Hello Dopers, I am wondering about something and you are the first people I thought of (don’t get all weepy). The something is about buying music online cheaply (CDs mostly, I am old-fashioned). I get most of my music at Amazon.com and I am mostly okay with that, but it seems their selection could be better and cheaper. Do you people know of any sites I can trust?
I go to http://www.cduniverse.com/ (they ship USPS which is how I like my stuff shipped) or even better, go to http://www.bizrate.com and they’ll do the shop around for ya…
I would imagine www.towerrecords.com ships stuff.
www.centurymedia.com has always been great for me.
There’s lots of free stuff at www.mp3.com but that might not help you too much if you don’t have a cd burner. They have links to the artists’ web pages, though, so if you find something you like, it gives you something to look for.
You could just buy direct from the label, if they have an online presence - just Google for the name. I bought 3 CD’s for $35 (conting S&H) from Nitro Records that would have been around $3-5 more per cd if I’d bought anywhere else. (They were $10 each plus about $1.50 S&H.)
This strategy will probably work better with smaller independent type labels though.
Hey Open, just curious here, but did he mention death metal, or are you psychic?
To add to Opengrave’s comment (and as someone else who has given a fair amount of money to Century Media), ordering direct from the labels is often the best choice. No middleman to drive the prices up.
World Eater Actually no, that was more of a drive by shooting type of post, I had about 10 seconds before a meeting and responded. I always try to suggest metal when someone doesn’t specifically mention what they want. A more complete response is below.
Actually that was the point I wanted to make but didn’t so thanks. Ordering from the labels works great for me because you cut out the middle man and they often give ‘volume discounts’ like free shipping or free t-shirts or free CDs if you spend a certain amount. In my case I’ve ordered so much stuff from some labels that their sales people know me and sometimes give me free stuff over and beyond the ‘volume discounts’. You won’t save a lot if you order in 1s and 2s (because of shipping) but if you can delay gratification until you can order like 10 or 15 CDs you can really save money.
Sometimes the labels just have ‘order takers’ who couldn’t care less about what they are selling but the smaller the label the more likely the person is to be involved in the music. Several times I’ve called labels and said “hey, I like this band but I’ve already got all their CDs, can you suggest someone else that is similar?” and been really pleased with what they suggested.
http://www.peaceville.com/
http://www.nuclearblast.de/
http://www.theendrecords.com/
http://www.spinefarm.fi/
http://www.toothandnail.com/main/index.html
http://www.sanctuarygroup.de
Not a label but a good place to order disks.
http://www.metaldisc.com
Nice list, great labels, maybe I’ll order from some of these places myself. You left off Earache, which leads me to think, they don’t do mail order, or they ain’t putting out anything worth ordering. 