Re: Variable Pricing

[Lazlo Nibble <lazlo@triton.unm.edu>]

Derek Langford wrote:

> I have been curious about CDs which come in different versions in
> the US and elsewhere.  Importers rarely touch stuff which has precisely
> the same song selection (parallel import restrictions) yet they deal with
> import CDs of the same album if they have extra tracks on them compared to
> the US release.  They flout the regulations then.  This would seem to
> apply to the boxed set where the b-sides discs are not available in the US
> otherwise on CD.
>
> If the situation is related to copyright of an artist rather than specific
> songs I am not sure I understand why these importers have a double standard.

The "double standard" is a simple matter of economics -- if the exact same
CD is available in the US, why in the world would anyone pay $5-7 more for
a UK import?  I've seen it happen quite often that an album will be put out
in the UK, US importers will bring copies of the album into the States, the
album will sell for awhile, and then suddenly the album will come out over
*here* and all those expensive import copies will sit on the shelves until
forever.

There are often sonic differences between the US and UK (and Japan and
German and so on and so forth) pressings of a disc . . . but the average
fan isn't quite as concerned -- or aware -- of those issues are they are
of the neat feeling of getting an import pressing with stuff that's not
on CD in the States.  I suppose that if the import regulations weren't in
place you'd see a lot more crosstalk about the relative sonic merits of
one country's pressing over another but it's so much work to even get your
hands on UK-only discs over here that most of us expend most of our energy
on the things that we just plain can't find in the US, instead of worrying
about whether the UK version of the current Beloved album sounds better
than the US version does.

Lazlo (lazlo@triton.unm.edu)
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This is too loud for *conservative* ears!