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I'll second that as well ! + If you pre-order and the price drops you get the lower price and if the price rises you pay the original price at the time of the order .

Also http://www2.cd-wow.com/ might be worth a look .In the UK LOST was split into two parts each being around £30. From cd-wow I got the entire series 1 for £32(ish) while it was still being shown on UK tv.. Nice to be able to watch it without the adverts :)

For hardware purchases I use the same as you.

For music and games (and sometimes books) I use play.com and CD-WOW, which both have free delivery.

For books I generally still use 1-2-3 PriceCheck, which does a handy comparison of a dozen or so book stores, including Amazon. It also includes P&P in the comparison, to avoid sneaky charges.

They still do CDs for £8.99 it was a legal technicality that they have now over come and for those who think that the companies shouldn't do lower margin CDs everyone I know who uses CD wow buys a lot more than they used to from the shops. That means me and some of my friends and family are putting more money in the pockets of the record companies via CD wow than we did in the stores, talk about trying to shot yourself in the foot.

CDwow has it.

Yes, it's a complete rip-off.

Why would I buy a virtual CD for 7.99 when I can get the real thing for 8.99 including postage?

Buy a CD online, then.

I'd prefer to convert music into my desired format, so I will continue to purchase physical media.

That's really not that much cheaper than a "real" single... and you only have to look at a site like to see that pricing for "real" albums is already less than 9.99!

CD-Wow for your CDs.
Ebuyer for your computer kit.
Holborn Books for your computer books.
Click Ink for your generic ink cartridges.
Cahoot for your banking.
Ebay. No explanation needed!
Netto to check out what deals they've got on. Shortcut to Netto's offers.

They're primarily a WMP9 shop, but I believe at least some of the resellers use mp3's, which should work on your ipod.

iTunes itself is coming to europe, in theory the first half of this year; but it's anyone's guess as to when they'll actually launch.

Personally speaking, I prefer to still buy CD's, as I get to choose the rip quality (high quality ogg's for my PC, 128vbr mp3 for my flash mp3 player).

I just refuse to buy the corrupt disks, and stick to the smaller labels, especially the indie's. If you do want to import (cheap) CD's, I can personally recommend CDBaby for non-label music, and cd-wow are insanely cheap for more well known artists.

I have just sent an email to CD Wow to tell them that they have lost my custom until they reverse this decision and tell the BPI where to get off. Let them know what you think, there's a feedback form on their website.

You doubt he sees any additional income based on DVD sales? What planet are you living on? Just look at all they work they put into throughout the entire process just to ensure that they had the extended editions and all the bonus material. Do you think the extended edition sets would show the care and attention they do if he wasn't getting something out of them. I even remember him saying that it was part of the plan from the outset.

I'm not suggesting that there is any real conspiracy, all you have to do is listen to what they say and then wait until November 18th until you buy a DVD of it. Of course then you have to go to your local cinema which is showing all the extended editions in the run up to the final film release. Then you have to go back in a years time to spend a day at the cinema (maybe 14 hours if they give you an hour between films) watching all 3 extended editions on the big screen. I don't care about all of this though, as it is the right thing to do! If they released 4 hour films straight off, they would alienate a huge part of their cinema audience who wouldn't be willing to sit in a cinema that long (and how many cinemas would show it). Lots of those same people will watch it on DVD though as they can pause it at will and have "intermissions".

What I would have prefferred though is if they had gone for 6 films (yes, I am nuts) and gotten them all down to 2-3 hour films. But really it is not a conspiracy, just a shrewd decision that I think actually suits his material well. It would have been nicer if he had skipped the short DVD releases and just released extended editions from which you could view the original version but so be it.... it wasn't like anyone who is going to buy a DVD (except for as presents, but at least Christmas is after the Extended Editions are released) is not going to know an extended edition is coming. Of course, that didn't stop me getting the short version on DVD as a present :-(

What does really get to me though is this:

• Amazon.com: $25.99
• Amazon.co.uk: $40.23

Anyone who shops online at HMV.co.uk is crazy. Try Play.com or CD-WOW.com if you're a UK consumer shopping online.

CD-WOW concentrates on more popular music (not just mainstream) and doesn't have either item but Play.com has your Josie and the Pussycats CD at 9.99 pounds and the DVD at 6.99 pounds. So why you'd ever pay over twice as much for either item is beyond me.

Seriously, only an idiot would shop at HMV UK's online store. With a few exceptions, its prices are set to match those in its stores, so people who want to know how much a CD, DVD or whatever will cost can browse the site before they head to their local HMV.

Pointing out that HMV.co.uk is expensive is as revolutionary as saying "the sky is blue" or "it's cold in the North Pole". Similarly, using it as a comparison shopping example ("hey, look at how expensive everything is here in Britain!") is equally stupid, as you've picked an expensive retailer to start with, failed to point out that VAT (sales tax) of 17.5% is included in those prices, etc.

...you have to remember who their target audience is for this venture.

The target audience certainly isn't the more technical or internet-savvy PC or Mac user (the disc is dual format), it's the PC or Mac user who hasn't used their machine for much more than word processing, light browsing and email.

The kind of people who are wary of buying from websites like CD-Wow.com, Play.com, etc who offer great prices simply because they don't recognise the brands that they're dealing with are far more likely to buy something from a site backed by a brand (The Sunday Times) that they are familiar and comfortable with, respect and with which they possibly have a life-long affinity. In that respect, the CD serves its purpose.

Don't for a second be under any illusion that the CD is aimed at the typical Slashdot reader. A newspaper unlike a website can't differentiate between a nethead or a newbie, and as there are more people at the newbie end of the scale then the nethead one it is natural for The Sunday Times to pitch its offering at the less technical end of the PC and Mac market.

Remember, this isn't an addition to attract people who know one end of a PCI card from the other, it's an addition to attract floating readers to this particular broadsheet newspaper as opposed to the ones next to it on the shelves.

• You require a Windows machine with Windows Media Player 9. That presumably rules out all Mac and Linux users ?
• Compression is used so it won't be as good quality as a CD.
• You need a broadband connection really to make regular use of the service.
• It sounds like there is some form of DRM (press release is vague about it).
• You don't get any artwork/booklet save for a small JPEG screenshot of the front cover.
• Albums cost 7.99 pounds to download, whereas I can buy a CD (higher quality, artwork, no DRM) for 8.99 pounds from CD WOW!.
• I like solo female singer-songerwriters - good luck on finding Nanci Griffith, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Sam Brown or Shawn Colvin on there. And no sign of The Beatles (unless you count a covers band !) on there of course.

Unless the price of SACD's comes down extremely rapidly, they will simply fail - you can't play them on normal CD players, they cost twice as much at the moment, they have some sort of DRM included and the range is very limited (looks like more back catalogue stuff than new stuff to me). It's like the pre-recorded Mini Disc (which still aren't cheaper than CD's !) debacle all over again...

• Cheaper DVDs.
• Released 3-6 months before the rest of the world.
• Less censorship (UK has a habit both for theatrical and DVD releases of censoring movies to lower their rating and hence sell to a wider audience).
• Often more/better features than other DVD regions.

Luckily, thanks to the Internet and most DVD player manufacturers, savvy UK customers can:

• Unlock a particular region (or make it "any" region) via a remote control hack - see somewhere like DVD Reviewer.
• Buy US or Canadian DVDs on the Internet. I recommend DVD Pricecheck - select regions 1 and 2 [sometimes it is actually cheaper to buy region 2 !], type in the title and search for it. CD WOW! has most new DVDs at 14.99 pounds or less and play.com has a wider selection, although prices aren't quite as good as CD WOW!
• Boycott UK stores that sell new releases for 18-20 pounds...

One thing that's interesting is that UK stores such as HMV, W.H Smith, Virgin etc. do not stock Region 1 disks in their UK outlets. No doubt it's because they would be released earlier, cost less, have better content. etc. etc.

BTW, I've never been charged VAT or import duty on any Region 1 DVDs I've bought online and had shipped to the UK - heck, I've just pre-ordered Monsters Inc. 2-disc set from Canada via DVD Soon at a silly price of something around 11 pounds (including postage) - any bets that will be retailing at 20-22 pounds in UK stores ?

And delivery from Hong Kong doesn't seem to take too long.

cd-wow

(no, I don't work for them!) who are a UK based company who seem to parallel-import from Europe. They have the top 75 at £8.99 each, including VAT and delivery. I've bought stuff from them, and they seem to be straight up. I'm hoping they will start to stock DVDs soon, or that some other company will follow their lead and parallel import DVDs. I think that the price policies are ridiculous considering audio tapes are available for around £8-10. It must now be way cheaper to duplicate CDs than audio cassettes considering the volumes they ship and the complexity of manufacture.