The RIAA are fools. Their price structure has forced me to buy a lot of used CDs which is 100% legal and doesn't put a penny in their pockets. If they priced their new CDs reasonable, I'd buy a lot more of them. But at a $16.98 list price, you've got to be kidding. Especially when that much money will buy you a stack of 100 blank CDs.
I haven't had any issues at all buying used CDs. They all sound perfect. The only real difference between a new CD and a used CD is that you don't have to fight with all that infernal shrink-wrapping to get it open!
The whole business has gone nuts. I buy lesser known artists on small labels that are nevertheless distributed by the Big 5, as far as I know. I'm currently looking for a copy of Geoff Muldaurs new CD
Private Astronomy. It just came out and my store sells it for something like $14.98. If they get a used copy, they'll sell it for $10.98. Still too much, because if past experience is any guide, in 3-4 months they'll get a stack of new copies from somewhere and sell them for $5.95-$7.95 (probably the lower price since Muldaur is rather obscure.) This happened with Muldaur's previous albums, it's just happened with John Hammond's album, and happens quite regularly. Hey, I've been getting Tony Joe White's excellent albums for something like $3.95. You just have to wait.
All this reminds me of the way Intel and AMD sell their CPU chips. Overprice them at the beginning, for the must-have-the-latest crowd, and after 6 months bring the prices to a more reasonable level.