Music shopping in the comfort of home

by Adam Greenberg assistant a&e editor

Strolling into the local chain record store is likely to give most people a severe case of sticker-shock. CDs have skyrocketed to the wallet-draining price of around $20.

What other options are there?

Aside from giving up on music, there are a few other choices out there that can help avoid breaking the bank.

Record clubs have long offered attractive introductory offers, promising free CDs and requiring customers to make a certain number of regularly priced purchases.

However, many clubs are characterized by a policy of automatically sending their customers a "selection of the month" unless the customer previously sent in a response card indicating that they did not want it.

Annoying, right?

Realizing that many people did not want to deal with this hassle, Columbia House, a major mail-order service, established a record club called Play.

Play does not require its customers to fill out cards on a monthly basis and does not automatically ship unwanted products.

The current introductory special that Play is offering is 12 CDs for free. Buying one CD at a discounted price from the beginning will earn customers an additional free disc for a total of 14.

After joining the club, customers are obligated to buy six more titles, at regular price, in the next two years. Regular prices run between $12.98 and $16.98.

Columbia's chief competitor in the record club business is the BMG Music Service. The deal they offer to prospective members is to get seven CDs for free and then when another one is purchased at the regular price, the customer gets another four for free. The grand total is 12 CDs for the price of one. BMG's regular prices