Wired In
Prices for recordable CDs going up, manufacturers say
By Greg Wright
Gannett News Service
If you're a digital music fanatic who is constantly burning CDs of music for family and friends, your hobby might get a little bit more expensive.
The average price of an individual recordable CD (called a CD-R) will rise about a dime, to 35 cents, by the end of the year.
Prices for rewritable CDs (called CD-RWs) may rise even more, as much as 30 percent, according to one manufacturer.
CD-Rs, which are popular for storing music because they play in many stereos and portable CD players, only can be recorded once, while CD-RWs can be recorded many times and are a popular way to back up data from a computer's hard drive.
CD-RWs are more expensive than CD-Rs, averaging $2 to $3 each.
Both types of disc hold 650 megabytes of data or 74 minutes of uncompressed audio or up to 12 hours of music recorded in the compressed MP3 format.
While paying 10 cents more a disc might not sound like much, it will add up for people who buy them in popular bulk packages. For example, a 10-pack of CD-Rs, which cost $25 in January, might rise to $35 by the end of the year. A 10-pack of CD-RWs, which cost $20 in January, could rise $5 to $6.
Tighter global supplies prompted by competition that has squeezed out smaller manufacturers and higher production costs because of royalties charged by companies that developed recordable CD formats are pushing prices higher, according to Peter Brown, an analyst with IDC, a Framingham, Mass., research company.
Imation Corp. (www.imation.com), Memorex (www.memorex.com), and TDK (www.tdk.com) recently announced CD-R price increases. TDK also will raise prices on CD-RW discs, and Brown said he expects other manufacturers to follow suit. Another major CD manufacturer, Verbatim, said it's not planning to raise its prices at this time.
CD-recording fans shouldn't fret, though, because CD-R rebates and special price offers still abound, said Steve Koenig, an analyst at NPD Intelect in Reston, Va. Koenig said retailers set the final price for CD media. They know that digital music fans regularly restock their CD-R supplies so they'll continue to offer incentives to keep sales high.
"These are the good times for digitally recordable media," Koenig said
Kevin Elliott, a writer for About.com who uses CD-R discs to record music and back-up data on his computer a few times a week, said such a small price increase would not keep him from buying the discs. "It will probably raise the bar on what (music) I bother to burn," he added.
Manufacturers will ship 4.5 million CD-R and CD-RW discs around the world this year, up from 3.5 billion in 2000, according to IDC.
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CD-R and CD-RW prices
Early July figures from retailers, Web sites
- Imation 25-pack CD-R — $11.88 at www.walmart.com
- FMI 25-pack CD-R — $9.99 at CompUSA (www.compusa.com)
- Memorex 50-pack CD-R — $19.99 at www.amazon.com
- Sony 50-pack CD-R — $39.99 at TechStore (www.techstore.com)
- Imation 10-pack CD-RW — $19.99 at CompUSA
- Maxell 3-pack CD-RW — $8.99 at Office Depot (www.officedepot.com)
