Recommendations of online vendors?
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I don’t think I have ever paid any real “collector’s price” on a soundtrack CD… I remember back in the 1990s some crazy auctions on (the then comparatively new) eBay, where CDs sold for hundreds or in a few cases over a thousand dollars. Those were legendary discussions in rec.music.movies. I still have a printed film music “pricing” guide from around that time. I have only ever paid for what the CD would have cost new more or less anyway. The very few CDs I absolutely wanted to have and initially missed (like Ennio Morricone’s THE ISLAND) I traded for something else later on.
I would have paid $25 for FUTUREWORLD now, as it belongs to a special type of film score (it’s among film scores I initially taped of the TV, scores that got me interested in film music to begin with), so I’d love to have it.Yes, I remember those times. Poledouris’ CHERRY 2000 was one. Steiner’s THE CAINE MUTINY another. Went for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.
In Germany, there is Medimops, where you can find good deals on used CDs, with free shipping (in Germany) when you order a certain amount, but I have not checked out their international shipping.
I just checked out their site. You can indeed find some deals there, if you’re just browsing randomly for titles. Alas, I could only find two of the titles on my want list to an acceptable price (most of the others were sold out, or priced too high).
You’re lucky to have this in Germany, because you get free shipping for a minimum order of “only” €19. Meanwhile, up here in the dark corner of the world, I’ll have to pay €8 per shipment, PLUS €2.50 per item. So I would need to buy a lot for that to make sense. And then I don’t know if they’re part of VOEC, or if I have to pay customs on top when it arrives.
Haven’t bought anything there yet as it is a bit cumbersome as you cannot really search by composer as they are rarley labeled…
That’s one of the most annoying things about music tagging “in the wild”… it’s totally inconsistent, and you cannot often find what you are looking for… many tags are wrongly or not at all applied, so that you cannot actually find what you are searching for. More than once I’ve looked for albums on streaming and did not find them, thinking they were not there, when they were just wrongly tagged.
I think the Medimops search function works reasonably well. I’m just annoyed that so many titles on my want list are unavailable. But probably need to check back regularly.
A question to our three resident German members Malte, Nick and Geratewohl — would any of you be willing to help me with a Medimops experiment? That is, I send some CDs to you (making use of their ‘free shipping within Germany for orders above €19’ offer), and you send them on to me? It would be a little trouble for you: It means receive the CDs, remove the jewel cases (unless they’re digipak), put the CDs and inserts back in the same padded envelope, glue a piece of white paper on it, write my address on it instead, take it to the post office/post-in-store, put a customs sticker on it (marked ‘gift’) and ship it off?
If I’m reading Deutsche Post’s website correctly, the shipping would be either €3.30 or €6.50.
I would do the same for you on my end, if there’s anything you’re looking for in Norway. And if not, I’ll have to repay the favour some other way. Maybe send a free CD to you at a later time, I don’t know.
We can discuss it privately, but if it’s too big an ask, no worries. I just had to ask. 🙂
Hi Thor, I can do that. If I understand you correctly, you want to get over the “free shipping in Germany” amount, order CDs from Medimops to my place, then have me send them to Norway, since shipping without Jewel boxes etc. is cheaper? Though I just hope there won’t be a need for returns or anything that “breaks”.
Seems ou have your partner in crime already for the first experiment. The outcome will be interesting! 😉
If you’re keeping the box in which the CDs were shipped from Medimops, Thor, will there be anything to save on shipping by dropping the jewel cases?
I don’t know if they send via box or padded envelope (hopefully the latter), but I was thinking reuse so Nick doesn’t have to buy a new envelope. But if he/I have to buy a new padded envelope, that’s okay. They’re not that expensive.
There’s obviously some to save on shipping by removing the jewel cases, so it gets a lower weight. Would be great if it was below 500 grams and €3.30, but €6.50 for up to 1 kg isn’t bad either. If I buy, say, 5 CDs from them and have them sent directly to Norway instead, it’s more than €20! Monstrous.
OK, order on the way, Nick!
Medimops didn’t accept Mastercard or VISA (due to a technical issue?), but Paypal worked.
Sadly, I could only find THREE items on my want list there: John Williams’ VIOLIN CONCERTO 2, Rammstein’s ZEIT and Jean Michel Jarre’s AMAZONIA. So had to add a few more items I don’t really need in order to make it worthwhile, financially: Hans Zimmer’s GREEN CARD and POINT OF NO RETURN, and Vangelis’ 1492 and OCEANIC. Albums that are very dear to me, but which I inexplicably never owned on CD.
Total? €55. Now comes the exciting part. Will they arrive at Nick’s place? What will the shipping be to Norway? Will the Norwegian customs office refuse to accept the “gift” marker and toll me anyway?
Please tune in to next week’s exciting episode of CREATIVE WAYS TO CIRCUMVENT CRAZY SHIPPING COSTS IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY.
Lots of obscure stuff here. Feel free to remove if webmaster so wishes.
I moved Jon’s suggestion here, so it’s a little more “buried”. There isn’t really any rule here about not discussing or bringing up bootlegs, it’s usually fine. But one should perhaps keep the sales bit somewhat under-the-radar.
Anyways, looking through some of the titles on that site, there’s no saying what the quality of those are, if they are audio rips with sound effects or whatever. So very risky. Plus, many of them have perfectly fine OSTs already, as far as I can tell. Prices are a bit high, couldn’t find any “deals”. And no info on shipping. But if you’re in the market for those kinds of things, I suppose it’s a valuable resource.
Wish there were an online soundtrack store like that, selling REGULAR used CDs cheaply with low international shipping. Or, put differently, wish we had something like moviemusic.com over here in Europe.
There isn’t really any rule here about not discussing or bringing up bootlegs, it’s usually fine.
Sure, boots were a thing since I started with scores and who is without guilt may throw the first stone. Selling to me crosses sort of a line though…
Or, put differently, wish we had something like moviemusic.com over here in Europe.
musicbox coming nearest probably… But Europe is not an entity like the USA are and probably never will…
musicbox coming nearest probably… But Europe is not an entity like the USA are and probably never will…
I wasn’t aware that they sold used CDs. I had a look now, and prices are very steep. Plus €9.50 shipping for 1-2 CDs. And I don’t think they’re in VOEC.
So not really an alternative, as far as I’m concerned.
I should perhaps have specified that I wish there were a soundtrack store like that in NORWAY, LOL! Yeah, like that’s ever gonna happen.
I should perhaps have specified that I wish there were a soundtrack store like that in NORWAY, LOL! Yeah, like that’s ever gonna happen.
You could open one. 🙂
I am afraid, you wouldn’t become rich, but make a lot of Norwegian soundtrack fans happy.But in Germany often MBR with their high shipping costs is cheaper than the German soundtrack corner with their high disc prices.
I am afraid, you wouldn’t become rich, but make a lot of Norwegian soundtrack fans happy.
Depends also on how many “a lot of Norwegian soundtrack fans” actually are 😉
But in Germany often MBR with their high shipping costs is cheaper than the German soundtrack corner with their high disc prices.
I should re-compare that. My impression was always that CSC it is quite similar once you (easily) reach the 100,- free shipping. From Quartet directly I almost alway sonly order when they have a sale for example.
For example, the new ROCKY II expansion is 27,95 Euro at MBR and 36,95 Euro at CSC.
For the european titles the difference is not so big, but for american it often is.
I find Music Box Records great, I can highly recommend them and usually order there over CSC. I sometimes have the feeling CSC isn’t maintained all that well and up to date, and customer satisfaction is not a top priority. More than once I have ordered CDs there, where I was informed that they were not longer available (why then keep them in stock??), or that they had to be sent from abroad first (why not list that on the page?). It’s sometimes taken weeks for an order to arrive, even though they are in Germany, whereas Music Box Records usually takes days, even though it’s in France. So yeah, I usually chose Music Box Records over CSC for pricing, speed, and customer service.
For example, the new ROCKY II expansion is 27,95 Euro at MBR and 36,95 Euro at CSC.
But shipping of 1-2 CDs is 6,50 so that makes it “just” 2,50 Euro less. Not that huge but if you buy two it may fit. I think these lower rates are fairly new, 1 or 2 years ago that didn’t exist. And when you want more than 2 when shipping raises to 22,- Euro I guess you need to start to compare with the 100,- free shipping at CSC again…
I sometimes have the feeling CSC isn’t maintained all that well and up to date, and customer satisfaction is not a top priority. More than once I have ordered CDs there, where I was informed that they were not longer available (why then keep them in stock??), or that they had to be sent from abroad first (why not list that on the page?). It’s sometimes taken weeks for an order to arrive, even though they are in Germany, whereas Music Box Records usually takes days, even though it’s in France. So yeah, I usually chose Music Box Records over CSC for pricing, speed, and customer service.
CSC is basically a one man show (or two people according to recent update mails) and maybe even a side business and I think some titles they do stock but some they list but only order when someone actually wants them. I didn’t order any CDs from them (actaully not much in general) since end of 2024 and I never had any issue with what I ordered.
Musicbox surely is small but being label and their own shop with others as an extra they probably setup a bit differently (like Intrada maybe someone for orders only primarily).Did anyone ever use Intermezzo? I often read about them but since the site is Italian only basically… Yeah, I can use Google and since I had Latin once I do understand a few things but it is inconvenient.
Btw, I wished Lukas Kendall would run his CDs collection selling from Europe as then I probably would be a good customer…
CSC….that’s Chris’s Soundtrack Corner, right? Never used them, and for some reason I confuse it with Henk’s Soundtrack Corner or whatever the name was of that one-man outfit in the 90s and early 2000s.
And yes — it would be great if Lukas had a European division for his collection sales. Alas, he’s having enough problems finding a storage unit in LA, it seems.
CSC….that’s Chris’s Soundtrack Corner, right?
Yes!
And yes — it would be great if Lukas had a European division for his collection sales. Alas, he’s having enough problems finding a storage unit in LA, it seems.
He seems to be drowning in CDs. Looks like paradise in general 😉 I wonder how this all pays off though…
At least two times I had an unpleasant experience with CSC where I ordered an album at a good price, then they told me that this item is not orderable anymore and cancelled my order and a week later I saw the same album in their Specials section with three times the price.
Yes, the albums were out of print at the time. But if you offer it and you obviously have it in stock then it should get delivered. That might happen once. But twice?Indeed, sounds a bit “uncomfortable”. I can understand the business point of selling it at its worth but… I never had that but I only once had an album not available anymore when I tried to order it. But that was some years ago – I only switch to it when the Soundtrack Club closed its doors – and I didn’t look if it surfaced otherwise later…
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