Buying music in SA - an impossible task?

doc-phil

I always have trouble buying music either online or in the shops. The major music stores never cator for my taste in metal so I am always forced to buy music online. A few weeks back i stumbled upon a site that specialises in Christian rock and metal that is based in SA, so I thought, 'score, this must be the end of my troubles!' However over a month down the line I still haven't received my purchase (the new August Burns Red album) and today I get an email from the company asking me whether I would like to pay an extra R100 for air postage (2-3 week delay) or R70 by sea postage (2-3 month wait) ??? What makes that so infuriating is that I already paid postage in my initial order. So the album will end up costing R260!! That's way too much for a student to fork out on one album.

What can I do about my dire situaiton? I can't be musicless! I've tried ordering through Musica and Look and Listen etc, and four months later I am still waiting for the new (well its no longer new) Devil Wears Prada album. Are there any reliable online music stores in South Africa (excluding Kalahari and wanitall - possibly the two most useless websites I have ever encountered)

?

kayDUB

Have you tried Take2.co.za?
If not take a look and see if they have what you are after...

AlanRatcliffe

www.amazon.co.uk has always worked for me.

Bob-Dubery

doc-phil wrote What can I do about my dire situaiton? I can't be musicless! I've tried ordering through Musica and Look and Listen etc, and four months later I am still waiting for the new (well its no longer new) Devil Wears Prada album. Are there any reliable online music stores in South Africa (excluding Kalahari and wanitall - possibly the two most useless websites I have ever encountered)

I've dealt with take2.co.za and been satisfied with the service.

I think that as a rule on-line stores are gaining ascendancy, especially for niche markets. Not just in SA but generally. I did some CD shopping in London in June. Well... you can get Loudon Wainwright CDs there, but not in the quantities you might imagine. Niche markets are.... well they're niche.

The situation with imposing extra postal fees after the event is not on. Unless they showed you that you had taken the default super-slow option and are offering you an upgrade (and even then your order should be dispatched by now and thus beyond upgrading).

BMU

Take2.co.za are excellent, I've been using them for 4-5 years now.

doc-phil

Alan Ratcliffe wrote www.amazon.co.uk has always worked for me.

Do they still deliver to SA? I was under the impression that they stopped sending stuff here after so many things were getting stolen at the post office..

I've looked for music I want on take2 before and havent been successful, but I'll have a look for this album, maybe my luck will change. ?

AlanRatcliffe

doc-phil wrote
Alan Ratcliffe wrote www.amazon.co.uk has always worked for me.
Do they still deliver to SA? I was under the impression that they stopped sending stuff here after so many things were getting stolen at the post office..

Amazon.co.uk does. Amazon.com are the uppity ones...

inflames

www.take2.co.za is not a bad site, but for more rare stuff use amazon.co.uk.
I used them 3 month ago and the result is 100%

DonovanB

I can also vouch for amazon.co.uk, The trick is to see the seller's ratings as well. I only buy from people with 97%+ rating from over 2000 users.

I have bought so many cd's and DVD's at an average cost of around R80.

Graeme

As far as I know amazon.com (USA site) is shipping to S.A. again.

I've found http://www.take2.co.za/ to be reliable and they often work out cheaper than anyone else.

I also use iTunes quite a bit using this method:
I registered with a U.S.A. address and buy vouchers from: http://www.mediawob.com/Default.aspx

I believe that http://music.nokia.co.za/ has a great selection and I think they charge R10 a song, R100 for an album. But they use DRM and only work on PC.

giggsy

I'm appalled by how shocking our music shops are here. Even Look and Listen, which used to be my holy grail, has slipped so badly over the last year or two that it took me two months before I found something there worth spending a voucher on...

I still prefer to have a CD and enjoy slipping it into the hi-fi and going through the sleeve notes and lyrics, but I'm being forced more and more to download. www.emusic.com is brilliant for independent stuff - costs me 20 US dollars for 50 downloads a month. And I also use www.7digital.com - typically pay 8 pounds for an MP3 album. Unfortunately, I sometimes do, when I have exhausted every other avenue (friends coming from overseas, online, kalahari/take2 etc...) resort to torrent sites. But then when I do come across the CD I inevitably buy it. I'm not saying that I am being forced to download, but hell, when CD stores here take two or three months to bring out CD's that are topping the charts in the UK, what do they expect people to do?

BMU

I've been an emusic.com user on and off since 2002, HOWEVER they've stopped accepting new memberships from SA and many other countries. I discovered this to my shock the other day when I wanted to rejoin. So if you're a member, think carefully before cancelling that subscription!

Nuclear Blast (major European metal label) used to have their own very excellent online shop until June, when they closed it. Very very sad news for me. So despite all the promise of the digital age, I'm now back to ordering flesh & blood CDs from take2. Sigh.

Lacuna-ZA

I've started using the Nokia Music store. The catch is the DRM, but you can rip the songs to Cd and then rip them to Mp3s from there.

Other than that, I use Kalahari, Look n Listen and Take2. Musica is.... not recommended.

RobK

Have you tried www.cdwow.com ? Not South African, but shipping is free on CDs and DVDs.

doc-phil

giggsy wrote Unfortunately, I sometimes do, when I have exhausted every other avenue (friends coming from overseas, online, kalahari/take2 etc...) resort to torrent sites. But then when I do come across the CD I inevitably buy it. I'm not saying that I am being forced to download, but hell, when CD stores here take two or three months to bring out CD's that are topping the charts in the UK, what do they expect people to do?

I agree 100%!

I just received another email from the online company that's sending me the ABR album. they apologised profusely, saying that my order had been mixed up with another person's who was couriering something from the states. So I don't have to pay the extra R100 ?