Bargains

[MLF]

With all these cancellations, looks like the only winner is Mrs MLF(or MLF himself depending upon which way one looks at it!)

Sadly I am very much the loser here!

[Mark Meldon]

I'm sorry to have been the bearer of bad news but, you guessed it, my two orders have been cancelled, too; so I was right. We have been here before down the years, I recall sitting up for hours one evening a few years ago greedily ordering a load of stuff from "Abundatrade" all of which was cancelled.

I have learnt one important thing, however. That's that whoever "dodax" "nagiry" or whatever funny name they come up with are, they seemingly don't actually hold physical stock and that they are always based overseas. The thing to note is that where a marketplace seller chooses to have Amazon fulfil the order this means that physical stock is in a warehouse owned and operated by Amazon itself. They don't control the prices set by resellers and this resulted in a happy experience for me back in the Spring when one business made significant (but not silly) offers. I picked up a bundle of discs for between 19p and £3 each, all new and all delivered.

So, ignore the "funny names" and don't procrastinate if you see a CD for a low price when fulfilled by Amazon.

I've noticed of late that the Amazon "price search" facility is barely functional and has anyone else noticed consumer reviews being linked to absolutely the wrong discs?

To be fair, we all knew prices impossible and, after all, how many box sets have we got where we will never get round to listening to all of the discs!

[MLF]

To be fair, we all knew prices impossible and, after all, how many box sets have we got where we will never get round to listening to all of the discs!

Well said.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

after all, how many box sets have we got where we will never get round to listening to all of the discs!

Before today, I'd've said "none" (although there are one or two that I might never play again from the Wagner bargain box!) - but I've just taken delivery of the Harmoniua Mundi Sacred Music box. It's just possible that, having put the first CD with the Bernstein Mass on to see if the work is as bad as I remember, I'll take it off after twenty minutes or so, and it'll never see the light of day again.

[Mark Meldon]

I'm ABSOLUTELY as guilty as anyone else as far as "boxsetitis" is concerned. Will I ever be really be able to truthfully say that I have played all of my big pink Rubinstein set, the Brilliant Classics Bach Edition, Yo-Yo Ma's 30-years outside the box (it was very tempting and I fell), the Membran Furtwangler box, the RCA Toscanini Box (well, maybe!), the Vivarte box, Hyperion's Schubert Lieder? I rather doubt it.

Right now I'm playing a CD from the Beethoven Brilliant Classics box (the one with all of the ex-Philips recordings) with Clara Haskil and Arthur Grumiaux playing Beethoven's Violin Sonata in A minor Op.23, and I'm beginning to think "Well, you know, this is really sufficient and beautifully played; why did I just order the Faust/Melnikov set last night?"

Maybe it boils down to deciding whether its the music or just being a CD collector. As I know I'll be dead one day, it just has to be the music!

[hafod]

I've noticed of late that the Amazon "price search" facility is barely functional and has anyone else noticed consumer reviews being linked to absolutely the wrong discs?

The 'price search' facility now appears to focus solely on new material with precedence given to Amazon stock and if Amazon don't stock it then it reverts to the cheapest new marketplace seller stock. Used items are ignored and only appear when no new item is listed. This means that a 1p item from a marketplace seller which is also available new from Amazon for say £10 will never show up. I have saved £s since this search change was introduced at the expense of Amazon as it is now too much effort to root out the penny bargains. If Amazon thinks people will buy more of their expensive stuff as a result then they don't know their customers. A clear shot in the foot. A further annoyance was the enforced closure of the Pricenoia website making it now very time consuming to compare prices across the range of Amazon sites. Now I rarely bother and as a result again buy less from them. The consolation is knowing that the tax dodger has shot itself in the foot again and my pile of unplayed material is now diminishing.

[Bryn]

So far, 2 of my amazon.co.uk marketplace orders have been cancelled (the Abbado and Piano boxes) and 2 (the Sony Wagner and Wand boxes) are shown as being prepared for dispatch (we'll see). A further German marketplace order has been cancelled (the Perahia box). The Gould box from an amazon.it seller is also currently shown as being prepared for dispatch. I'll believe it when I see it.

[hafod]

Just had an email from Nagiry trading on AmEs marketplace saying that the Bach/Gould, Perahia, Vivarte and Living Stereo V2 have been despatched via DHL. I ran the email through the translator just to make sure. Two of these (Vivarte and Perahia) are Christmas presents for friends and I added the Gould simply to try once again after over a decade to see if I can discern what all the fuss is about despite the vocal obligato. This of course assumes that I have become more tolerant with the passing years.

[EdgeleyRob]

Does anyone on here ever think that maybe they have no need to buy more cds,and stick with what they have ?
I tried recently,then came the complete Weinberg string quartets.
I had to have the Rozhdestvensky RVW symphonies too.
The new Bax/Andrew Davis cd has arrived.
Now I'm going to stick,I think,or maybe not.

[Bryn]

Does anyone on here ever think that maybe they have no need to buy more cds,and stick with what they have ?
I tried recently,then came the complete Weinberg string quartets.
I had to have the Rozhdestvensky RVW symphonies too.
The new Bax/Andrew Davis cd has arrived.
Now I'm going to stick,I think,or maybe not.

[cloughie]

Does anyone on here ever think that maybe they have no need to buy more cds,and stick with what they have ?
I tried recently,then came the complete Weinberg string quartets.
I had to have the Rozhdestvensky RVW symphonies too.
The new Bax/Andrew Davis cd has arrived.
Now I'm going to stick,I think,or maybe not.

edge, the only way you'll do it is by not logging on to this board and if you do that we'll miss out on the footy wisdom!

[Petrushka]

Does anyone on here ever think that maybe they have no need to buy more cds,and stick with what they have ?.

The head says 'yes' but the heart says 'no'. With many hundreds of CDs on my shelves (and on the floor etc) the stark reality is that, given a likely life span of, say, 86 health permitting, it would not be possible to play all of what I have now assuming I started at the beginning and went on to the end. Working full-time means even less time to listen.

At present, for example, I've still got 4 Ring cycles unheard!

[Roehre]

Does anyone on here ever think that maybe they have no need to buy more cds,and stick with what they have ?.

Yes

I try. But I am sure I'll fail.

That's why I don't do resolutions but one: I don't do resolutions.

[Dave2002]

So far, 2 of my amazon.co.uk marketplace orders have been cancelled (the Abbado and Piano boxes) and 2 (the Sony Wagner and Wand boxes) are shown as being prepared for dispatch (we'll see). A further German marketplace order has been cancelled (the Perahia box). The Gould box from an amazon.it seller is also currently shown as being prepared for dispatch. I'll believe it when I see it.

I did a quick check on the sites. Two of my prospective orders are definitely shown as being cancelled - the Zinman and Perahia sets. Two other orders seem to have disappeared - Living Stereo 2 and Julian Bream. I have not had any emails - maybe these are being filtered somewhere.

I have wondered if there's some form of scam going on, but I can't figure out what it might be. Fakes, maybe?

Perhaps it really just is a snafu - for want of a less polite expression, in which case give the putative vendors the benefits of some doubts maybe.

PS: There is now some comment on the original notification site - http://bons-plans-classique.blogspot.co.uk/

[gurnemanz]

Does anyone on here ever think that maybe they have no need to buy more cds,and stick with what they have ?
I tried recently,then came the complete Weinberg string quartets.
I had to have the Rozhdestvensky RVW symphonies too.
The new Bax/Andrew Davis cd has arrived.
Now I'm going to stick,I think,or maybe not.

With a very large collection, I have cut back to essentials, resisting duplication of works and mainly going for new discoveries. The latest albums by rock artists I like (not all that many) can easily be justified such as the marvellous new Lucinda Williams ... as can interesting new "concept" albums or recital discs such as Anna Prohaska's soldier's songs on "Behind the Lines" which I have just ordered and am eagerly waitng to receive.