When compact discs first appeared on the music scene 10 years ago, they were expensive enough (about $20) to make many people think twice before buying too many of them.
Today, the suggested retail price of top-of-the-line discs is about $14.98 to $16.98, despite early promises from record companies that CDs would be retailing by now for $12 or $13.
And there’s even the threat of some prices increasing. Manufacturers plan to raise the price of their top-grossing pop CDs by about $2 in the next few weeks, according to Phil Myers, record sales manager of Tower Records on North Clark Street, and retailers are likely to do the same.
So why haven’t prices fallen as much as promised? Record companies have long contended that rising musical production costs (CDs began as remastered tapes and records, but now the music is recorded and mastered digitally from the start), as well as steep promotional and packaging costs, have kept wholesale prices up.
But soon, Myers said, the long cardboard CD box that manufacturers say costs them so much to produce and ship will disappear, and the CDs will come wrapped only in plastic (though the anti-theft devices that will be incorporated into the new packaging will give manufacturers another cost to point to).
All that aside, we still have the lingering sense that CDs shouldn’t cost so much. So we decided to find out whether prices vary among much among stores.
Saved by sales
Luckily, the likelihood of finding CDs on sale is pretty high.
We chose to compare two albums, one rock/pop and the other classical: Michael Jackson’s newest, “Dangerous,” and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s rendition of Ravel’s “Bolero,” with Daniel Barenboim conducting.
We found little difference between the price of a classical CD and a rock/pop CD. The main difference was that “Dangerous” was on sale at some places, but the CSO album was full price wherever we shopped.
The prices on classical music are pretty steady, according to Ron Suwanski, music supervisor of the Best Buy outlet in Arlington Heights. Only the newest and most popular releases typically go on sale.
Rolling Stone in Norridge was selling “Dangerous” for $9.99, reduced from $14.99, and it was the best price we found. There’s also a $4 discount coupon available at the store that customers can use on any CD priced $14.99 or higher, so it sells many discs for just $10.99. The store describes its classical selection as “budget” and does not carry any CSO albums.
Longhair only
If you’re looking for CSO releases, you can go directly to the source. Orchestra Hall’s Symphony Store carries only CSO works, plus a few performances by the symphony’s past conductors or artists appearing at Orchestra Hall this year. It has about 135 titles in stock.
As for selection, Tower has the largest. If the store doesn’t have what you’re looking for, it will order it for you, according to Myers, but with an inventory in excess of 175,000 CDs, there’s a good chance that won’t happen. Although Tower is a large, nationwide chain, the store on North Clark is the only one it has in Illinois.
The Compact Disc Source is a local chain that manages to keep its prices competitive and even lower than some of the larger chains. This is because it buys directly from manufacturers rather than from a “middleman” warehouse, according to owner Susan Hill. The Compact Disc Source, as its name indicates, sells only CDs. Its largest store, in Evanston, has about 25,000.
Visit the suburbs
If you’re shopping at Musicland and have a choice of locations, stick to the suburbs. Although all the stores in the Musicland group (including Sam Goode, Discount Records and Suncoast Video) buy through one warehouse, some of the Musiclands in the suburbs charge $1 to $2 less per CD than their city counterparts-and the sales tax is less, too.
Musicland is also the only store of the seven we compared whose regular price of “Dangerous” is $16.99. Of the rest, four of five listed it at $14.99, with Best Buy selling it at $12.96. Most Musiclands are found in malls, where the rent is higher but the location more convenient, according to Mike Blogren, assistant manager of Musicland in Vernon Hills.
Is the nationwide Best Buy chain true to its name? With an average price of $12.96, it was-excluding the Rolling Stone coupons-the cheapest of the stores we compared. Its CD inventory is around 30,000.
True bargain hunters may want to check out one of the numerous stores in the area (usually small operations) that sell good used CDs for around $10.
