The nearest alternative to free CDs (cd-wow.com)

Member Name: amnoangel

Product:	cd-wow.com
Date:	20/02/02 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Really cheap, Send free jewel cases

Disadvantages: Site not very interactive, Not always UK versions

Many of you will no doubt have used Streets Online's loyalty scheme over the last few years where you wrote a review and they gave you a pound for each one they accepted. The scheme stopped last year, but over two years, I got alomst £1000 of free CDs from them! But when the scheme stopped, I was accustomed to recieving CDs every week or so - not something I can do when I'm paying properly for them.

Well CD Wow is the best alternative I've found, even if I can only get one every few weeks or so! CDs are only £8.99 including postage and packing, and you even get 2 iPoints each time you order a CD. If the CD case arrives broken, whcih unfortunately it almost always does, they'll send you another case absolutely free which is always in perfect condition! That's the good side of this site.

It actually has more bad points, although price is the most important thing so this easily outweighs the bad. The site isn't too fast in running and doesn't look brilliant. It's not very interactive - there is no way of cancelling orders online for example; you have to phone them - although upon calling, orders are cancelled immediately. You are also unable to see the status of your orders as with many other sites, apart from whether it has been sent, cancelled or not sent yet.

The site also stocks international CDs, not necessarily UK versions. This is more often than not bad, but can sometimes work in your favour. Always check the tracklistings before you order. It doesn't say the country of the CD's origin - but different countries may have different tracklistings to the UK version, although sometimes this can be good becasue there are extra tracks on the non UK CDs, although it tends to be the toher way round. For example, I went to order Steps Gold, only to discover it was out two weeks after the UK version and had 5 tracks less. However, the Corrs Greatest Hits had the same tracklisting as the UK, but was relea
sed a week before the UK version. I always check tracklistings with another site before I order.

For chart buffs, this site doesn't count towards sales on the UK chart.

The other weak point of this site is the stock - it's very limited and there are very few CDs stocked over a couple of years old, and the CDs they do stock are only mainstream.

The CDs can take up to a week to arrive, often coming from Hong Kong and there is no invoice attached with them. As I said before, the cases are often broken, but they will gladly replace them.

They have recently started to sell DVDs - I don't have a DVD player so wouldn't know, but presume they are cheap in price, but also a limited selection.

Also, CD Wow don't proccess the credit card details themselves - they use another firm, which can be confusing on your credit card bills.

However, despite it's drawbacks, if you want a chart CD, does it really matter if you're waiting two or five days for it when you can be getting a third of high street prices off in some cases?

Summary: