In the last three years or so, sales of audio CDs have declined drastically. As most people are well aware, this has been largely due to the massive increase in copying via computers and the Internet. Whether you are downloading music in MP3 format from the web or just copying CDs in your computer, everyone knows it can be downloaded for a fraction of the price of a new CD in the stores.

This is just another way of saying that the prices of CDs are far too high. Why would anyone willingly pay $20, $30 or more for a full price disc, when you know that someone can get you a copy for next to nothing? And why would you pay $30 for a full price jazz or classical music disc when you can probably get an equally good performance (by a lesser known performer) for $10.95 on Naxos or other low price labels.

Looking at it from another point of view, most people are aware that the production cost of a CD, including its jewel case and printed booklet is around a dollar or so, so why should they pay twenty times that in the shops? People also know that the recording artists typically only get one or two dollars out of a full price disc so there is the very strong feeling out in the marketplace that record companies are just charging too much.

But recently there has been another reason for people to avoid buying CDs and that is the issue of copy protection. Why buy a disc when you know you can't make a direct copy for your own personal use? Or why buy it when you know that copy-protected discs won't play in your car or Walkman or whatever? In fact, there have recently been legal challenges overseas to copy protection. Again, the recording companies are seen as being far too powerful.

Just as I write this editorial, the US company Universal Music Group has announced major CD price reductions and it appears that most other major recording companies will be forced to do the same. Let's hope it is the precursor of major price reductions in Australia too. If Naxos and other low price labels can survive and grow with retail prices around the ten dollar mark, the major companies should be able to reduce their prices by a long way. Doing so would probably cause a major increase in CD sales. It won't stop all copying though.

However, I am sure that faced with a price of $10 to say $15, most people would rather buy the disc with its proper jewel case and printed booklet than use a CD-ROM burnt in their own or someone else's computer. As good as they are, most laser-copied discs are seldom up to the standard set by a pressed disc and there has to be a question mark over the lifetime of a laser-copied disc as well.

And while downloading of MP3 music over the internet is set to continue its exponential increase, the record companies could also do themselves some favours by promoting the quality difference between MP3 and the compact disc standard. Let's face it: unless you are cloth-eared, MP3 simply doesn't sound as good as a good quality well-recorded CD. And if the CD is reasonably priced to begin with, that is all the more reason to buy it.