+ Breaking News
There have been some major developments over the past few months in the
CD club world:
BMG launched its online club BMG eClub. No more monthly paper
mailings. Everything is done online except of course the delivery of
the CDs themselves. Bill payment can still be done via US Mail.
BMG introduced "Music Points": a frequent buyer program or more aptly
a membership loyalty program. For certain CD and cassette purchases, a
member receives a certain amount of points. These points accumulate
and can be used to purchase full priced music products on a 1 for 1
basis. "Music Points" can not be used for partial payment of a
selection or for payment of shipping and handling or sales taxes.
BMG closed its daughter club CDx and transfered the CDx membership list
to BMG.
Columbia House brought its club CDHQ back from the dead and dusted off
its main moniker, Columbia House. Both CH and CDHQ (this revision of
the FAQ is way overdue) advertised "12 CDs for the price of 1 CD"
offers. For those scoring at home, Columbia House now has three
distinct clubs again: CH, PLAY and CDHQ. As the three clubs have the
same operational characteristics, the three will be treated as one by
the designation CH/CDHQ/PLAY in the FAQ.
In a more recent development, Columbia House and online retailer CDNow
agreed to merge. According to published reports, this will have no
effect on CH club operations, at least for the time being. Once the
merger has gone through, Columbia House will be owned by a partnership
of the two previous partners, Time Warner and Sony, plus the new
partner CDNow.
|