Cheap CD buys

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Ran
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Re: Cheap CD buys

Post by Ran »

Most of the CDs that Borders had that I wanted were $18. 40% off makes them about normal price. Same goes for the select DVDs.
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Re: Cheap CD buys

Post by anarky »

Yah, they were too expensive, which is why I never bought there. I loved browsing, though.

On an aside, I just looked at yourmusic.com, and now their site says the same thing I posted earlier about them only going through the three top choices on your list, but have now added that they will not charge you if none of those three are available. Still seems silly that they wouldn't ship, oh, I dunno, the fourth, but at least they either changed their policy to not charge for nothing, or at least clarified it if that's the way it always was.
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Re: Cheap CD buys

Post by anarky »

The Borders clearance is 50% off at all stores. But only on selected CDs and DVDs. Trouble is, it looks like stores are crating up everything and shipping it back somewhere. I was out toward LA today, and went to three. One had the full departments, the other two had absolutely nothing. Who the hell knows where the non-clearance stuff will end up. I was hoping to score some cool stuff, but most of the unusual stuff wasn't marked down, still. I did get a couple of old Stevie Wonder albums (no Innervision for Snigtad, which wasn't on sale, and which I have, anyway), a Zappa CD I didn't have (Waka-Jawaka... it's unusual for me to find any, since I have all the common ones and a good chunk of the esoteric ones), and a Yes 3-CD compilation that wound up at $12.
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Re: Cheap CD buys

Post by Ran »

The Borders I went in this weekend in Henderson had all DVDs marked down 50%. Firefly and the new Star Wars DVD would have been $25. Other than that, it was already picked over.

The CDs were already gone.
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Re: Cheap CD buys

Post by anarky »

Wal-Mart's actually been getting a large number of old albums on CD (mostly remastered within the past few years) for $5. I've seen several choices from Journey, REO Speedwagon, the Guess Who, Paul Simon, Heart, Ted Nugent, Cheap Trick, Dan Fogelberg, Christopher Cross, TLC, Will Smith, and Bruce Springsteen, in addition to others I know I'm forgetting.
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Re: Cheap CD buys

Post by anarky »

Chirp, chirp.

Best Buy is running a special on "deluxe edition" 2-disc reissues, including the three popular Def Leppard albums, some old REM and Beck stuff, Weezer, the Who, and so forth. Some are loaded with extra goodies, some only have a few live tracks or a "making of" DVD. :roll: Not all of these deluxe editions are included, unfortunately, but worth checking out. Most go for $30 on Amazon, though, oddly, they appear to have price-matched the two REM albums.
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Re: Cheap CD buys

Post by anarky »

Not a CD buy, but it appears that Mojo Nixon's entire catalog is currently free in MP3 format at Amazon.com, if anyone's interested. I vaguely remember "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child," so I figure I'll give it a shot for free.
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Re: Cheap CD buys

Post by Ran »

I downloaded a few last week. He has a radio show (called "Lying Cocksucker") on XM/Sirius and mentioned it.
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Re: Cheap CD buys

Post by anarky »

WM's got a lot of "new" $5 CDs in; a lot of greatest hits albums by 70s and 80s bands (and not the shitty budget compilations, either), as well as a shit ton of Elvis soundtracks for some reason.
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Re: Cheap CD buys

Post by anarky »

I might have the "Best CD Deal EVAR!"

I think I mentioned before that BMG members got grandfathered into yourmusic.com, only without the insane requirement of $7 a month even if nothing's in stock. I kept the membership, as I figured there was no reason not to. Occasionally, I'd order something. Looks like less than once every six months, looking at the "My Account" page.

Back in February, they sent an e-mail about one of their periodic "all CDs $5.99" sales. This time, I ordered a few. All were shipped within a day but one. I got a temporary authorization on my credit card. I received the CDs in the mail. The authorization dropped off my credit card. I got the same CDs in the mail again a day or so later. This was confusing, to say the least. As it appeared they hadn't charged my card at all, so I didn't want to contact them and ask what was up. I logged in to see what the status was on the last CD. The order didn't appear in "My Account" at all.

A week later, I got the last CD (Kenny Wayne Shepherd) in the mail. Still, the order wasn't showing up at all. I got an e-mail finally, which was sent to all members, saying they'd messed up and sent some duplicate shipments in the past few weeks, and to keep them at no charge. I traded them with a friend. And was still never charged for anything.

About two weeks ago, I got an e-mail that all CD's were 30% off their normal $6.99 price. (Not sure why they didn't just say $4.89, but, eh.) This being far better than any deal they'd ever offered, I ordered a few more. I noticed a lot I'd had my eye on, particularly 2-disc sets, were gone. I ended up finding one Neil Young album I didn't have and a few greatest hits albums by folks I had nothing or very little by, like Joan Baez, Badfinger, Concrete Blonde, etc. I figured they looked they weren't long for the world, especially since the site said they weren't taking new memberships, and ordered seven in all. I got an e-mail less than 24 hours later saying they'd canceled Concrete Blonde, yet it still showed up on their website. This really looked like they were in trouble. They sent all but Badfinger (truthfully, the one I wanted the most, since, as is written in the Book of Proverbs, "Verily, whatsoever song thou dost think is Paul McCartney, but doth not be Paul McCartney, and doth not be the Beatles, yea, it doth be Badfinger"). A few days later, indeed, they sent a mass e-mail saying the company was shutting down as of 6/29/11.

I got the CDs yesterday. The temporary authorization this time dropped off two days ago. It looks like I've gotten more than ten CDs (and duplicate copies of several) for nothing.

I have no explanation why. I asked a friend of mine (the same one I gave the other CDs to) who's a member who also took advantage of the 30% off sale, and he was charged. At some point, someone fucked up my membership.

So I ordered an Elvis Costello compilation (about the only thing left there that I wanted) today for a lesser sale. I figure I may not get charged. If I do, $6 for a stack of CDs is pretty good. I might wait until they have stuff no one wants for 75% off or more and order some stuff that looks vaguely interesting. Maybe not.

I'd feel bad about it and contact them, but I know from experience dealing with their customer service department in the past that they're insanely incompetent, and they don't care, so I'd probably wind up never getting charged anyway (if the reps in India could even figure out what's going on).

I may or may not get Badfinger (which is backordered--at least they didn't cancel it immediately, so there might be some hope) or Elvis Costello (since the titles listed on their site seem to bear no resemblance to what they actually have). But, hey.
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Re: Cheap CD buys

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Dollar Tree has been getting a lot of CDs that look like they're leftover store exclusives (most have stickers that say "Best Buy Exclusive" or "Target Exclusive"). Some good stuff, some not so good but high profile stuff. I recall seeing:

Guns 'n' Roses: Chinese Democracy (if you see it for a buck and don't have it, get it--it's good if you think of it as Axl's solo album)
REO Speedwagon: some recent album I think was a WM exclusive
Randy Jackson's Music Club (an obvious attempt to cash in on American Idol fame, but it has both Keb' Mo' and Joss Stone, so I figured it was worth a buck)
Heroes soundtrack
A B&N exclusive album of rock musicians covering Gershwin
A two-volume B&N exclusive album of jazz musicians collaborating with rock singers
A compilation of (mostly) Rat Pack members live at Caesar's Palace
Best Buy exclusive mini-compilation of Three Doors Down
Bo Bice's second album (only decent, but the guy did out-sing Greg Allman on an Allman Bros tune on Idol)

Since the store is almost always just plain old shit, these stood out.
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Re: Cheap CD buys

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Not technically a CD (though I burned it), but Amazon has a thing through Facebook for a $2 MP3 credit. Combine that with the near-constant "$1 MP3 credit for choosing slow shipping" and "$1 MP3 credit for buying a CD," along with their usually-decent selection of albums for $5 or less, and I just got Rodrigo y Gabriela's 11:11 for free and still have a penny in credit.
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Re: Cheap CD buys

Post by anarky »

Chirp, chirp.

One local Best Buy (but not the other) had a bin of clearance CD's (as opposed to their normal "$4.99 Great Deals!"), many of which were $0.99. A lot of these were on Wicked Cool Records, which seems to have been started by Little Steven. I grabbed several, and most have been pretty good so far. There were also some normal albums marked down to $4.99; one was John Hiatt's The Tiki Bar Is Open, which is a fucking masterpiece if you don't have it.
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Re: Cheap CD buys

Post by Diabolical »

Best Buy has a small bin of clearance cds.

The other day I noticed Scott Weiland's second solo album Happy In Galoshes (the Best Buy exclusive double disc version) for only $4.99 and made a mental note to grab a back-up copy next time, as there were a bunch of copies in there.

So today while I was there I grabbed one. When the cashier rang it up the screen said $.99 - holy shit! - so I grabbed myself a second back-up copy, because the album didn't do very well and its highly unlikely this double disc version will ever see another pressing, so at that price, why not have a few extras?

The album is hit and miss, but there are at least a few amazing tracks on there.
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Re: Cheap CD buys

Post by anarky »

That's quite a find.

Of the $0.99 CDs I found, I'd most highly recommend albums by the Novaks, Hawaii Mud Bombers, the Launderettes, Abileen, and Stands With Fists. I find it pretty tough to pass on entire albums for a buck (especially since Best Buy has the stickers that indicate the genre).

The only local store with a clearance bin didn't have Scott Weiland's album (which I've got), but like I mentioned it had John Hiatt's The Tiki Bar Is Open. If that's $0.99, you should not pass it up. Dude's sort of like an Elvis Costello clone who moved more toward the blues as he got older, and, even though he's not especially well-known, his songs have been hits for a lot of other artists, and that's probably my favorite album of his.
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