CDs cheaper for the consumer by lobbying govt to scrap VAT on CDs.

I generally buy my CDs from labels or distros (No Colours, Barbarian Wrath, Drakkar) for roughly EUR 10-12 per album, but that will obviously not do for "regular" artists on major labels.

Virtually all the mainstream music I own has been bought from second hand shops or obtained from trades.

It is interesting to note though that over the past two decades, CD's have become cheaper in real terms. In the mid 80s a new CD at a high street store was roughly EUR 17 here, while it has climbed to EUR 20-22. This translates to an increase of only 20% in 15 years.

i wish netcd in nz had a better selection because for a time there i could order cds from them for 12 dollars US and this included shipping because the exchange was so excellent.

15-17 for us cds? maybe in a mall shop like sam goody but i rarely pay more than 12 bucks at the local independent shop. wish it wasn't located within the city limits, then i could save on the 7.6 cent sales tax.

actually if i was smart i'd everything from tweekitten.com because scott has the lowest prices anywhere.

CAROLINER rainbow lps - YOW !! that stung bad. subterranean are a bunch of die hard hippies (that's cool) who will only accept IMOs (BIG surcharge). the worst of it was i don';t think caroliner have ever made a record better than "scrambled egg taken for a wife" or "rings on the awkward shadow" (the first two i ever got without resorting to subterranean)