Difference in pricing between mp3 shops (includes example)

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Posted by Simcut on Apr-01-2009 13:43:

Difference in pricing between mp3 shops (includes example)

Hey all

I've just been having a look through and doing some mp3 shopping and am baffled by the differences in pricing between mp3 shops, winds me up immensly, check the below out.

I added a total of 15 tracks into a basket on Audiojelly, Beatport, DJDownload, and Trackitdown and look at the total prices:-

Audiojelly - �21.75
Beatport - �18.96 + 15% EU tax = �21.80
DJDownload - �17.55
Trackitdown - �22.35

Also bear in mind that all of the tracks added into the baskets on each site are ALL 320kbps in quality, and are the same releases on same labels etc.

Is it just me being anal or are the differences unacceptable? In this day and age (recession etc) every penny & pound matters at the moment, so a difference of �4.80 between 2 shops for the same mp3's is pretty ridiculous if you ask me! I don't know how some shops can justify the big differences in pricing for the same tracks in the same quality on all (320kbps).

Here's a spreadsheet of the prices per track:-

Just goes to show all of you DJ's and digital download purchasers out there that you MUST shop around first before just using your 'favourite' mp3 store and being ripped off.

Hope this was interesting reading for you!

Regards
Sim

Posted by RebeL9 on Apr-01-2009 13:49:

Good that someone brings this up.
Also worth mentioning is how many sites sell mp3s in really shitty quality.
A while ago I bought Ariane - Eternity (Souldriver remix). it was full of skips. I mailed Hope recordings and they sent me a new copy. But that wasn't the souldriver remix. So I mailed back. It turned out that they had lost the original DAT so it was no longer available to get a digital copy of it.

Posted by basilisk on Apr-01-2009 14:19:

Have a look at Juno. With bulk pricing (buy a whole release, get a discount) it'll probably be cheaper than those.

Posted by Simcut on Apr-01-2009 14:21:

quote:
Originally posted by basilisk
Have a look at Juno. With bulk pricing (buy a whole release, get a discount) it'll probably be cheaper than those.

Yeah mate, you missed my point though, this was like a project, so I picked those 4 stores to do the 'project' on and showcase how ridiculous the differences in pricing are.

I'll see if Juno have the same tracks and add them to the project

Posted by david.michael on Apr-01-2009 14:26:

You'll have that. It's their prerogative to charge what they please. Go to Wal-Mart and your local grocer and compare prices, it'll be the same thing. I don't see why that wouldn't be the same for an Internet "store".

Posted by Subtle on Apr-01-2009 14:27:

So DJ Download which probably sells the least amount has the cheapest price.

The 3 others are about the same, no biggie to be honest.

Posted by CJ InterCity on Apr-01-2009 14:32:

This has been brought to my attention aswell, and although it is wrong to pay more for the same product, it is not surprising at all. This is how it works in 'the real world' too - if you shop in a fancy place, you will pay more for the same product.

But you're right, it can be frustrating when your favourite shop sells the product for a higher price, and in order to save you are forced to shop elsewhere.

Posted by KrisA on Apr-01-2009 18:22:

quote:
Originally posted by CJ InterCity
This is how it works in 'the real world' too

This.

I really don't see what's wrong with competition.

off-topic:
I have actually found myself using DJDownload alot more often nowadays. They even give you 'tokens' that you can cash in for tracks. Don't think any other store does that.

Posted by basilisk on Apr-01-2009 22:31:

If you want to flesh things out, survey various P2P options and see how easy it is to get the same music in 320k MP3 for absolutely nothing. Actually... I find that some stuff available on Beatport can't be found on SLSK. That's the stuff I don't buy--can't preview it properly!

Posted by Subtle on Apr-01-2009 22:55:

quote:
Originally posted by basilisk
If you want to flesh things out, survey various P2P options and see how easy it is to get the same music in 320k MP3 for absolutely nothing. Actually... I find that some stuff available on Beatport can't be found on SLSK. That's the stuff I don't buy--can't preview it properly!
Audiojelly is the store with the best preview quality.
Then there is DJDownload which lets you skip through the track as you wish.

Posted by julien2 on Apr-01-2009 23:47:

The problem is that these tracks suck.

Posted by Imagin on Apr-02-2009 00:44:

Problem is people turn to Audio Jelly and Beatport first because they are the most popular. So you get people that dont know about DjDownload or some of hte other sites.

Obviously people are paying the higher prices anyhow or they would drop to meet demand. After all the idea in busniess is to find the highest amount you can charge for a good/service without turning people away.

Posted by basilisk on Apr-02-2009 04:13:

I think I've checked out those other shops at some point or another. No lossless downloads. Why the hell would I pay for an MP3?

Posted by Simcut on Apr-02-2009 08:34:

quote:
Originally posted by julien2
The problem is that these tracks suck.

Just like your reply sucks too....