From: larry@csccat.cs.com (Larry Spence)
Newsgroups: rec.music.misc,rec.music.marketplace
Subject: Re: Prices:  Noteworthy vs. Tower
Date: 24 Jul 92 01:12:22 GMT
Organization: Computer Support Corporation,  Dallas,Texas

[rec.music.marketplace added to Newsgroups:]

In article <4FDcoB1w164w@admiral.uucp> davot@admiral.uucp (David ottenstein) writes:
>Noteworthy has great prices.  But, if it ain't major label, Noteworthy 
>doesn't carry it.  Thus, where to turn?  Anyone care to offer a 
>comparison between Noteworthy and Tower?

It seems to depend on the individual Tower to some extent.  Sometimes the
one in Austin (the nearest one, sniff, sob) has better prices than the one
in NYC, but that's true for most Austin/NYC price comparisons.  If you mean
mail order from Tower, that's not cheap.  I don't have a Pulse magazine in
front of me, but last time I looked it was not a good deal after adding in
shipping, etc.  There are exceptions, however: the latest ROIR catalog offers 
some of the ROIR tapes on CD for either $15 (domestic CD) or $20 (import
CD), whereas the import ROIR CDs at Tower are $14.99.  But there's no way
to know about these without visiting a Tower, in which case you wouldn't
be mail ordering.  I don't think you can get a Tower person on the phone
and just "browse" prices online, but I haven't tried.  Tower store prices
are certainly not as good as NW prices in most cases -- after all, they
do have the overhead of a store, advertising, Russ Solomon, etc. %) 

My experience has been that if NW, CD Connection, or Micro Marketplace
doesn't have it, you're probably going to have to keep several smaller cata-
logs handy and hope one of them has it.  Unfortunately, many of the "special-
ists" know they've got you by the short and curlies and charge inflated prices.
A good example is the Rounder Records (or is it Roundup?) catalog -- a good-
sized catalog of folk, blues, reggae, world music, etc.  But the prices suck! 
I can often get the same discs for less at gawdawful places like Sound Whore-
house.  The Blows (er, Bose) catalog is another big loser.  Dutch East India 
is just OK -- they have a fair range of indie stuff, but their prices are 
about as bad as (Dallas) store prices.  The best strategy, IMHO, is to send
off for about ten different catalogs and hope you can find what you're look-
ing for.  While some operations like Wayside have OK prices (usually around 
$13 + $1 shipping per disc for 3-4 discs), they're not mouth-wateringly cheap 
(for CDs) like NW, and each specializes in a narrow area of music.  CD 
Connection and Micro Marketplace do seem to have some indie stuff that NW 
doesn't stock (e.g., some 4AD imports), so make sure to check them and the 
other CDs-by-modem places first.  Addresses and phone numbers are in the Music 
Mail Order posting that shows up here periodically (it's probably on Dave 
Datta's ftp server too, but I couldn't swear to that).

I always keep an eye out for direct mail order from the label.  Often, in
magazines like Option, an advertised CD will be available for around $10-13
from the record company, if it's a small indie.  For example, Touch & Go and 
Knitting Factory Works will sell any of their releases by mail order for a 
flat $12-13 per disc.  SST is having a $10 sale, but they're scumbags IMHO,
so I refuse to buy from them. %)

Has anyone ordered from the CD Bar?  They have an ad in Option, and a 1-800
number.  What about CD Research?

I have no connection with any of the above, other than being a customer.

-- 
Larry Spence
larry@cs.com
uunet!csccat!larry or sun!texsun!csccat!larry