Best place to score deals on CDs?

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I'm not really feeling ebay anymore because it seems like everything is listed as "buy it now" around $9 with $5 shipping shipping scam. Every once in awhile you can get something for $7-8 a cd including shipping.
But most of the time I'm like fuck it and go to bestbuy for $13 a pop.

Anyone got any sites for deals on cds? New or used.

― jj, Wednesday, 27 April 2005 14:52 (twenty years ago)

cduniverse is pretty conisistently good
spun used to be good for used stuff, but lately they've gotten kinda scammy with shipping

― rentboy (rentboy), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 14:56 (twenty years ago)

alldirect.com

You cannot beat this place for new CDs. Their prices are the cheapest around, and there's no gimmicks like "handling" fees that places like cheap-cds.com have. Plus they have free shipping over $99. Budget shipping is available and you get your stuff very quickly even by that method.

Only drawback is their website is *horrible*, and sometimes things are out of stock. They also don't seem to update their inventory very often (you won't find "Guero" on there, for instance). All these things aside, it's still the place to beat.

If there's a better place, I want to know about it.

― Keith C (kcraw916), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

Has anyone used Yourmusic.com? Seems like it might be good if you want to catch up on catalogue titles from more mainstream artists, but I'm curious to see how easy it is to unsubscribe.

― Jeff Reguilon (Talent Explosion), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

How are these sites for shipping to the UK? I've just browsed through cduniverse and noted that their shipping costs are cheaper the more you buy but I was just wondering what Brits' experiences are with them?

― Nick H (Nick H), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 20:51 (twenty years ago)

In the UK, at least, there are deals to be had at Play.com, CDwow, 101cd and sendit.com (nearly all do free postage too)

― D.G. Jones (D.G. Jones), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 20:54 (twenty years ago)

I know about those ones but I was wondering if the American ones stack up good for Brits, because if you buy enough I reckon they'll work out cheaper.

― Nick H (Nick H), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 20:57 (twenty years ago)

The last three things I ordered used from amazon were dirt cheap: 1 cent, 49 cents etc., and $2.49 each to ship. But I'm into obscure crap no one else wants.

― Daniel Peterson (polkaholic), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 21:01 (twenty years ago)

I've given Half.com quite a bit of business over the past couple of years, and I've generally been satisfied. The blanket $2.49 for shipping isn't great, but you can still find some decent deals. (Of course, I'll probably shop there less after I come back to the US from Japan this summer; my possibilities for shopping at "bricks and mortar" used CD shops will increase markedly.)

― John Fredland (jfredland), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 21:01 (twenty years ago)

Not that I've done any extensive testing, but I think DeepDiscountCD beats alldirect.com because of free shipping. Slow though, and definitely more than $7. For used, Half.com usually beats eBay, Amazon marketplace worth checking too.

― These Robust Cookies (Robust Cookies), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 21:08 (twenty years ago)

I just checked 10+ discs and alldirect beats DeepDiscount nearly every time by a buck or two. I guess with the shipping it could even out, but I hate waiting for a month for CDs. Still, it's a very good site.

Seems like half.com has a lot of the same sellers as Amazon marketplace. At least they give you a break on the shipping if you order more than one disc from the same place (Amazon hits you for $2.50 each even if you buy 10 items from the same seller). I'll give this a shot next time.

Yourmusic.com would be ideal if their catalog was better. It's very weak, though.

For UK imports I use Amazon's UK site. Some of the UK sites mentioned upthread (like play.com) look to be similar but I don't think their free shipping applies to the States.

― Keith C (kcraw916), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 23:13 (twenty years ago)

Wow that Alldirect site has tons of cheap music.

― buck van morrison (Buck Van Smack), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 23:37 (twenty years ago)

i've gotten quite a few cds ridiculously cheap from overstock.com. recently, a big daddy kane one for like 2 bucks.

― ()ops (()()ps), Thursday, 28 April 2005 02:50 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, Yourmusic.com's catalogue is pretty weak overall, but if you needed to, say, grab every Jay-Z album, I can't see how you'd do it cheaper. I just want to know how hard it is to get out of their program because I don't want some kid following me around on his BMX bike yelling "I want my two dollars" after I pull out.

― Jeff Reguilon (Talent Explosion), Thursday, 28 April 2005 03:41 (twenty years ago)

DUDE-- i'm putting alldirect's kids through college. i used to patronize caiman.com a lot (via amazon), but i think they sell used shit and label it "new." plays fine, but i don't like the dishonesty. i've almost stopped buying albums in stores these days haha.. i've already bought everything i'd want that makes the clearance rounds..

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Thursday, 28 April 2005 04:11 (twenty years ago)

Not to be argumentative, but I'm finding deepdiscountcd to be at least even with alldirect, if I'm reading alldirect's shipping rates correctly. (Do you use budget shipping, 7-21 business days? that's gonna be no quicker than ddcd). And the selection seems to be much better. Things I tried to compare but couldn't because alldirect didn't have it: T. Rex - T. Rex [Expanded], Petra Haden Sings the Who Sell Out, Bloc Party - Silent Alarm, M.I.A. - Arular, William Parker Quartet - Sound Unity. Much better website too, ddcd.

I don't think one would have trouble extracting oneself from yourmusic.com. I've used BMG music service (same operation, different front) and they suck, but they're not dishonest. Expect very slow shipping. I ordered a cd from BMG two weeks ago and it still hasn't shipped.

― These Robust Cookies (Robust Cookies), Thursday, 28 April 2005 05:29 (twenty years ago)

AllDirect has great prices. But they *only* do credit card orders made through their website. Ridiculous. Count me out...

― John 2, Thursday, 28 April 2005 12:37 (twenty years ago)

I know about those ones but I was wondering if the American ones stack up good for Brits, because if you buy enough I reckon they'll work out cheaper.

If you're looking for something on an indie, it's always worth checking out buying directly from th label itself. The few places that stocked the last Atombombpocketknife CD over here priced it at between £14-£17 (not sure about whether postage was included.) I ordered it direct from File 13 records in Chicago and got it for less than £8 including postage + a free sticker and badge. Didn't have to pay duty or Vat either, but even if I had it would still have been a bargain.

― Ben Dot (1977), Thursday, 28 April 2005 13:41 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

Alldirect beats Deepdiscount significantly if you wait until you have $100 worth of stuff to order -- then shipping is free. I do that about every 3-4 months -- it helps that they have a decent selection of books too. In fact, the books are discounted even better than CDs.

Another thing I like is they don't clear your shopping cart after frigging 30 minutes. I've had stuff in my cart for months, whereas Deepdiscount cleared mine when I was still in the middle of selecting stuff, and they lost my order.

Unfortunately the alldirect site has been down for several days now. I hope they're not folding!

― Fastnbulbous (Fastnbulbous), Sunday, 4 June 2006 18:24 (nineteen years ago)

Alldirect still rules the roost but who knows if they'll ever come back up. I tried deepdiscount a few times since this thread, not a fan. They barely have anything in stock and it takes forever to get your shit.

My new go-to place is djangos--after spending $25 on new CDs, shipping is free (media mail). Customer service has been good in the rare instance I've had a problem, and their site works well enough. Some obvious stuff they don't have in stock, but it's no worse than alldirect.

― Keith C (lync0), Sunday, 4 June 2006 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

One thing that's worth looking out for is Newbury Comics' occasional listings on Amazon Marketplace- I think they do it to get rid of overstock or something, since they have new CDs ridiculously cheap at times. I've gotten some great stuff (Cannibal Holocaust soundtrack, the Chicken Lips DJ-Kicks, the first three remastered Human League albums) for less than $10 each including shipping.

― Telephonething (Telephonething), Sunday, 4 June 2006 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

DRAT! I did some Googling and it's pretty certain that Alldirect.com is closed for good.

bad news, alldirect.com is closed. I'm a little mad since I had placed an order and received an email saying my cc didn't process. since I was able to use this same cc everywhere else, naturally I followed up with them. I received an email saying alldirect is now closed for business.

They were by far the cheapest place to get books, and their CD selection was better than Deepdiscount. I'll miss them and I'll miss the money I'll no longer save. :(

― Fastnbulbous (Fastnbulbous), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 02:05 (nineteen years ago)

If Easy Street in Seattle went online... aw man. (that said, for shmindie stuff, www.sonicboomrecords.com is a good place.)

― ((((((DOPplur)))n)))u))))tttt (donut), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 02:32 (nineteen years ago)

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