15.0 Mail Order:
Mail order is appealing. The general hope is that by using mail
order, you avoid pushy sales people, you pay fixed, discounted
prices, and you have written catalog descriptions to help you
select your purchase. In practice, most mail order today is
"phone order", in that the company completes the deal with a
phone call. Many of the "mail order" companies don't even have
price lists or catalogs. They are just retailers that are
willing to sell over the phone and ship the merchandise to
you. In some cases, retail store sales are better deals than
mail order. Don't expect the lowest price from the first place
you call. Also, don't expect excellent service from everyone,
and especially not from the company with the lowest price.
Consult the rec.audio.marketplace mail-order survey published by
nau@SSESCO.com (William R. Nau) or contact William Nau directly.
This survey is also available via FTP in the pub/rec.audio
directory of SSESCO.com. If you have any mail order
experiences to share, please send them directly to William Nau.
15.2 Is the stuff sold by DAK really awesome? Damark?
DAK is out of business. Someone joked that it was caused
by the great superlative shortage of 1994.
Regarding Damark, opinions of people on the net are similar.
The products are as described, they deliver what they
say they will, and will take back or replace unsatisfactory
merchandise. I have not heard any unsatisfied Damark customers.
15.3 Is the stuff sold by Cambridge Sound Works really awesome?
15.4 What should I watch out for when buying mail order?
Many of the cautions mentioned in warranties (19.1) apply.
Look for a store which has been around a long time. Look for
friends which have dealt with the store and been satisfied.
Look for a store which does not lie or stretch the truth.
15.5 What is gray market?
See warranties (19.1), below.
15.6 Are there any good mail-order sources for recordings?
Noteworthy has a good reputation among net readers as a supplier
of CDs. They have a range of discs available centered firmly on
the mainstream, and are reasonable in price. Shipping is $3.75
for 1-5 CDs. They offer over 14,000 different CD titles. Their
offerings are all from US labels. They give a free catalog and
also have modem software and catalog on floppy discs for $9.95.
Noteworthy Music, Inc
17 Airport Road
Nashua NH 03063 USA
800-648-7972 Voice
603-881-5729 Voice
603-883-9220 FAX
BMG and Columbia also sell CDs mail-order, but have a smaller
list of offerings and higher prices. However, BMG and Columbia
have interesting deals to entice new customers. Read the fine
print before you sign to be sure that they are right for you.
BMG and Columbia both have promotional offerings to "members"
which allow you to buy two or three discs for the price
of one. These can be very good deals, if you want what they
have. Look at their advertisements in common magazines and
Sunday newspapers for a better idea of what they carry. They
list much of their line in their ad. Don't expect much more.
For more information on BMG and Columbia, see section 11.13,
11.14, 11.15, and 11.16 of this FAQ.
Bose Express also sells CDs. Their reputation so far is very
knowledgeable people, a large collection, and high prices.
Their catalog costs $6.00.
Bose Express Music
The Mountain
Framingham MA 01701 USA
800-451-2673 or 508-879-1916 Ext. 2008
Tower Records has a mail order department which also sells CDs.
Their classical catalog costs $13.45. Their other catalog costs
$10.45. Tower is a large retail chain. Many have bought from
their retail outlets happily, but no one has expressed any
comments on their mail order service yet. Contact:
Tower Records Mail Order Department
692 Broadway
New York City, NY 10012 USA
800-648-4844 or 800-522-5445
Another source is Music New Hampshire; 800-234-8458. They sell
many $3.79 post-paid sampler CDs and also many independent label
single-artist discs. Most single artist discs are $15.00 each.
Shipping is $3 for 1-3 discs and $5 for 4-up. Their stuff is
mostly obscure artists. They have Rock, Jazz, Classical, Folk,
Country, and Children's offerings. Affiliated with CD Review.
Music New Hampshire - Wayne Green Inc
70 Route 202N
Peterborough NH 03458-1107 USA
If you like the idea of buying CDs by Modem, consider
The Compact Disc Connection
1016 East El Camino #322
Sunnyvale CA 94087 USA
Voice 408-733-0801
Modem 212-532-4045 New York City NY
312-477-3518 Chicago IL
408-730-9015 Sunnyvale CA
617-639-0238 Boston MA
Telnet cdconnection.com
They have a collection of over 90,000 CD titles. People have
said that their service is excellent. Prices are fairly good.
Shipping is $3.50 for orders under $100.00 and free for larger
orders. They do not stock anything, but deliver from the
warehouses of their suppliers. This means that some items may
be back ordered or completely discontinued while remaining in
their on-line data base. They advertise 94.2% of orders in
1992 shipped, though not necessarily immediately. You can also
get their catalog from ftp.cdconnection.com
There have been a couple of music (cd/lp) mail-order lists
compiled on the net - one older list can be found via anonymous
ftp to ftp.uwp.edu in the file: /pub/music/misc.mailorder.rmmc
Someone is revising this file and it should be updated or found
in a new file name there in the future.
Another list contains vendors that specialize in progressive
rock, electronic and experimental music, is maintained by
Malcolm Humes and posted sporadically to alt.music.progressive,
rec.music.misc, & rec.music.info. This also can be ftp'd from
ft.uwp.edu, in the file: /pub/music/misc/mailorder.progressive
Federal Music and Video markets "Discount Coupon Books"
featuring two-for-one CDs and Tape deals. They require payment
with the order, which many consider risky. One company that
distributes these coupon books for Federal Music is Reed Music.
The price from Federal or Reed Music with the two-for-one deal
is comparable to the price from Noteworthy. So far, no net
user has yet related any positive or negative experience with
Reed Music or Federal Music and Video. Federal Music and Video
has been in business since 1985, so is probably legit. However,
in that they require payment in advance it is probably safer
to avoid them completely and use a discounter like Noteworthy.
Occasionally, a new dealer will pop up offering free CDs
and/or a great coupon book. They may be a dealer for Federal.
Save your money.
When considering mail purchases of CDs, consider shipping costs.
It is common for people to charge between $1 and $3 per disk for
"shipping and handling". This makes mail order less attractive,
but may be equally balanced by a lack of sales tax.
Get archive "mailorder.txt" from "/pub/cd" on "jammin.nosc.mil"
for a complete list of mail order music sellers.
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