narcopolo said:
if the only distribution of these is thru ebay the format won't last long, and who wants to pay $40 ? what's the chances of finding the hot titles like ac/dc and brubeck in any stores at this point (even if you visit the correct stores).
The Brubeck was recalled, so you won't find it anywhere; no store I went to did I see it. There was apparently a licensing issue. It was on the shelves for less than 2 days, making it a rare title among a format that has VERY limited distribution. Only a few of the Brubeck got out I'm sure, so that one is a genuine rarity.
I was in Newbury @ Alewife, and one guy bought all the Bowies apparently. Just look at eBay - one guy is basically cornering the market. Tower still had some (at $18.99), and BB in Framingham had 1 or 2.
Personally, I don't have a problem if people buy 'em and put 'em on eBay. If I was a Bowie fan and it was the only way to get the rarity, I'd buy it that way if I, say, lived in the UK. There is NO guarantee this format will survive, and I don't believe it will.
If you look at what's been sold (based on eBay and what I've seen still on shelves in stores), the Bowie is the most popular, the Brubeck was pulled, then I'd say the AC/DC and the Fagen are the next on the tier. After that, the Audioslave is selling spotty. The rest (REM/Barenaked Ladies/Linkin Park/POD/Usher/3 Doors Down/Andrew WK/Good Charlotte). So that's 3 of 13 that sell, 1 that was pulled, and 9 so-so sellers. Although it seems like the Audioslave is picking up steam a little.
BTW, here's some more info for you folks: 15 stores in the Boston area got 'em, and 12 in Seattle. I saw the papers one of the Newbury stores had.
Here's where I know in Boston: Virgin, Tower Records Burlington, Tower Records Cambridge, Newbury Comics in Newton, Newbury Comics in Cambridge (Alewife, not Harvard), and Best Buy Cambridge. That leaves 9 unaccounted for. I was speaking to a survey person @ Tower Burlington today and apparently they were extended; they were supposed to be done last week. She said that there's been little interest. She did mention that a Strawberries, a Sam Goody, and an FYE somewhere have 'em. So that's 12.
I wonder if they'll be kept around when the survey people go ... if it is truly a limited run, or what.
So I keep peeling back the layers of the onion, and it seems like these are really going to go away. The eBay sellers or collectors are the only ones buying LOL I have yet to see a normal consumer buying these wherever I go.