Letter: Mystery of the CD profits

Sir: Adrian Rondeau (Letters, 4 July) ignores two things: that many CD albums now retail at pounds 14.99 or more, and that the price of CDs should have fallen drastically over the past 10 years.

Back in the mid-1980s, the CD-player was an innovative niche-market item, available only to enthusiasts with several hundred pounds to burn. The CDs themselves were produced by a tiny number of manufacturers and subject to a premium price.

Today, the CD-player is a mass consumer product. The vinyl record has all but disappeared and the CD has become the dominant format. The unit cost of producing a CD has fallen to just a few pence. Somewhere in the chain between the artist and the listener someone is reaping the benefit of these economies of scale.

BRIAN WRAY

Stockport, Cheshire