If you also share a craving for expanding your musical horizon on a regular basis with old gems and new goodies, you'll properly agree that this can be both expensive and sometimes a bit difficult too.
So were can make the good deals and perhaps even locate those hard to find albums?
In this article I'll try to give a short description of some of the stores I use and I hope that you'll drop a few lines in the comment box if you know some additional ones. I'm located in Europe and so are many of the online stores below, so if you have experiences with stores from other parts of the world let your voice be heard.
I'll just start off with referring to our
links section where you'll find links and descriptions to several online shops, I will come across some of them.
Also worth having in mind is that shopping on the net has a lot to do with where you are located. That concerns both delivery limitations, shipping costs, duty and value added tax (VAT) and so on, so be sure to check these technicalities out.
The SearchChecking out your local CD shop's website could be a very non-global place to start, I have on several occasions searched for different CD's on the website of the national Danish franchise (
Stereo Studio), having a department in my town. Most of the times the actual CD is located in another shop somewhere in the country, but it's free of charge to get them to order it home, I paid around $4 for the latest one.
If you are looking for a newly released album with free shipping
CDWOW is a reasonable pick. The more popular ones are at fair prices while the rest are somewhat more expensive. A delivery period of rarely less than a week is nevertheless a clear downside.
Also based in the UK
Play.com /
(US link) you find a larger selection, also free shipping worldwide but somewhat pricier when it comes to new CD's (huge movie section too).
The German based metal mailorder
TWS has a large selection and fair prices too. Not everything is in stock so you could be facing a waiting period here.
I have been a customer at
EMP for around ten years now. I think their prices on new CD's has become quite expensive and their "back catalogue" is rather thin for several bands. Still they have lots of primarily Metal music and shirts, low shipping costs and fast delivery.
If you are looking for albums with a few years behind them and find yourself in Europe,
CDON could be worth checking out.
Freight is cheap, the supply huge and they also have a lot of music DVD's, movies and other stuff. Newly released albums are high-priced though.
If only part of your order is ready for shipment I have on many occasions received the available stuff quickly and the rest later, without extra cost of course.
The American store
The End Records have very competitive prices, a broad range of genres and a fair supply of older albums.
If you order though RevelationZ (use banner found in all reviews) and use the coupon code REVELATIONZ you get 8% off on your first order.
The Laser's Edge is connected with Sensory Records but the mailorder feature different labels and genres, mostly Progressive and also Power Metal music. Not that many titles but reasonable prices.
Back to Germany and the
Nuclear Blast store , here you'll of course find lots of different editions of albums and shirts from the label's own bands and at fair prices, but they have a decent supply of other Metallic goodies too. Unfortunately pretty expensive shipping cost outside Germany, but fast.
At
Metal Merchant , also a German store, you have a fair chance of finding CD's which can be hard to get a hold of, prices vary, shipping is worldwide and at medium cost.
When it comes to Hard Rock and other melodic stuff the German store
Schmankerl has a huge selection of CD's, some quite rare ones too. I have ordered there a bunch of times and their service is very reliable, normally the package arrives within a few days all included.
Hang Loose Records also concentrates on Melodic Rock and AOR and have worldwide delivery.
You'll be able to find very rare stuff here, included a number of special/national editions of albums but it's not exactly cheap even though you can get a fair price on more conventional releases.
The Danish based
Imusic has over 1,3 million titles and ships to a range of countries. Not exactly cheap but if you are searching for a rare/special edition this could be a good place to look.
Recently I ordered a bunch of CD's from Finland's
Lion Music , they have quite a lot of Hard Rock and Metal music, a very good customer service but also a rather non user-friendly page.
If that album just doesn't seem to be found anywhere, the different national
Amazon departments could be a place to look, they have a partnership with several other online stores in connection with their own products, both new and used stuff to be found there, unfortunately it can be quite confusing navigating around.
It's mostly quite expensive but you'll be able to find a huge selection and rare editions.
If you still didn't find what you are looking for, the online auction at
Ebay could come in handy; lot's of new stuff gets added to the site each day and there is a fair chance you'll localise some special stuff at reasonable prices, used but often in good condition. Of course you could have to face a period of betting before the deal is closed.
Personally I have had good experiences with the above stores.
Checking out the shipping costs and possible quantity discounts are important aspects worth having in mind before you place your order.
So there are a lot of opportunities, unfortunately it takes time finding the good bargains, but I guess that goes for about everything in life.
