Fun on Amazon

[Modernistfan]

I have been looking for a copy of Cavalli's opera "L'Orione" for some time on the Mondo Musica label (way out of print). Amazon USA lists this at $579.80 new and $499.99 used. Amazon UK has copies available for £581.87 new (over $950.00). Amazon UK also has a listing for £19.99, referring to this as a "single", but this has been out of stock for eons.

Much to my surprise, a couple of weeks ago, I checked Amazon UK again, and there was another copy actually for sale, that with shipping, ran to £19.94 (about $32.50). There had been other listings on other Amazon sites for similar prices, but, when I tried to order them, I was told that the recording could not be shipped to the US. However, mysteriously, this entry indicated both box set and single, which could not be consistent. Although not sure what I was getting, I remembered that, as far as I was aware, there was no disc of excerpts or highlights issued, so, if this was what I thought it was, it should be the 3-CD set. This time, there was no problem with shipping it to the US, so I ordered it. It arrived today, and sure enough, it was the complete 3-CD set!

That is why I keep looking.

By the way, does anyone know how I can get a copy of what should be a recently issued disc of two symphonic works by Otto Ketting on Attacca? That may have been distributed by the distributor that went bankrupt in Europe, Codaex. I have tried the Attacca website but cannot seem to navigate it. Any help would be useful. Do we have anyone from the Netherlands on this site?

[Modernistfan]

I eventually managed to send a message to Attacca and was informed that they would ship this to the US if I sent $20.00 in United States currency. I did this and I now have the Ketting. However, this may not be necessary in the near future as Codaex apparently has reorganized under the name New Arts International and they are going to start distributing most of the labels previously distributed by Codaex, hopefully including Attacca.

[slofstra]

As I've posted before, many of the high CD prices you see on Amazon are the result of a bug in the pricing algorithms used by Amazon's 3rd party merchants.

This article describes how this happens, and illustrates how bad this can get.
http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=358

[Modernistfan]

I think that I can top all of these crazy prices. For some reason, I was browsing for the complete Beethoven piano sonatas with Richard Goode and there was one for the eminently reasonable price of $99,999,999,999.00 (plus, of course, $3.99 shipping). That's nearly 100 BILLION dollars for those of you keeping score at home. I looked up the Amazon third-party-seller site of the seller, Heewon Kang, and there were a number of items at the same crazy price, and several 2-CD sets of Beethoven sonatas by Irina Mejoueva for the absolute bargain of $999,999,999,999,999.00 (plus the $3.99 shipping charge). With shipping, that is over one trillion dollars. Not everything on that third-party-seller site was ridiculously overpriced; the complete Beethoven cycle by Michael Levinas was $33.93, a reasonable price for that 9-CD set.

[slofstra]

I think that I can top all of these crazy prices. For some reason, I was browsing for the complete Beethoven piano sonatas with Richard Goode and there was one for the eminently reasonable price of $99,999,999,999.00 (plus, of course, $3.99 shipping). That's nearly 100 BILLION dollars for those of you keeping score at home. I looked up the Amazon third-party-seller site of the seller, Heewon Kang, and there were a number of items at the same crazy price, and several 2-CD sets of Beethoven sonatas by Irina Mejoueva for the absolute bargain of $999,999,999,999,999.00 (plus the $3.99 shipping charge). With shipping, that is over one trillion dollars. Not everything on that third-party-seller site was ridiculously overpriced; the complete Beethoven cycle by Michael Levinas was $33.93, a reasonable price for that 9-CD set.

The kicker is the extra $3.99 for shipping. You'd think he could throw that in!
Here is the link, in case there are any takers.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing ... 621&sr=8-1

[Modernistfan]

I just rechecked that Amazon third-party-seller site; the price for the Richard Goode Beethoven sonatas set, and the other ridiculous prices, have now been cut to $50,000.00 each. Such a deal!

[slofstra]

I just rechecked that Amazon third-party-seller site; the price for the Richard Goode Beethoven sonatas set, and the other ridiculous prices, have now been cut to $50,000.00 each. Such a deal!

Too bad you can't short Amazon merchandise.

[jbuck919]

I know how to find information on the famous insurrection at Attica. My brother-in-law was one of the national guardsmen assigned to occupy the place. (Sorry)