Columbia House

I've been a member for a long, long time, and until the last year, or maybe 18 months, I rarely bought anything. Prices were too high, and even their "sales" were too expensive, when you factored in shipping. Recently things have changed though. Is anyone else a member? For at least a year CH has offered as their default deal, "Buy one at 19.95 and get unlimited at 50% off." The prices are all standard SRPs, which are a couple of dollars higher than the store. They also have been regularly sweetening this deal, by offering free shipping as well, or an additional 10 to 15% off, or even removing the required 19.95 purchase in order to get the others 50% off. If you know how to work the system, so you actually don't need to pay for the most expensive item, you can actually do really well. (Find a box set/collection that only has 2 or 3 discs, and is just barely over the 19.95, and the online system will always count it as the highest item, even if you buy HD discs that are $35.)

The reason I post this here in the HD section, is that now this deal applies to HD as well! I bought a $20 set, and got 4 HD movies for $12 to $14 each - Blu and HD DVD. That's not bad.

[Post edited by interplanetaryspy on Apr 21, 2008]

They need to do something because the iPod and Zune (cheap downloads) are kickin' their ass! I purchased an 80gig Zune about a week ago, kicked it up a knotch and got some really nice BOSE ear phones, joined the Zune download site for $15 a month and now have close to 650 albums (8,389 songs). I almost feel guily, as if I'm ripping them off, but hey, you want your music cheap then this is the way to go.

[Post edited by Tim Raynor on Apr 21, 2008]

I bought a lot of CDs (and some DVDs) from Columbia House and BMG, and always found the best deal was to keep cancelling and then re-enrolling. They always phoned me about a month later with some kind of "we want you back" special promotion. It worked out to about $4 a CD including taxes and shipping, which was way cheaper than the deals they offered after I had fulfilled my membership commitment. I was going to join Columbia House for Blu-rays, but right now it doesn't look like you can get any Blu-rays when you first enroll. If they do offer that at some point, I would probably join up.

It certainly isn't a viable option for music, but for new DVDs, I haven't found anywhere cheaper, considering that this sale applies to ALL HD movies, not just the same Blus that keep getting unloaded on every sale (Casino Royale, Fifth Element, etc.). They don't have the best selection anywhere, but it's pretty reasonable.

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They don't have the best selection anywhere . . .

Biggest reason I dumped Columbia House and BMG a long . . . long time ago. That was half the battle! If they didn't have something you wanted you'd have to go out and get it else where. Therefore, you'd spend money for something they carried AND you'd end up in local retail place buying what they didn't carry. So, you're big savings just went into the crapper.

Why do you need to buy everything at the same place? If they have 40-50% of the Blu discs on the market, you might as well get them for $12, rather than go out and pay $25 or $30. Then you can pay $25 for the other discs you want elsewhere.

All I know about Columbia House is that I somehow manage to win $1,000,000 dollars from them at least twice a year. Or at least that's what the big envelope says. They go into my recycle box.

So you're saying that for 15 dollars a month you can fill your mp3 player with unlimited amounts of music?

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So you're saying that for 15 dollars a month you can fill your mp3 player with unlimited amounts of music?

If you own a Zune, yes! On your Zune software, click on the marketplace and that's where you find music to download, or just do a search. You have to get a Zune Pass first at $15 a month, or if you want to buy credits and pay for each song (which I don't suggest) you can do that as well. And with the $15 pass, you can download as much as you want at NO LIMIT! I filled mine up over the weekend with another 4,500 songs. I now have close to 300 artists and over 550 albums.

There is a minus, though. Not all artists have everything available for download. For example, if you're looking to stock up on a Beatles collection, forgetaboutit! You can't get any Beatles material for download, as I'm sure it has something to do with Micheal Jackson being a stingy a-hole! However, at least 90% of that artists out there are available, and the $15 a month is well worth it.



[Post edited by Tim Raynor on Apr 22, 2008]

Wow I now hate my Ipod. And i just bought it like 6 months ago