CD Clubs FAQ
V.4.21, Last Modified: Jul 19, '99
1. Breaking News <- Pointer
2. Introduction
3. Strategies - In Brief
4. Customer Service Information
5. More In-Depth Information
6. Other
     · Appendix A:
       CD Clubs In Canada
     · CD Club Related Sites
     · About The Maintainer
     · FAQ Disclaimer
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Content: Brad von Haden,
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+ 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.