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The ridiculous prices on discontinued/oop titles just means that few (if any) copies are being sold. It doesn't mean they are selling for this much, you can put any price you want on something. Film scores on CD are a pretty selective market (limited production numbers). Not as many folks under 40yo collect physical media any more.
Follow the usual places for copies you want (eBay, Discogs, this forum, the usual retailers, Music Box Records, etc.) Research what stuff actually sells for (eBay and Discogs provides metrics). Do not bother with Amazon for oop stuff. Discovering stuff takes effort, time, and patience, but usually pays off.
I'm going to disagree with your first statement for a few reasons. One there's always someone who's desperate to want OOP titles, FYC Promos or composer Promos in general that they just pay whatever because they don't want to wait and do have the money to shell out for it. Yes, anyone can ask for anything they want for the CD's they're selling on these sites, but that doesn't necessarily you have to give into the temptation either. However there might be an exception to this and that is if a title that you rarely ever see on these sites and it is the only one listed or has been listed in months, maybe years...what are you going to do? Pass it up and wait even longer? You could do that but if it's a title you love, sometimes you have no choice but to take the leap. I've had to do it for several titles because I personally love the music and not just for collectability. To me, a title like that would be worth every penny. However, if you're just getting it because you can use it for rarity and trade, then in that case you're just hoarding to take advantage of someone else's desperation. Like someone who's doing that on this board lately.
I will also disagree about film scores being a selective market because soundtracks have been on CD for now going on 36 years since the inception of the CD back in the early to mid 1980's. Varese was one of the earliest labels to take advantage of the format along with other labels like Polydor, A&M Records, Sony, Warner Bros. and many others soon followed. They were massed produced for the most part but many from these labels but were eventually cut out or went out of print completely creating a market. Titles like Cocoon, Willow (until it was reissued), The Witches of Eastwick and Shipwrecked many of these have been reissued and soon could be reissued/expanded but they did have a full run in the general public and they were very valuable and expensive titles to the point that they were willing to shell out big bucks for them. Like Varese's Cherry 2000 by Basil Poledouris which went for over 2500 dollars back in 1997 thanks to a bidding war by two people who really wanted it. I could understand their passion for wanting it and yes, that still is an insane amount for a CD even now, but it was their choice to go for it despite the fact that Varese had it for 19.98 when the Varese Club first appeared in 1989.
Now while production numbers are lower than they used to be doesn't mean that they are super limited either. The way is see it now is the way I've seen it for the last 20 years or so personally and it's like this: Get the titles the very first day of release if it's thesable and not just the limited editions, it's the general regular releases that tend to disappear even faster now because sales on those are just not there or maybe for a film that is obscure or one that is not popular enough for the title to stay in print. Sony Classical, Watertower Music and alot of Disney titles are great examples of these because they've either shifted from real pressed discs to MOD titles and even those do not stay in print either now. Titles like Mark Isham's 42, Thomas Newman's The Judge and Brian Tyler's Crazy Rich Asians are good examples as those titles came in this format and went. Also, look at Disney's John Carter and Tomorrowland, fantastic scores that went OOP quickly mainly due to the failure of both films at the box office, but at the very least got released to the public as real pressed discs. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes which got a real pressed disc, soon went out of print at least a year or so after the film was released by Sony Classical to the surprise of many. Even titles on Lakeshore Records get released and seemingly go out of print so fast that if you blink they're gone in an instant. Alexandre Desplat's Tree of Life and Light Between The Oceans, Ramin Djawadi's A Mountain Between Us and Henry Jackman's The Predator definitely fit this and are now going for high prices if they pop up on eBay or Amazon. All nice scores worth getting for a fair price. Discogs is a good gauge but not completely accurate to be honest and the prices there can also be astronomical especially if if you figure shipping costs and taxes. It's definitely good for trying to find a level price field but sometimes it's not what you would expect.
Everyone has their own way of approaching collecting and some would rather stick to not over spending, and being selective which is very smart. There are others, who just buy everything in sight even if it's a lousy score and then they run out of money for something that comes up that they really do want and completely miss out on it then forcing them to go out into the secondary market where you there are times you just have to bite the bullet and shell out just a little bit more to have what you want, especially if it makes you very happy in the long run. Anyone asking a crazy amount for this box (Lost In Space), is more interested in a profit than anything else. Meaning, that they bought it just to list it when it went OOP and get more out of it. Hell, I'd love to get Bernard Herrmann at Fox box, but I'm not spending over 400 dollars to get one or for that matter the Danny Elfman/Tim Burton Anniversary Zoetrope box that now goes for well over 700 dollars in decent shape with the bonus CD if you can find one in that shape. One day, who knows but I certainly wouldn't do that considering I have to pay rent and bills. Someone on eBay has the Herrmann box at around 1000 dollars with shipping before tax along with the Elfman/Burton Box for about 4000 if you're curious. Which completely insane, but one shouldn't be discouraged because what goes up must go down and in the case of many soundtracks, they do go down especially if there's a glut of them.
So Philjun, don't give up just yet. You'll get one for the price you want, so just keep trying. I know I'm not!
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effort, time, and patience, but usually pays off.
Key words.
Basically my mantra as well. The thrill of the hunt!
As proof, I offer my Godzilla vs. Mothra, DeepStar Six, LIS... etc, posts. All paid off handsomely.
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