INTERACT FORUM

More => Old Versions => Media Center 12 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: JimH on June 14, 2008, 08:40:23 am

Title: Living outside the U.S? Do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: JimH on June 14, 2008, 08:40:23 am: Who do you buy CD's from in the U.S.? (for export to Europe, etc.)
Title: If you're not in the U.S, do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: Craig on June 14, 2008, 09:39:04 am: Quote from: JimH on June 14, 2008, 08:40:23 am
Who do you buy CD's from in the U.S.? (for export to Europe, etc.)

I don't buy my everyday stuff like that but more specialist cd's come from the artists websites and I sometimes use Artist Direct. Playusa are good for region1 dvds too.

As long as they're under £18 they don't attract a customs charge.

Craig
Title: If you're not in the U.S, do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: Deivit on June 14, 2008, 10:34:55 am: Quote from: JimH on June 14, 2008, 08:40:23 am
Who do you buy CD's from in the U.S.? (for export to Europe, etc.)
amazon.com
Title: Re: If you're not in the U.S, do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: bennyd on June 14, 2008, 12:37:41 pm: Why by CD's from US if they are available in Europe, nowadays we don't have to go abroad to find CD's only available in the U.S. ?
Online Download, only Itunes supports tunes outsude US, all other big online providers do not yet.

Online CD ordering, amazon.com, because they have subsideries in Europe, so it's cheaper for them to ship.

My personal opinion : US, open your eyes, there's more than US :-)
Title: Re: If you're not in the U.S, do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: JimH on June 14, 2008, 01:29:59 pm: Quote from: bennyd on June 14, 2008, 12:37:41 pm
Online Download, only Itunes supports tunes outsude US, all other big online providers do not yet.
Tesco has an MP3 store. They're in the UK.
Quote
US, open your eyes, there's more than US
It's not within our control. It's a complex and expensive problem to get the licenses. We'd do it if I thought it was even close to profitable. To get worldwide licenses from all 4 major labels would cost millions of dollars in advance, and I'm not sure what you'd have when you opened. Some licenses are just not available.

I think we're well aware that there is a big market outside the U.S.

There is another thread on this topic here (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=46960.0).
Title: Re: If you're not in the U.S, do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: datdude on June 14, 2008, 01:37:02 pm: My local Best Buy Store. I hate Best Buy, but they have a pretty good selection of new stuff. If it is older/rarer stuff, amazon.com.
Title: Re: Living outside the U.S? Do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: Cmagic on June 15, 2008, 01:43:42 am: Hi,

I buy CDs from here (France) but often goes to Caiman (thru Amazon.com), straight Amazon and CD Baby.
I started buying in the US few years ago at Musicblvd.com (remember that site ?)
Main reasons to buy at US online shops are : 1/ price 2/ availabilty of stuff I would not find over here

As a side note, my CD buying pace has lowered recently. Partly because I also buy online downloadable music and partly because there is so much things to do in life and time is running short !

One thing I find a bit frustrating is the number of online music sites with good offers (relative to the offers we get here in France) that are only available from the US. I am aware that this is mainly due to rights and legal issues and has nothing to do with music, but this is starting to pull my interest away of buying online music.
The solution ? I have put my hands back on my old accordion, re-accorded my piano and started playing music myself with my wife and friends ! :)

Have a nice Sunday,

Christian
Title: Re: Living outside the U.S? Do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: jmone on June 15, 2008, 06:26:32 am: I buy all my CD / DVD locally (in Australia) but I've purchased most of my Blu-ray / HD-DVD from Amazon US as there can be a considerable price saving (up to half price).
Title: Re: If you're not in the U.S, do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: NickM on June 15, 2008, 07:40:05 am: Quote from: Craig on June 14, 2008, 09:39:04 am
As long as they're under £18 they don't attract a customs charge.

I buy most of my CDs at home ( Singapore ). Single CDs are between GBP10 and GBP12. Double CD sets are between GBP15 and GBP18.

DVDs are bought form Amazon US and shipped because of selection and editing. Around 4 or 5 DVDs compensates in cheapness for the internatinoal shipping charge.
Title: Re: Living outside the U.S? Do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: LBWood on June 15, 2008, 09:14:06 am: eBay. Many sellers will ship CDs overseas without the jewel cases for a reduced rate. Shipping rates are also generally reduced for additional items added to an order.

Before I got into eBay I was putting in a big order with Amazon every time I visited home. For cash and carry, the big retail chains can be pretty pretty competitive too (Best Buy and HMV).

I will only pay for non-compressed, non-DRM music. Does anyone know of a source for **legal** downloads of FLAC or WAV files, available wherever you live on the planet?
Title: Re: Living outside the U.S? Do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: Qythyx on June 16, 2008, 10:39:06 pm: I usually buy my CDs from amazon.com or Amazon Japan. To be efficient I tend to keep a list of CDs I want and when that list gets to 20ish I'll do a big order. I start with trying to find which are available from Amazon Japan versus US and how much and then decide which site to order from. Basically I just create a shopping cart in both stores with all of the items and see what the totals get up to (taking into account international shipping from the US, of course).

The problem often becomes 1) a CD is not available from the Japan site or 2) it is available, but is labeled an IMPORT and is therefore very expensive. Often I'll end up ordering with a few of my desired CDs skipped due to availability or price.

Depending on travel, I've also sometimes ordered from Amazon US and had them delivered to a US address that I'll be visiting.

I'll also second the other comments that the US' perspective on international markets is quite niave. Considering how often the US complains about its trade deficit it's amazing how many hoops they artificially create that end up limiting international customers from buying US goods.
Title: Re: Living outside the U.S? Do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: JohnM on June 17, 2008, 12:27:47 am: We usually buy our cds locally but some times we order from the US, CDUniverse that is. And I have also bought downloads directly from the artist.
Fresh cds here in Finland usually go for about 20 euros

BR John, Finland
Title: Re: Living outside the U.S? Do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: rpalmer68 on June 17, 2008, 01:31:43 am: I purchase locally here in Sydney or from Amazon.com.

I also subscribe to Audio Lunchbox.

Richard
Title: Re: Living outside the U.S? Do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: Raphoune on June 17, 2008, 07:02:16 am: Amazon.com for me too. Some CD's are really much cheaper than in France, even with the shipping cost.
Title: Re: Living outside the U.S? Do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: damian_pentney on June 17, 2008, 08:04:08 am: Real music CD's (ie the actual disc)...I buy from secondspin.com as they ship anywhere
Title: Re: Living outside the U.S? Do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: DonP on June 18, 2008, 01:48:55 pm: Of course there is no point in paying international shipping for something that can be purchased locally.

However, in reply to Cmagic's posting above, Caiman sold me some DVD sets that were cheap bootlegs from China that do not play well (some not at all - one is even blank!) on any of my drives or players. They insisted before and after the purchase that the disks were legitimate and refused to refund the purchase so it is advisable to beware of a seller who is not in a European or U.S. country and to avoid those where there is no recourse! Even though the purchases were through Amazon.com, they turned a blind eye to the problem. I hate to have to say that but it seems to be too true.

Don
Title: Re: Living outside the U.S? Do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: JimH on June 20, 2008, 06:24:24 pm: Thanks for all the feedback on this. It looks like Amazon gets used a lot. Not a surprise, I guess. It was interesting to find out more about the other sites.

We're scratching our heads, and investigating whether we can get a direct link to a wholesaler who can do worldwide fulfillment. Super CD (http://www.sdcd.com) looks interesting.

It's apparent that more than a few people see a CD as a simple way to get lossless files.
Title: Re: Living outside the U.S? Do you buy CD's from the U.S.? Where?
Post by: hit_ny on June 20, 2008, 08:00:25 pm: Quote from: JimH on June 20, 2008, 06:24:24 pm
It's apparent that more than a few people see a CD as a simple way to get lossless files.

Also comes with that old world feature

resale value