[net.audio] Mail ordering CD's

mkb@cmu-ri-rover.ARPA (Mike Blackwell) (02/10/85)

Sorry I forgot to include this info for Compat Disc Centre before:

	Compact Disc Centre
	P.O. Box 616
	Clifton Park, NY, 12065
	Info: 518-664-2550,  Order: 1-800-232-3687

Some more notes on mail ordering CD's: Last month's CMU CD order got a
little out of hand, and we (Kevin Dowling and myself, the local CD gurus, I
guess) wound up with an order for 106 CD's. No fooling! My theory is that
everybody got CD players for Christmas, but it wasn't 'til now that their
budgets have recovered enough to start buying discs (January's order was
only 40 CD's).  Anyway, I called around looking for quantity deals. Compact
Disc Centre isn't too bad, since it'd only cost $2 for shipping on all of
those discs, but actually most places will deal on shipping (Classic
Diversions (before they closed because the owner is dying) never charged me
for shipping on quantity, even though they claimed $.50 per disc).

Well, I wasn't really able to find any good quantity deals, but I did find a
place in Illinois called SuperSound, who told me that they would beat any of
their domestic competitor's catalog prices by $1.00 per disc. I talked to
the guy there, and he was a very reasonable person to deal with. Not only is
he going to beat the Compact Disc Centre 10+ price by $1.00 per disc, but
he's matching their shipping charges, too. They don't keep quite the stock
on hand that CDC does (he gets normal shipments of about 1000 discs every
two weeks, and can special order any imports), so shipping won't be as
prompt, but it is quite a savings. I mailed the order in to him on Friday
(didn't feel like reading 106 titles over the phone). I'll report back to
the net when I've gotten results. SuperSound's phone number is 312-366-1300.
Tell the guy that Mike at Carnegie-Mellon recommended him...

But the big question is: How can I get real quantity discounts? How do the
real CD places (CDC, SuperSound) get their discs, and for how much (a guy at
Laury's told me they pay around $6 for Telarc discs, but wouldn't venture
more info than that). Is there a central US clearing house, or do the
retailers go through all the individual recording companies? Any info would
be much appreciated.

		cheers, -m-	(mkb@cmu-ri-rover.arpa)