It's a Warner Bros release, so I doubt this is even an issue, but I'll ask them the next time I speak to someone there. They've only replaced....3 songs out of all their titles, so their track record is very, very good.
I think they should be released atleast two months before the fall season hits. That would give people who missed S1 to buy it and without having to rush have time to watch S1 before S2 begins.
The studio has GOT to know how popular the music component is on this show. To release it to DVD with replacement or missing music would be retail suicide.
umm... Supernatural is my #2 show right now... actually only one of two shows I actually make a point to be at home and by the TV when it airs. I don't even WATCH Cold Case, so you're preaching to the wrong person. I have tons of pictures of Jensen Ackles downloaded to my computer because I have that big of a thing for him. However, Supernatural does use just as much "classic" music as Cold Case, Wonder Years and other shows do.
I believe WB was smart enough to negotiate every song as soon as they got them to use in the episodes because by 2005, WB knew that this show would have an audience who'd buy the DVD by the pilot episode, plus I think Supernatural has much more of a "cult" appeal in training to it, similar to that of what X-Files or Buffy became, while at best, Cold Case would be similar to Without A Trace, which gets good ratings but hasn't fared so hotly on DVD.