online music shopping

[sumphreak]

i know this has been discussed many times before on these pages, but i making this request for info with a view to creating a feature on ITM about places to but music online....

i would like people to send me lists of sites that provide online music shopping, with the following information please:

* site address
* reliability
- do they get your order right,
- does it arrive in the time they promise (or if no promise, how long does it take?)
- how reasonable are the prices for what you get?

with thanks in advance

**please email to me**

sumphreak
(itm's perth editor)

[brett--]

Hey sumphreak,

Sorry I'm lazy and can't be bothered logging into my web based mail and sending you an e-mail so I'll type my reply here for you.

--
Site: http://www.tuneinn.com/
Reliability: Great. I've only had 1-2 problems max with ordering through them, and they were fixed up with an e-mail to them (they already knew of the problem and were working on a fix).
Do they get the order right: Yes, 99.5% of the time. I've only had 1 or 2 problems and that was in relation to there being no stock available as to what I wanted.
Arrive on time: They specify 7-10 days on Standard post (cheapest post). All my orders have arrived within this time frame and never once has an order been late.
Reasonable prices: Very! Most 12" cost $12-13 (AUS dollars) compared to around $19-20 (AUS dollars) if you buy at "most" local shops in Melbourne. Money I save on 12"s goes towards shipping and I end up being even (money wise).

Site: http://www.juno.co.uk
Reliability: Awesome, "never" had any problems with their site.
Do they get the order right: Yep, most of the time. They sometimes do not inform you if they don't have a 12" in stock and then you have to chase them once your order has arrived and only then do they tell you that what you wanted was out of stock. This has only happened twice from memory, so it doesn't aggravate me to much!
Arrive on time: They don't quote a time in which you get your order, although all but one of mine has made it within 2 weeks. Once it took 3 weeks but it came via Germany so I guess they had to include something from Germany before sending it on.
Reasonable prices: Same as above, around $12-13 for a 12". You can even get double 12" for $19-20 and triple 12" for around $30-35. I picked up Code Red 10 (triple pack) for $30 (AUS dollars) when I saw it in Sanity in Melbourne for $63!!!!!

Site: http://www.recordstore.co.uk/
Reliability: Only used them once and they were fine, no problems what so ever.
Do they get the order right: Well, in the confirmation e-mail you get they don't stipulate what they send you. Which can sometimes be a nuisance, as one of the records I wanted was not sent and only after I enquired where it was did they let me know what the problem was.
Arrive on time: From memory they don't quote a time to send, but I got my order in around 10 days.
Reasonable prices: For what I was buying, I thought the prices were very reasonable (around $14-15 AUS dollars a 12").

Big advantage: Getting releases before they reach Australia sometimes by a week, 2 weeks and sometimes releases I've got online overseas "never" make it to Australian shops. Also being able to shop from home or work for records is quite handy as well.

Hope this can be of some help to you sumphreak. :)

[brad]

Nice one Brett, that covers off my online shopping experiences as well. Agree with your comments on Tune Inn and Juno. I don't have any experience with recordstore.co.uk though.