Buy 12 CD's for the price of one really as good as it sounds?

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sexdrugsandrocknroll

CAGiversary!
I always see these in my magazines and I was wondering, is it a scam or something? I know you have to subscribe to them and buy atleast one of the cd's, but is that it? It says that I can subscribe anytime I like. Did any of you guys ever try this thing before?
 
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Not a scam really, but they are not very up front about the charges. Sure, you get 6 free CDs at first, but you pay shipping and handling on each CD (and tax), which is about $2.49 a CD, of course, the package they ship it in looks like it would cost $4 at the most, so they do profit from you from these "free CD's". The one CD you do have to buy is marked up to $7-10 above store costs, plus shipping and tax, so what should cost $11.99 or so ends up costing $23-$25. You also have to buy the CD within a year.

Something to watch out for is the shipment of a CD you didn't want. The last CD service I was with (which is now defunct) sent me a CD without me asking, and I ended up paying for it (I gave the CD to my mom). Afterwards, I got certficates for the 4 remaining CDs, which again, you have to pay shipping and tax for.

I mean overall, you do save money, even though you get so many offers you don't want, and may end up with a forced purchase, but you do pay for only one CD (and an assload of shipping charges that sum up to $25 or so).

One problem you may have is with reselling the CD's. Stores won't take them, as they those subscription companies have the barcodes changed, and may even say something like "Distributed by (whichever service you're with, like BMG)". So once you buy them, you're kind of stuck with them, unless you Ebay the CDs.
 
Do a search on Google. There are ways to maximize those programs and actually come out ahead. It involves buying only when they have some of their crazy sales (like buy one, get two free, or buy two get three free) and then getting out of the program. I want to say they had it figured out where you could get 16 CDs for an average cost (including shipping) of about $4.
 
I did this program years ago and I was satisfied - just work out the math first and make sure they offer CDs that you actually want. I got 14 CDs for about $6 each including shipping - not too bad, IMO... If you have a place to ship to, you could sign up as Abe Simpson or whoever and just keep taking the first 4 CDs they ship before they ask you for $$$...
 
BMG is great. But my advice is to only buy the one required CD. Take your 12 free, buy one at regular price and your average price per CD is less than $5 shipped (you will pay shipping on every CD even if they are sent at the same time)
 
The way they really make money is their "Featured Selection" bullshit. They send you a monthly catalog with a featured selection based on your original music genre choice. If you don't send back the reply card saying 'I don't want your goddamn cd'.. they ship it to you and bill you full price. It gets to be a real pain in the ass.

They tried a program that didn't have the featured selections about 5-7 years ago.. and even though they got a ton of new subscribers.. they were bleeding money from not being able to randomly ship the cds to people.

If you're able to handle sending that card back every month and never forget.. then you'll be ok.
 
Some of the programs now allow you to reply to the cards online. Makes it a little easier, but you still have to remember to do it.
 
Bmg is great.

You pay about 3 bucks a cd for shipping and then you have to buy one at full price. they are staring to have a ton of buy one get 3 free deals. the one you buy counts as your requried one. i just bought a featured selection and got two free, but you can get three free. just buy your one when they have one of those deals.

also sign up for their deal newsletter, you should get them automatically or you have to click something while signing up. it should be on there site somewhere. i don't think i signed up i just got automatically.

it will cost you a little over 50 bucks and you'll get about 15 cds, maybe an extra if you do one of the buy one get 3 free.
 
[quote name='PsyClerk']Some of the programs now allow you to reply to the cards online. Makes it a little easier, but you still have to remember to do it.[/quote]

SIGN UP ONLINE go to bmgmusic.com sign up there and your account will automatically do everything online. they'll send you an email for the featured selection, you click the link, go to the bottom and hit no thanks. that easy.
 
When they send you your "Featured Selection" you don't have to purchase it. Simply write "Refused Return to Sender" on the package and send it back. No charges will be applied.
 
The nice thing is that the artists don't get paid for those "promotional" CDs. In fact, they have to pay for these promotional costs.

Do you really need any more reasons not to do business with RIAA members?

check out http://www.cdbaby.com/ , selling only non-RIAA music. also feel free to recommend any similar places.

Kids, do not give the RIAA any of your money.
 
[quote name='eldad9']The nice thing is that the artists don't get paid for those "promotional" CDs. In fact, they have to pay for these promotional costs.

Do you really need any more reasons not to do business with RIAA members?

check out http://www.cdbaby.com/ , selling only non-RIAA music. also feel free to recommend any similar places.

Kids, do not give the RIAA any of your money.[/quote]

Are you sure the BMG sells "promotional" CDs? They look just like the ones you buy in the store. There aren't any holes punched or cuts in the CDs. When you get "promo" material there usually is something like that done to the CD.
 
The dvd club is better, if you get deal where 8 cost you about the club price of 3 dvds plus the shipping of 2 or 3 shipment.
 
I suggest you join BMG, get your 11 CDs free (+ shipping), wait for the Buy 1 Get 3 Free deal, and then quit the club. It won't be long before they send you an invitation to rejoin, and offer the same 12 For The Price Of 1 deal. I've joined, quit, and rejoined several times. I also got a couple of friends to join, and with each referral, you get another 5 free CDs.

The only thing that bugged me about the club is that they don't have the latest CDs. It takes up to a year between the original release of a CD, and BMG finally offering it.
 
Having the latest cds is the only thing that Columbia House Cd Club has over BMG. BMG tends to wait in order to see which cds are the most popular before ordering a batch to be produced.
 
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