Why CD players so expensive when the fomat is dead

I'm an ol'school LP & CD guy (who'dathunk CD's would ever be considered "old school?!). I certainly moan & miss the old days of plentiful physical outlets for buying music BUT....I think you may be not be seeing the forest for the trees, so to speak. While you absolutely are correct about the death of being able to buy music in stores, I wouldn't JUST single music out. With the advent of on-line consumerism, I believe that malls will be a thing of the past within a few generations. Look around, before I'd seen a dearth of stores closing everywhere, NOW I see whole malls not being used. We can discuss whether this trend is good, bad, or indifferent (personally, I think it sucks!) but it is what it is.

An interesting angle to look at this from is to compare what's happening here in the USA vs. the rest of the world. While I realize the demise of interest in music AND Audio equipment is worldwide, I actually think it's much worse in the states than elsewhere. We always lead, we lead on the way up, and we lead on the way down! I think that general music appreciation is higher, more varied, and less rigid in the Orient and Europe. Don't know if this can or will lead to the salvation of the industries (music and audio gear), but I've always been a glass half-full kinda guy;)