By DAVID FOX
Every week students spend hours searching through racks of CDs at local music stores trying to find new releases and old favorites. Many students find it frustrating to drive from store to store and never find exactly what they are looking for.
But there are alternatives. The Minstrel Music Network www.m2n.com is an impressive online, full service discount music store. With over 250,000 individual albums listed in stock, it is easy to find what you are looking for. Even very rare and some local bands are listed in the MMN database.
The MMN page is very user-friendly and walks shoppers through the selection process step by step. Minstrel’s search engine is quick and makes the task of sorting through the huge inventory simple. The best part of the experience is feeling free to browse without any pressure to buy.
Minstrel’s list prices are competitive with warehouse style music stores and cheaper than most mall stores. The average price of a compact disc ranges from $11 to $17. Many albums are also sold on records, cassettes and mini-discs. Shipping and handling on any order over $15 is free anywhere in the country. Because Minstrel is based in Washington State, anyone who lives outside of Washington does not pay sales tax.
Like a regular music store, shoppers can sample a couple of songs before buying the album by downloading sample sound bytes. Cover art, performer notes, and hundreds of critical reviews help shoppers decide what to buy.
There are several other online music services available to consumers but I found all of them disappointing. CDNow is located at www.cdnow.com. This page is terribly slow to load and cumbersome to use. There are many glitches in the construction of the site itself and several icons did not work properly.
CDNow offers products at comparable prices to other online music stores, but unlike MMN, CDNow charges shipping and handling.
For members of the Columbia House compact disk club there is an online service located at www.columbiahouse.com This is a great service for anyone who is already a Columbia House member. It is much easier to find compact discs using Columbia’s search engine than by flipping through the tiny selection books Columbia House members receive in the mail. If you are not already a member of Columbia House, the site is set up so you can join if you wish.
But before you become obligated to any compact disc club, check out Minstrel. MMN does not force its patrons to sign any contracts or agreements in order to buy music. MMN also claims its overall prices are lower than any CD club, or other online music service.
