You're right about choice of CDs in music stores falling off. But there are probably more CDs produced and available than ever before. It's just that so many of them are produced privately, in small lots, and have no commercial distribution.

The problem is that the music biz is all about million seller hits. And there are fewer and fewer of those all the time, as more small recordings become available, and the public taste gets more and more fragmented. Considering the average musical quality of million seller hits, I think, myself, that this is a Good Thing. But then I'm not a music company executive. (Well, actually, I suppose I am, at a microsopic level...)

Solutions for the consumer:

1) Internet downloads (whether informal or strictly legal is a matter of individual conscience).

2) Go to live gigs of people you like and buy CDs at the gig. I strongly advocate this, but I'm prejudiced.

Peter.

Peter.