Here's part of an album display in HMV in which two different editions of Madonna's 'Celebration' hits collection are on sale at the same price — £12.99. The one on the left is the 2CD edition, while the one on the right condenses it all down to one disc.
The options:
| Disc 1 1. Hung Up 2. Music 3. Vogue 4. 4 Minutes 5. Holiday 6. Everybody 7. Like A Virgin 8. Into The Groove 9. Like A Prayer 10. Ray Of Light 11. Sorry 12. Express Yourself 13. Open Your Heart 14. Borderline 15. Secret 16. Erotica 17. Justify My Love 18. Revolver Disc: 2 |
1. Hung Up 2. Music 3. Vogue 4. 4 Minutes 5. Holiday 6. Like A Virgin 7. Into The Groove 8. Like A Prayer 9. Ray Of Light 10. La Isla Bonita 11. Frozen 12. Material Girl 13. Papa Don't Preach 14. Lucky Star 15. Express Yourself 16. Open Your Heart 17. Dress You Up 18. Celebration |
So you buy the one on the left, right? MAYBE NOT. Some people would happily opt for the shorter but more 'pure' (and quite conspicuously 80s-flavoured) Madonna greatest hits. They would, in fact, probably pay a pound more for the convenience of not having to skip past 'Don't Tell Me', and they might, for example, see the final four tracks of CD1 as being 'a con', because they don't like them so why should they pay for them? Let's not forget value for money. You might think it's better value to get two CDs full of music, instead of just one. WRONG. If you don't like 12 of the 36 tracks in the 2CD edition you're wasting £4.32 of the £12.99, whereas if you like 16 of the 18 tracks in the 1CD edition you're only wasting £1.44 — that's a £2.88 saving which, in these difficult economic times, is not to be sniffed at.
It would be interesting to know how many copies of the 1CD version HMV have managed to shift — we bet they've sold a few, even when the 2CD edition is right there next to it. And do you know what? For a lot of people the one on the right might actually be the best choice. If you can look at a tracklisting and say 'I LOVE EVERY SONG ON THIS
CD', isn't it better than looking at a tracklisting and going 'there's
a lot of filler on here'?
Either way it's good that HMV provide a choice for the intelligent, discerning customer.
Oh dear.