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On the The Cost of a CD page, the RIAA makes the claim that:

...the price of recorded music to consumers has fallen dramatically since CDs were first introduced in 1983. Between 1983 and 1996, the average price of a CD fell by more than 40%. Over this same period of time, consumer prices (measured by the Consumer Price Index, or CPI) rose nearly 60%. If CD prices had risen at the same rate as consumer prices over this period, the average retail price of a CD in 1996 would have been $33.86 instead of $12.75

I looked at that page and said, $34, thats bullshit we haven't seen anywhere near that kind of inflation. So I went to the The Inflation Calculator. Using the numbers provied by the RIAA, this calculator figures that CD's in 1983 should have cost $21.52. While I certainly wasn't buying CD's then, I don't think they cost that much.

The prices that I remember was $12 in 1988. Looking again at the inflation calculator, this tells us that cd's today should cost: $17, and look at that, they do.

So what do we learn from this:

• The costs of CD's probably haven't fallen significantly (despite all that blather in the 80's about paying of the construction of new factories.)
• The RIAA chooses very odd numbers in its calculations, what is special about 96? Why are we talking about prices 4 years ago? This is clearly a dodge to get the number $34 into your head.
• They don't even address the issue of why most cds cost exactly the same across stores and record companies. This smacks of price fixing to me.