I joined BMG music service a little more than 4 years ago. I guess I should note that I am actually a member of the Sound & Spirit music club, which is the Christian music division of BMG. But as far as I know, the rules are all the same. I actually didn't join BMG on the web either - I joined by filling out a postcard from an advertisement I found in a magazine.

One of the first things I found out was that I had to pay more than just the price of one cd, like the offer says. When I joined, the offer was "11 cd's for the price of 1". It explained that I would select 7 cd's for free, and then have to buy one at regular price (which is now almost $18). After I paid for it, I would get 3 more cd's for free. The offer also said that a shipping & handling charge would be added, but of course, it didn't tell me how much this shipping charge is. And that must be how they make their money.

For my first 7 free cd's, I paid $18.72 just for shipping. There's no way a box that size would cost so much to mail. And the shipping and handling charges have been raised by about 20 cents since then. Now the rate is $2.79 per cd. As soon as I received my cd's, I bought one at regular price to get it over with, which ended up costing me over $20. And later, when I received my last 3 free ones, I paid over $8 for shipping.

So don't be deceived by the offer. If you're thinking that only having to pay for one cd is going to cost you about $20, you're wrong. By the time you get all the cd's you've been promised in the offer, you'll have spent about $50. Now, even that isn't a bad deal, because it breaks down to about $4-$5 per cd, which is very good. I just want to warn those of you who are young and may not have a lot of cash on hand (I was 13 when I joined), so you don't end up getting into something that you don't have enough money to pay for. Fortunately, I had enough money at the time. Another thing to note is that the only ways to pay are by credit card or check. It's not a problem for most people, but if you're young it might be. Fortunately, my dad was willing to write checks for me if I paid him the money - so to the kids who might be reading this, make sure you have some kind of arrangement like that before you join!

The good:

I have enjoyed my membership for the most part. One of the most annoying things is replying to my featured selection each month. A popular new cd is selected by the editors, and if I don't want to buy it (at full price), I have to respond somehow (I believe the time period is 3-4 weeks). At first, I would simply mail in the reply card they sent me each month, and I always had plenty of time to send it in, and have never received a featured selection that I didn't want.

After I discovered their online store, I began replying to it online, which had been much more convenient, and saves postage too. I remember reading on the website that you can even choose to have your featured selection sent to you by e-mail instead of regular mail, but I've never done it that way, just because I'm afraid of not being able to get on the internet for an extended period of time, and somehow missing it.

Each month, I receive a catalog from the club, which contains a good selection of cd's, including all the latest ones. A few times a year, I also get a much more detailed catalog, which has many more selections in it - I usually keep that around until I get a new one, just in case I want to buy an 'older' cd, and can't find it in the newer catalogs.

When I first started out, they gave me a few coupons, for 70% off, any cd for $5.99, things like that. Now, every single time I buy a cd, I get another coupon that I can use to get any single cd for $5.99. So I have a lot of coupons now, and I have never had to pay more than $9 for a cd since then.

Another nice aspect of the club is music points. You earn 3 for every regularly priced cd you buy, and 1 for every sale cd you buy. You also get 2 for getting a friend to join the club (I've never done that), and 5 for every year you're a member and make at least 4 purchases (That's happened every year, because I do buy a lot of cd's using coupons). To redeem music points, you only have to have as many as the cd costs: for example, most cd's at regular price can be bought with 18 music points. I've redeemed 3 cd's this way. There are exceptions though: most discount or sale cd's cannot be redeemed with music points (occasionally they'll have 70% off sales), and neither can boxed sets. Of course, music points don't cover shipping either. Through all the time I've been in the club, I've never received a cd that was totally free - I've always had to pay at least $2.79 to cover shipping. So dn't let the word "free" deceive you.

As for the online store, I've used it a few times, and never had any trouble. The thing is, I can't use coupons or free cd vouchers there. So those have to be bought by mail. But one good thing about the website is that I can search for any cd I want, and I can find cd's there the moment they come out instead of waiting for my monthly catalog to arrive.

The bad:

One thing that I noticed right away is that after new cd's come out, they usually take a long time to become available through BMG. Sometimes it only takes a month, but usually it's a lot longer. I'm still waiting for POD's "Payable on death" cd, which came out sometime last year. As inconvenient as that is, it doesn't bother me a whole lot, when I consider that I'm buying most cd's at about half their retail prices. I think there's only been one or two occasions that I've bought cd's from another source because I couldn't wait for them to come out. But usually I can just wait.

Another thing that started happening about 2 years ago was phone calls from the company. The first time, they offered me 1 cd at regular price, and then 3 free. Of course, they use language like, "Since you're such a valued customer", etc., but I know I can get deals like that at other times too, so it really doesn't sound that 'special' to me. The first time it happened, I accepted. They sent me a cd they picked out (which I happened to like anyway), and a voucher for 3 free cd's, which never expired. They may have given me that offer again after that, I don't remember.

But the next offer I remember, was to buy 3 cd's at regular price, and receive 9 free cd's. Somehow, I gave in. Which was stupid, but I did it anyway. They obviously train their people to be convincing, and to not speak as though they're asking me if I want those cd's ("We're going to send you 3 cd's, and then..."). That ended up costing me about $60, not including the shipping on the free cd's. And I don't like spending that much money at once, on anything.

I've received several phone calls after that, and I've refused them all. I've decided I can't be a softie - it won't hurt anybody's feelings if I decline. My advice is to just be prepared to get calls like that if you join, and if you don't want to accept them, just say no, think up a reason, and you'll be fine. Actually, another good idea is to join BMG through a postcard that you mail in, if you can find one somewhere. That way, you won't have to write down your phone number at all (I should have thought of that when I joined), whereas if you join through the website, I imagine you'll have to enter your phone number, unless you just want to make one up.

Overall, it's been a good experience for me. I like getting my catalog in the mail every month and looking for new cd's. I also like the low prices. I usually end up buying an average of about 20 cd's per year, so this makes it practical for me, moneywise. So here's my advice:

BMG is probably not for you if:
-You like to buy most cd's the moment they come out.
-You don't like doing business by mail.
-You have a problem resisting tempting deals.
-You don't buy cd's very often. (in that case, you might like the opening offer, but staying a member much longer than that probably won't be worth it to you)

But BMG might be a good idea for you if:
-You like low prices.
-You like low prices even more than getting cd's as soon as they come out.
-You tend to buy cd's often.
-You like the convenience of ordering by mail, and through the internet.

Well, that's all I can think of to say. I've never had to use customer service, so I can't comment on that. But if anyone wants to know something about BMG that I forgot, or might know, go ahead and leave a comment and I'll get back to you.


Recommended:
Yes

What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Lots of cd''s over the past 4 years