My thoughts on this are kind of a mix of what you guys have said, but maybe with a "longer" perspective, due to my age. 

Firstly, I agree that the price of CD's is too expensive; they started that way when they first came on the market, and then it was felt they would eventually come down..this has never come to pass.  Vinyls were/are fare cheaper, but of course our current state of technology has put them clearly on the shelf, except for those few die hard of us who still own decent belt-drive turntables, record cleaning machines etc..(OK not a realistic choice for most)

Secondly, and I kind of echo Ian's thoughts on this..there is TOO MUCH music out there.   That does a couple of things.  Along with the "wheat" there is understandably more "chaff" because of the volume of recorded material.  I don't know if it's harder to get a record out now than in the 60's/70's or easier.  It may not matter, because so many bands are doing their own releases, and there is such a plethora of small labels, that the market is just saturated.   When I was growing up, the major labels controlled everything, BUT they were releasing only select bands, AND the attitude was much more experimental.  They seemed to "take a chance" on anything that was new and different, which at that time, there was a lot that was new and different, but the actual numbers of bands/performers was far less than now.  Also, I don't think the "greed factor" had forced their hand as much.  Today, the majors are obsessed with one thing...MONEY.  Artistry seems secondary.  They don't seem to care if one group/performer sounds EXACTLY like another; in fact they seem to prefer it, since they know if say Band A sold millions of copies, then Band B who sounds exactly the same, but maybe with a different haircut or attitude, will also sell a lot.   Sorry, but artistry is taking a backseat.   Like Krav says though, and I agree, there is a dilution factor, and since radio is for the most part brain-dead with their programming, we might not be hearing a lot of quality music, since we are being hammered with the commercially oriented material.

Finally, there is no doubt that downloading, swapping, burning, etc. is eroding significantly into sales, and moreso due to the high price of new recordings, which will motivate people to do this more and more.

I also don't listen as much as I used to.  I just look at my collection (which is substantial), and think I'd like to throw most of it out, or sell at a used CD store.  The boredum is really creeping in.   If I listen to anything at all, it is usually old staid favorites, soundscape type recordings, or freely improvised music (sometimes the chaos is a relief from the mundane, and then when I turn around and put on the mundane, it is a relief from the chaos...go figure). 

Gene