In a victory for consumers, the government moved to lower the price of music CDs. It settled federal charges with major music companies last week, accusing them of inflating the retail prices of compact discs. The decision puts a halt to the minimum pricing tactic used by the industry where distributors forced retailers to sell CDs at or above a fixed price.The Federal Trade Commission estimated this practice cost consumers $480 million over the last three years in overpriced CDs. The FTC filed the formal complaint with the five music giants: Time Warner, Sony, BMG Entertainment, EMI Music, and Universal Music. They will all be forbidden to use minimum pricing programs for the next seven years and in exchange, the government will not impose damages for past prices nor require the companies to acknowledge any wrongdoing. It is still unknown how much CD prices will drop, but consumers can expect to notice price changes within a few months. Thanks to HitList for this BIG news! Finally, a little justice and reality has been handed to the major music industry. We will see what comes of it.