I am a sucker. But you already knew that. I'm a sucker for a bargain. Show me a "three for two" offer, and I'll show you three CDs I really don't need. And I'm a major sucker for gimmicky packaging. I have often bought albums simply for the packaging - I bought the version of Spiritualized's Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space in the 'medication' box, with the side-effects leaflet inside, and the CD in a foil pop-out. I bought their new one in the opaque box with the 3D concave girl following your every move.

But today I feel like a real sucker. I wasn't going to buy the new Garbage album. But then I saw this limited edition version. Sucker! Oh, it's beautiful, all right - a hexagonal construct with fold-in interlocking tabs. Beautiful but completely impractical. I really don't need to spend five minutes refolding and interlocking the damn thing every time I want to listen to the album.

And I felt even more of a sucker when I left the shop. V-Shops don't put price stickers on their goods, but put the price on the shelf. There were two different versions of the Garbage album on the shelf: the fancy one and the regular version. But just one price ticket: 13 pounds. Yet when I took the album to the counter, they rang up 16 pounds. Yes, I paid three pounds more for the privilege of folding some bits of card. Sucker!