Online Classical-CD Stores FAQ v61

Archive-name: music/classical/online-cd-stores
Posting-frequency: monthly
Last-modified: Monday, 2 June, 2003.
Version: 61
URL: <http://indigo.ie/~pamolo/faq.html>

------------------------------

1. Table of Contents

  1. Table of Contents
  2. Introduction and Intent
  3. List of Online CD stores, including uniform resource locator
  4. CD prices and stock
  5. Shipping and other charges
  6. Overall recommendation and other info
  7. Home pages of Music labels
  8. Acknowledgments

Main changes since revision 60: Added entries for Belcanto, 
Magicflute and the Organ Historical Society. Added a couple of more 
comments on Berkshire and A&B. Corrected a few typos!

Please keep in mind that as time goes by, some data, especially 
related to prices, is becoming more and more outdated. I think it is 
becoming very demanding to keep this info updated, so I suggest that 
you take it as it is. I am not going to check every month the prices, 
since it would be an endless task.

Last updated: Monday, 2 June, 2003.

------------------------------

2. Introduction and Intent

This FAQ contains all information you need to know about Online CD stores
which deal with classical recordings. Since the question of which one
offers the best prices/bargains/selection, etc. comes up fairly frequently
in some newsgroups (particularly rec.music.classical.recordings) I have
decided to summarize in this document the salient details of each one of
the most useful stores.
Please note that my aim is not to provide the most comprehensive list of
sites. For that there are other sites with hundreds of links. I want to
share only information which is relevant to serious lovers of classical
recordings, including pricing, shipping details, feedback and
recommendations (provided by actual customers of the sites).

As an added bonus, I have added the web URLs of all Classical Labels which
have a home page.

**** Disclaimer ****
This article is provided as is without any express or implied warranties.
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information
contained in this FAQ, the maintainer and contributors assume no
responsibility for errors or omissions or for damages resulting from the
use of the information contained herein.

------------------------------

Please, note that I have no longer the time to convert the 
HTML-version of the FAQ into a plain text file. Moreover, this is, by 
its nature, a list aimed at people who want to purchase CDs online 
using a web browser. Thus, it makes more sense to have the FAQ as an 
actual web page, rather than as a text-only document.
Please refer to the URL above for the location of the FAQ. I will 
keep posting this reminder to the official repositories and 
newsgroups, so that you will always be able to find out where the FAQ 
can be found.

I hope you will enjoy the list and don't spend too much money on CDs... ;-)

Paolo