if you're american and you bought cds 1995-200

Ask for your free money.

http://www.musiccdsettlement.com

Free money is cool, but...

"The cash paid by the Defendants, after the payment of attorneys' fees, litigation and Settlement administration costs, shall be distributed to consumers who purchased Music Products. The number of claims filed will determine the actual amount of the individual refund but will not exceed $20.00 per claimant. If the number of claims filed would result in refunds of less than $5.00 per claimant, there will be no cash distribution to individual consumers. Rather, the cash portion of the Settlement shall be distributed to not-for-profit, charitable, governmental or public entities to be used for music-related purposes or programs for the benefit of consumers who purchased Music Products. "

Why do I have a sneaking suspicion the "payout" will be exactly $4.99...

What really sucks is that someone who bought a single Yanni CD in the year 2000 gets the same cash payout as me, who purchased hundreds of CD's in that time frame. While I realize these payouts are generally more punitive than compensatory in nature, it seems to me that the restitution should be per CD purchased, providing you can prove your purchases.

In addition, is there any documentation that this site is on the up-and-up?

I did a quick google and it was listed on a bunch of state .gov sites under anti-trust investigations... So I believe it is legit. I did this before I submitted my information, of course.

[rant]

The next company they need to go after is Roland, who implement these "minimum advertised price" restrictions quite openly. Retailers who go under this price are restricted by Roland from advertising those prices, lest they lose their ability to carry Roland products. I don't see how it's different from what the big music companies were doing.

Some news source ran an article saying only 30000 claims had been filed so far, and claimed that was a "tiny piece" of the available pie.

So there's a chance it will be closer to the $20 end.

IMO, there is very little actual information on there. Like, what are these prices they're talking about? How much has been too much for a CD? When I go to Best Buy, half of the CD's in there are about $12-13. That's not too bad in my view. Someone recently gave me a $50 gift certificate to Tower Records, on the other hand. My money didn't go nearly as far.

I thought Best Buy regularly advertised their $12 new releases. Don't they?

Dude, the claims are from 1995-2000. It's now 2003. The music companies have obviously changed their policies since then.

I know, but I seem to remember Best Buy always having those prices. I just haven't seen any change in prices, except increases in most cases, which is more of a thing to complain about IMO

*shrug*

Free money is free money... Gift horse, mouth.