Fast 'n' Bulbous' Guide to Online CD Shopping

With all the posts about Tower closing, I read a lot of complaints about not knowing where to buy CDs. Yet people are still managing to keep buying them. And why not? They're still a better value than downloading for $1/song. You get full uncompressed fidelity in case you want the full experience on nice headphones or a good stereo, and even if you mostly use the ripped files, they're much more reliable backup storage than disk drives, which have nearly 100% failure rate within five years. CD sales may be down 10%, but what articles fail to mention is that more than that percentage are the blockbusters. Mariah Carey are Justin Timberlake (and in turn, record company execs and shareholders) are making millions instead of tens of millions. Who gives a rat's ass. According to most of the indie labels I've read about, sales are actually up. So step gingerly into the 21st century, and order online. It's okay, really. I've been doing it for 12 years, and no one has hijacked my credit card number (seemingly a big fear among some lingering luddites). CDNow was the first major online CD store, starting up way back in 1994. It had good prices and had almost everything. My site was even an affiliate. Unfortunately Amazon consumed them. Then Alldirect.com was the place to go for the best prices and deep catalog, until it went out of business last summer. Now I go to Deep Discount. It has free shipping, but started charging tax recently. Their catalog has improved a lot. Just to compare it to a few other online stores, I looked up a list of new releases and reissues, and a couple hard to find items, some that I recently bought, a couple that I'm looking to buy. As long as you know where to go for what, you can find almost anything. It seems anything that's supposedly out of print is still available in Germany or Japan (see Streetwalkers' Red Card, 10cc's Original Soundtrack, Sly & the Family Stone's Small Talk and La Dusseldorf). You just have to really want 'em, since they're at import prices. If not, I think it's perfectly acceptable to find a free download and wait until they're available for reasonable prices. Happy shopping, kiddies! $ = lowest price (Prices listed already include tax and shipping, so don't add what I have in the parentheses. When the same shipping price is listed for each CD, it varies according to how many CDs are ordered).Deep Discount CD$ TV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain, $9.87 (.60 tax)$ Mastodon - Blood Mountain, $11.86 (.87 tax)The Pretenders [Deluxe Edition dbl CD], $20.90 (1.42 tax)$ Talking Heads - Remain In Light [Dualdisc Remaster], $14.99 (1.02 tax)$ Can - Ege Bamyasi, $14.25 (.96 tax)Amon Duul II - Yeti, $14.25 (.96 tax)CD UniverseTV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain, $10.79 (1.00 shipping)Mastodon - Blood Mountain, $17.69 (1.00 shipping)$ The Pretenders [Deluxe Edition dbl CD], $18.49 (1.00 shipping)Talking Heads - Remain In Light [Dualdisc Remaster], $17.05 (1.00 shipping)Can - Ege Bamyasi, $14.89 (1.00 shipping)Amon Duul II - Yeti, $14.69 (1.00 shipping)Streetwalkers - Red Card, $16.95 (1.00 shipping)10cc - Original Soundtrack, $20.99 (1.00 shipping)Amazon (There's a sale on free shipping, so I couldn't calculate what it normally is)TV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain, $10.99 Mastodon - Blood Mountain, $13.98 The Pretenders [Deluxe Edition dbl CD], $20.99Talking Heads - Remain In Light [Dualdisc Remaster], $18.98Can - Ege Bamyasi, $14.99Amon Duul II - Yeti, $17.98 Streetwalkers - Red Card, $24.49 Rico - Man From Wareika, $34.49 InsoundTV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain, $12.74 (.75 shipping)Mastodon - Blood Mountain, $17.74 (.75 shipping)Talking Heads - Remain In Light [Dualdisc Remaster], $18.78 (.75 shipping)Can - Ege Bamyasi, $17.74 (.75 shipping)Streetwalkers - Red Card, $24.02 (.75 shipping)10cc - Original Soundtrack, $21.27 (.75 shipping)Aquarius Records has a tiny store in San Francisco, but their online stock is great, and their main selling point is their expertise and reviews, particularly in psych and metal. For that service they're worth spending a little more on now and then.TV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain, $14.37 (1.63 shipping)Can - Ege Bamyasi, $18.61 (1.63 shipping)Amon Duul II - Yeti, $18.61 (1.63 shipping)La Dusseldorf, $24.63 (1.63 shipping)Wayside Music is a fabulous specialty store for more avant garde releases. I got all my Heldon CDs there, and as you can see, they have a ton of Krautrock.Can - Ege Bamyasi, $17.83 (.83 shipping)$ Amon Duul II - Yeti, $11.83 (.83 shipping)$ La Dusseldorf, $20.83 (.83 shipping)Dusty Groove has a really nice selection of soul, hip hop, African, Brazilian and reggae. When they have it, their import prices beat everyone's. I bought most of their Island Japan series (Rico, Justin Hinds, Ijahman) for $20 each. Prices went up, but elsewhere they're over $35.$ Sly & the Family Stone - Small Talk, 21.79 (1.80 tax)$ Lenine - In Cite - Au Vivo, $17.43 (1.44 tax)$ Rico - Man From Wareika, $25.06 (2.07 tax)ImportsThe last couple imports I ordered were the early UK release of Return to Cookie Mountain and Razorlight in July, for which I paid about $15 USD each with free shipping at CD Wow!. Great deal, considering they're over $30 at Tower and Virgin. Unfortunately the exchange rate has been sucky for the past three years, otherwise they'd be even cheaper. The Ideal Copy offers imports at near-domestic price and shipping rates. They specialize in punk, post-punk and new wave. Amazon.co.uk has better selection and decent prices, but pricey shipping. Siren Disc is another option. For hard to find and out of print CDs, Gemm and Music Stack. And Ernie B's for reggae.Used CDsI check online to see what my local Reckless has in stock. I'd say they have what I want about 20% of the time. Spun.com used to be great for both selling and buying, but they never have anything in stock anymore, and the prices are high and buys too low. For six years I used Djangos -- I could sell my used CDs at a nearby affiliate, 2nd Hand Tunes and use the credit for used CDs. They had a handy email notification feature when used CDs became available, though you have to act quick on hotly contested ones. However, I've been replacing a lot of my old CDs with recent reissued remasters, and while Djangos distinguishes them on their site, they seem to be incapable of actually shipping the right versions. I've received nearly a dozen wrong items in the past year. I finally gave them a well-deserved sarcastic crack about dyslexia when they sent me House Full: Live at the Troubadour instead of Fairport Conventions's Full House, and they threatened to suspend my account (after spending literally thousands of dollars on them in a half dozen years). Be my guest, assholes. Rather than address the problems, they simply said their failure percentage is acceptable. I've had problems not receiving items from Amazon Marketplace, and they don't make it easy to get a refund. I haven't really found a consistent alternative other than a pilgrimage to the San Francisco Amoeba (go online Amoeba, or open a store in Chicago, please!). In addition to Gemm and Music Stack, there's Half.com, now owned by eBay, and Second Spin, which works just like Spun, but the selection doesn't seem much better.