Brian:
I think you are looking at this the wrong way. Our retail price is determined purely on our cost. We take no pleasure in charging $42 for a DVD/CD set. Unfortunately we had the choice of not offering it at all or stocking it and offering it at this very high price. In the case of the Nightwish set the US source, Century Media (who is in alliance with Nuclear Blast), did not offer this set upon release. We stocked it immediately from European sources (as I mentioned - at a very high price). After about 3 weeks Century Media's wholesale dept. imported copies and made them available at a better price...so we lowered ours.
We always try to source our inventory at the lowest possible price and I'm sure you know that we have always had the philosophy of keep the prices low and move as much product as possible. As an example check out all those $5 bargains we have in our clearance section.
BTW, I've heard stories of other metal vendors actually selling product at exhoribant prices on Ebay - far in excess of normal retail prices ie Ayreon "Human Equation" box set for over $50 just because they can get away with it. You will never see us doing this (don't think you'll ever see us selling on Ebay anyway).
Historically early adopters of hardware always bear the burden of paying higher prices (I remember when vcr's were $1,000). I suppose the same can occassionally be said for software as well.
Think about all the added value you had by enjoying the Nightwish set before anyone else!
Regards,
Ken Golden
