On Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 3:36 PM, Raymond E. Feist <[email protected]> wrote:
> By the time CDs rolled around it was 100% market driven.

I remember people talking about paying $20 for a CD -- and I laughed
at them. Not because I was getting them illegally, but because I knew
if you waited six months, you could get the same thing on sale for
half that, or even less, quite easily.

Even without waiting that long, Target used to sell all the top-10
albums for $10 each. Mail-order from Columbia House could get you
deals, too. You only paid those outrageous prices if you HAD to have
the album when it came out, and you HAD to buy it from some full-price
retail outlet. If you could wait even a week, you could get a
significant price drop. It amazed me that people paid what they did.

It still amazes me today, but with video games. $60 for a brand-new
video game, then more for add-on content. Wait a year, and get the
same game in a "Game of the Year" edition (with some of that add-on
content thrown in) for $20-30. It's almost like clockwork. At least
with the games, there's an online component, so you want to play while
it's "hot" and your friends are also playing it online with you -- but
if you'll all just cool your jets a little, you can play the same
games for half the price (or less). But people complain about the
prices -- and then go pay those prices anyway. They don't care if you
complain, they only care whether or not you pay.

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