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What is the difference between a 'price point' and an ordinary 'price' (for a digital piano)?

Because it seems to me that it is used, on the one hand, to mean simply 'price': a nice instrument at an attractive price point

But also to mean 'price range': I think at every price point one company is best. At $500 I like casio, If you spend a $1000 you can have a P155

And, since it conflates two meanings, it blurs rather than clarifies. Also, it's one of those words which is annoying, for some reason. The sort of thing you would parrot repeatedly at your friend when you were 6 years old and you had nothing else to do in the summer holidays: price point, price point,price point, price point......

until it lost all meaning and you felt like you were floating in an anechoic chamber.

I know what you mean. It's jargon of a kind, something that lends extra credence to your point of view because your using terminology used by those 'in the know'.

"...going forward..." instead of "...in the future..." (or similar) is something that makes me instantly hate whoever uses it...corporate bods, politicians...

I'm guilty of this myself sometimes. Self-loathing ensues...

In a literal sense, price point isn't even realistic. Comparable models fo different brands are always in a certain price range, i.e. never exactly at the same point.

Having said that, although a 'budget' may appear a sa price point, it's a range for most of us. And in most cases there's some give in it as well. :P

So practically speaking, I suppose price range makes the most sense but having only a maximum.

Just my two price points. :P

I think you got to the nub of it there, yes. As dire tonic said, it's jargon. But it's a very particular sort of jargon which is apparently contradictory - a 'point' cannot be a range. So those who use the term are living out a paradox, of a sort, but at the same time, you pretend it's not there - you have to be cool if you want to join the gang.

Deep inside, though, there is this nagging desire for resolution.

The way I'd put it us that "price point" is jargon for a vary narrow price range, one that is so narrow that models in that range are still considered to be direct price competitors in the market, even though they may not be the exact same price.

For example, let's say Brand A has a piano priced at $499. Their competitor, Brand B, has models at $495 and $595. Brand A comes out with a statement,"Our is the only model at its price point with feature X." This would cover the competitor's $495 model (not exactly the same price, but close enough that, from a marketing perspective, they directly compete on price), but would not cover the competitor's $595 model.

IOW, the $495 and $499 models are both at the $500 price point, from a marketing perspective.

Actually its very simple.. When it comes to pricepoint and stage pianos..

Up to €1500 range its Casio PX-5s that reigns supreme
Above that pricepoint its Kawai with the MP7 and the MP11

Nothing(hardware) beats the Kawai for pianosound and keyfeel
Even the top of the line Kronos workstation can not beat the Kawai in that aspect, tough in other aspects it has so much more to offer as the only available total solution.

Now, who decides what a pricepoint is?
I think its the budget of the buyer that defines the pricepoint.

"Price point means a point on a scale of possible prices at which something might be marketed; its meaning is different from the meaning of price, which is (principally, but not only) the amount of money expected, required, or given in payment for something."

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11879/differences-between-price-point-and-price

In my experience it's just sales-speak, a ugly dialect in which I have reluctantly had to gain some fluency.

When I'm talking shop with the engineers at Kurzweil, we use "price point" to describe certain price benchmarks, like "over $3000", "$2000 neighborhood" or "under $1000" (shudder). And we usually use it associated with what types of features would or would not be expected at any of these cutoff points.

You're all viewing the term "price point" as though it's meant for the consumer. It's not!

It's a marketing term used by manufacturers, distributor, and retailers to define the positioning of set of products at a series of prices, each occupying a position in a market where buyers can be sold goods across a range of prices.

But a price point is not a range. It's a single-point target.