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Economic Illiteracy in Liverpool
Beatles reissues sold out at Amazon: Are fans screwed?
For true Beatles obsessives, the Sept. 9 release of all the band’s albums as a lovingly remastered box set is a huge deal. Sure, it’s expensive, but this is arguably music’s greatest catalog, finally brought properly into the CD era, sounding better than ever, with awesome-looking packaging to boot. So I happily went to Amazon.com last week to file my pre-order — only to learn that I was already too late. “We have sold out of our initial allocation of Beatles stereo box sets,” the impassive emporium told me, “but we will be receiving more inventory after release date.” After release date? Are you kidding me, Amazon?! You expect me to spend 9/9/09 sitting around listening to something other than this box set?
Evidently I’m not the only one who’s been plunged into this nightmare. “Hard-core fans are freaking out,” reports Hits Daily Double. Yes! That is exactly what I am doing! And while the stereo box set that I attempted to pre-order will presumably be back in plentiful stock soon (right? right?!), Hits mentions rumors that its mono counterpart might be limited to a mere 10,000 copies made. Oh, the indignity for any mono-loving collector who failed to pre-order promptly.
For true Beatles obsessives, the Sept. 9 release of all the band’s albums as a lovingly remastered box set is a huge deal. Sure, it’s expensive, but this is arguably music’s greatest catalog, finally brought properly into the CD era, sounding better than ever, with awesome-looking packaging to boot. So I happily went to Amazon.com last week to file my pre-order — only to learn that I was already too late. “We have sold out of our initial allocation of Beatles stereo box sets,” the impassive emporium told me, “but we will be receiving more inventory after release date.” After release date? Are you kidding me, Amazon?! You expect me to spend 9/9/09 sitting around listening to something other than this box set?
Evidently I’m not the only one who’s been plunged into this nightmare. “Hard-core fans are freaking out,” reports Hits Daily Double. Yes! That is exactly what I am doing! And while the stereo box set that I attempted to pre-order will presumably be back in plentiful stock soon (right? right?!), Hits mentions rumors that its mono counterpart might be limited to a mere 10,000 copies made. Oh, the indignity for any mono-loving collector who failed to pre-order promptly.
Why in the hell would you limit production to 10,000 on a box set you can conceivably sell millions of? This makes no sense to me. On the bright side, the fact that I can't buy the mono box-set makes it far easier to convince myself that I don't actually need it...
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