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June 29, 2009
Customer Reactions to Amazon's On Demand CDsby David Harrell
When writing my previous post, I was wondering how Amazon.com would describe its "on demand" CDs -- and what the customer reaction would be. Not surprisingly, a few customers aren't fans of it. One review of the new Cheap Trick album, which is an Amazon exclusive for the next month (I believe a standard CD version will be available in July):
This is musically the best Cheap Trick album in years...and years! Some of these tunes (like "Sick Man of Europe") are up there with the best songs they have ever recorded. However, DO NOT order this CD from Amazon. I unfortunately did and failed to read the fine print... This is a CDR. The packaging is a REALLY cheap trick... super thin crappy paper that is printed and put together horribly. The booklet and tray card aren't even trimmed correctly. The disc face art is okay, but it's a CDR, not an actual replicated disc. I can't believe they are trying to pass this off as a major release at a normal CD price. I want my money back! Will this ever see a proper release on CD????I have to think this review might not be so harsh if the price of the "on demand" CD were a littler closer to that of the Amazon MP3 version of the album. To me, a CD-R is definitely superior to digital files -- you're getting something in terms of liner notes and you're free to encode the songs in your desired file format and bit rate.
But until on demand discs become more prevalent, my guess is that some customers who are willing to pay up for the physical disc are going to perceive the premium for the CD-R version as too much. (Even though manufacturing costs make identical pricing for the mp3 and CD-R versions impossible...)
Amazon does note that it's a CD-R in the editorial description, though this information is "below the fold" and well after the product description that says "Audio CD."
This product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.tags: digital music Amazon.com AMZN on demand CDs Cheap Trick
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