I was thinking of joining one of these music clubs to get some Cd's and wondered if anyone here had any experience with them. Columbia House seems to have a better selection of my choices than BMG but also has a longer contract (making you pay for more Cd's at their regular price.
I have heard that BMG has special offers, such as buy one, get one free and then get unlimited Cd's at $2.99, and was wondering if Columbia House had similar sales.
Go with BMG, you don't get as many free Cd's, but you only gotta buy one to fulfill the commitment, CH makes you buy 3 I believe to fulfill the free CD offer.
They're about the same though, I have BMG music club and Columbia House DVD club memberships, and they're about equal in what they offer.
What happens if you don't buy the "required" amount of CD's to fulfill your end of the deal? I can't imagine they'd go to the trouble to sue you over the cost of a couple CD's.
(Yes, I'm thinking of the NewsRadio episode w/ Beth & the CD club).
*IF* you want to build up your CD collection of "Bands that aren't really Top 40 anymore (or never were)" you can do what my mother did for years and years. Simply fill out the forms, buy the few CDs, get the ton of free ones, and then quit. Most programs will immediately send you a, "If you rejoin, we'll send you another 25 free CDs!" offer. Rinse, repeat.
Of course, this is how you end up with things like the Godzilla soundtrack, but even that had a few gems on it. After about ten years of this, my mother just got tired of filling out the forms and decided to quit for good. See how long you can last!
-Jag
(edited by Jaguar on 16.4.05 0107) Curiosity killed the cat.
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffWhat happens if you don't buy the "required" amount of CD's to fulfill your end of the deal? I can't imagine they'd go to the trouble to sue you over the cost of a couple CD's.
I believe as part of their User Agreement, if you don't buy the required CD's within a year, they'll bill you for a set amount. Sort of like those early cancellation fees associated with ISP or cable company promos. Read the fine print, cuz' they sometimes have a lower commitment level-- like get 6 albums free, and only buy two more.
I was with Columbia House from 1986 to 1999. Long time ago, but back then the biggest problem I had was the wait time for "new" albums. It would take about 3 months for the latest releases to show up. I imagine both companies work a little bit faster nowadays.
They would periodically run closeout promos. Crap like "get all you want for 1.99 each (after one regularly priced purchase)" With shipping and handling, it would work out to about 6-8 bucks per CD. I cancelled once, around 1994, and they sent me the "rejoin and we'll give you MORE free CD's..and also lower your required buying commitment". I forgot about it when I moved in 1999, and then the whole Internet music craze hit.
It was a different era, but back then I was able to get some really oddball stuff. Stuff I enjoyed and that I wouldn't have thought about about looking for in the music store. Oh yeah, I also got the original "Wrestling Album" on vinyl in one of those 1.99 deals!
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffWhat happens if you don't buy the "required" amount of CD's to fulfill your end of the deal? I can't imagine they'd go to the trouble to sue you over the cost of a couple CD's.
(Yes, I'm thinking of the NewsRadio episode w/ Beth & the CD club).
An old roommate had the CH DVD thing. He never bothered to fill out which ones he was going to buy, so they just shipped and billed him a DVD a month. It usually was something he already owned, so he had to call them to ship it back and pick something from the list.
"You want to tempt the wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing?" --Toby, West Wing
Yeah, that's the thing with BOTH of them. IF you don't pay attention and send in the form EVERY SINGLE month or however and say what you do want to buy, or that you want nothing at all that month, they send you something and charge you for it.
I did BMG for awhile and the best deal I ever got was a buy one box set, get two free. It was an awesome deal, but when you combine that with all the cds I ended up paying for that I really didn't want and dealing with forms and stuff, it was a wash.
Also, remember if a CD has ever been offered by any of the clubs, especially as a CD of the month, you'll get jack for it at the used store (somewhere in the realm of 50 cents to "we don't take that)
Lise: I'm not sure where, but somewhere on BMG's website, there was an option to pick whether or not you actually WANTED them to send you the automatic selection. I haven't gotten the catalog in YEARS, though. I think they actually stopped sending it once I said I didn't want anything by default.
You wanted the best, you got... Out of Context Quote of the Week.
"Jeez, some people seem to think anything short of Vince bending over and spreading his asscheeks is a slap in the face." (Hogan's My Dad)
THIS WEEK'S TOTAL LISTINGS: 1229 100% WOMON Dawn of Inhumanity (The W at Amazon) | Abscess (4/23) Freedom Price | Nick Marino +1 RECORDS Person Number | Consulate General Reverie [Vinyl] | Rafael Anton Irisarri | (Vinyl) Tiger in Your Tank (Dig)