When Universal announced that they were slashing the prices of CDs, it was lauded as a step in the right direction for an industry that routinely prices movie soundtracks as much as $10 higher than the movie itself. But the price cut has yet to be realized in the mass market.

That sounded good to album buyers who had long lamented steep costs. But more than four months later, many price tags still top $18 - even for Universal's own artists, such as rapper Eminem - and show no signs of falling.

Universal is blaming the retailers for not cutting their prices, but the retailers claim they are just preserving the same profit margin they had before. Meanwhile, price conscious consumers are buying less high priced CDs, which the RIAA predictably blames solely on music downloading.

Of course, they are also the ones that have yet to pay up on their price fixing settlement.