Upgrading to deluxe can unlock a CD's real worth.

Universal's commitment to releasing Deluxe Editions of albums could breathe new life into the physical market

CDs used to be widely viewed as such precious commodities. I recall buying my first one back in 1987 and, in those days before live stock, the woman serving behind the counter delicately putting the disc in its box as if she were handling some kind of valuable jewel.

In the following two decades, with the likes of covermounts and supermarkets and all sorts of other places selling them, that specialness that first surrounded the CD is now but a distant memory.

And with it has come a barrage of accusations of over-pricing, leading us to the absurd position now that the mark-up on a new release CD is actually less than when I bought that first one 21 years ago.

If that had happened with property, the average price of a home in the UK would currently be about #40,000 rather than #170,000-plus.

Worst of all, and the industry's greatest challenge here, is that the perceived value of buying recorded music is now lower than it has ever been.

All this, of course, has been a long-time problem for the business, so it takes a brave man to think he can help to reverse these long- entrenched trends. But in pushing the Deluxe Edition format his company has developed, Universal UK chairman/CEO David Joseph may well be onto something.