Money is an important part of our everyday lives. It is what allows us to have ownership of something whether it be a car, a set of golf clubs, or a pair of $1000 JBL studio monitors. It also is important to say that it is what keeps our economy going.In Part 1 of Downloading Vs. Ownership, I will be discussing how you can find cheap cds on the Internet and how these prices compare to downloading them.
Since I'm a jazz collector and that is the music I enjoy most, I will be using examples of jazz recordings throughout. Each of the albums I mention will be broken down into studies. I will first list the album's retail price from the website Amazon.com and then I will give the price of what it costs to download from either iTunes or Amazon, which are probably the two best places that give you quality downloads. The cd portion of these studies are for brand new and not used.
Study #1: Miles Davis - "Kind Of Blue" (Columbia Remaster)
Amazon price: $7.49
Lowest Amazon seller price: $5.05
Amazon mp3 download: $9.99
iTunes mp3 download: $9.99
As you can see, it costs more to download "Kind Of Blue," than to buy the cd. In this study, even with shipping if you buy it from an Amazon seller you will have saved $2 or $3. That is a lot better than paying $9.99, which you would pay for if downloading from iTunes or Amazon.
Study #2: Bill Evans - "Portrait In Jazz" (Riverside Remaster)
Amazon price: $10.99
Lowest Amazon seller price: $7.41
Amazon mp3 download: $9.49
iTunes mp3 download: $9.99
What is interesting in this study is Amazon charges more for the cd, but you can buy it from an Amazon seller cheaper than you can by downloading it.
Study #3: Thelonious Monk - "Monk's Music"
Amazon price: $11.98
Lowest Amazon seller price: $6.86
Amazon mp3 download: n/a
iTunes mp3 download: $9.99
I can buy this wonderful cd from a seller on Amazon for $6.86 plus shipping which would bring to around $8, why in the world would I buy it from iTunes for $9.99? Do you see where all of these studies are going?
Study #4: Dave Brubeck Quartet - "Time Out" (Columbia Remaster)
Amazon price: $7.97
Lowest Amazon seller price: $5.12
Amazon mp3 download: $6.93
iTunes mp3 download: $6.93
It is an interesting study: you can download it cheaper, but does that make it a better deal? The lowest Amazon seller price is $5.12, which after shipping would be about $7. It's also interesting that the download prices from Amazon and iTunes are exactly the same. Where did that 93 cents in those download prices come from? That's a strange number to use.
Study #5: Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers - "The Big Beat" (Blue Note Remaster)
Amazon price: $11.98
Lowest Amazon seller price: $7.66
Amazon mp3 download: $7.97
iTunes mp3 download: $9.99
Another fascinating study. You can still buy the cd from a seller on Amazon cheaper than you can downloading it from iTunes, but you can get a better download price from Amazon.
Conclusion:
As a collector, I would have ultimately saved money buying from Amazon sellers. Saving money is always an important factor when buying anything, but this study only proves that you can save money when buying from online sellers. I should also mention again that the actual cd prices are for a brand new cd, if you can get it used in maybe like new condition, then you could probably save a little more money.
Don't simply look at Amazon. There are other places on the Internet where you can buy cds, but in my experience I have saved a lot of money by shopping with Amazon.
In my next column, I will give my opinions on cd audio quality vs. mp3 audio quality. Until then, happy music hunting!
