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-   -   Heads up Changes at CDNow! (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/store-forum/252797-heads-up-changes-cdnow.html)

GeoffK 11-22-02 03:54 PM

Heads up Changes at CDNow!
 
got this today



Dear Valued CDNOW Partner,

In the coming weeks, BeMusic will announce that we have
have reached an agreement for Amazon.com to provide
services for the CDNOW site. As a result of this development,
CDNOW is ending its affiliate programs. CDNOW will remain
a part of BeMusic and continue to operate.

Based on the changes in our business and pursuant to the
terms of paragraph 9(b) of the C2 Affiliate Agreement, CDNOW
is terminating your participation in the C2 Affiliate Program
effective immediately.

We ask that you please remove any links to CDNOW, and all
all references to the CDNOW name and logo from your website
by December 3, 2002. You will be paid for all activity from
your site through that date. We will contact you in early
December with your final account balance (if any).

If you are currently receiving a data feed from CDNOW that
that contains product-related information, you must remove
any and all of the data from your site by December 3, 2002.

Thank you for your participation in our program.

Sincerely,

Chris Victory



maineiac 11-22-02 04:32 PM

OK - does that mean the CDNow will be rolled into Amazon like Borders.com was? Yet they say that CDNOW will "continue to operate." I guess we will just have to wait and see.

abintra 11-22-02 05:44 PM

I hope so, I have some gc's at CDNow I would rather use at Amazon.

Edit: Hello fellow Mainer.

cmuller 11-22-02 09:57 PM

I sure hope not, but it sounds like it. That would be the end of the DVD deals. I was used to 30% off preorders + 15%-20% off coupons. Order a couple months at a time and they ship them as they get them each week for 99 cents. Amazon rarely has coupons, and holds your order for months for a single item unless you pay extra.

maineiac 11-23-02 06:45 AM

Just noticed that at the CDNOW website they are promoting a new version of their "Preferred Buyers' Club" for CDs which goes into effect on December 3. So obviously something will still be there then.

RevLiver 11-23-02 08:59 AM


Originally posted by maineiac
Just noticed that at the CDNOW website they are promoting a new version of their "Preferred Buyers' Club" for CDs which goes into effect on December 3. So obviously something will still be there then.
The new buyer's club is lame. With the old version, I could buy some CDs that were in the club for $10 each and earn a $5 credit to be used on any CD, in the club or not. This worked out well for getting indie and import stuff.

The new version will just be 20% off regular prices on Club CDs. No credit to be used on future purchases. So now I can't get indie and import stuff with $5 credits.

And honestly, I just compared prices on 22 CDs I intend to purchase soon. CDNow was by far the highest priced store on all of them. They were great years ago, those days are over.

Funk 11-23-02 10:14 AM


CDNow closing Fort Washington office
Associated Press

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa. - CDNow, the online music retailer owned by a German media giant, will lay
off its last 33 employees and close its suburban Philadelphia headquarters.

But its Web site, the No. 2 online music retailer with millions of Web visits per month, won't disappear.

"Nothing is happening to the CDNow brand," said Melinda Meals, a spokeswoman for parent BeMusic Inc., a unit of Bertelsmann AG. "CDNow still exists, and we're not selling CDNow."

Twin brothers Jason and Matthew Olim, originally from Ambler, launched the CDNow online site in the Philadelphia region in 1994. Bertelsmann bought the company two years ago.

CDNow once employed more than 400 people in its prominent, 92,000-square headquarters in Fort Washington, just beside the Pennsylvania Turnpike interchange. Staffing fell to 66 when 248 workers were let go last fall.

The last employees are slated to leave on Dec. 27. The move was disclosed in a notice to the state Department of Labor and Industry.

Bertelsmann has gradually been moving the CDNow operations to New York and to a corporate customer-service center in Indianapolis. The Web site has been managed from the BeMusic headquarters in New York for the last year.

According to ComScore Media Metrix, which tracks online traffic, the CDNow.com Web site had 8.6 million visitors in October, down 15 percent from the same month a year ago.

In a study released this week, ComScore said overall online music sales were down 25 percent for the three months ending Sept. 30, compared to the same quarter in 2001.

CDNow is the second online music retailer, behind the music club site ColumbiaHouse.com, which had 12 million users in October, according to ComScore spokesman Max Kalehoff. BMGmusic.com - another unit of BeMusic - had 4.5 million hits last month.

"It's likely ... they'll continue to use the CDNow.com brand or domain just because they've got a significant number of people going to it," Kalehoff said. "They're not likely to throw it away."

eau 11-24-02 04:07 AM

I still have a couple of CDNOW GCs to burn. I sure hope they will honor them whether they continue to stand alone or roll into Amazon.

Laser Movies 11-24-02 12:02 PM


Originally posted by cmuller
I sure hope not, but it sounds like it. That would be the end of the DVD deals. I was used to 30% off preorders + 15%-20% off coupons. Order a couple months at a time and they ship them as they get them each week for 99 cents. Amazon rarely has coupons, and holds your order for months for a single item unless you pay extra.

Not trying to change the subject but you must not have made any purchases at Amazon in a long time. They frequently ship items in an order when available, and they have offered a lot of coupons over the past year. Also they offer share the love and free shipping discounts. The only negatives have been their frequent problems of dropping discounts when an order ships and overcharging your credit card.

conscience 12-06-02 03:10 PM

This pisses me off.

CDNow had a perfect search engine for my music needs. I could easily find what album, singer, or song title I was looking for.

Amazon.com is a jumbled mess when it comes to this.

Emulator 12-06-02 03:41 PM


Originally posted by eau
I still have a couple of CDNOW GCs to burn. I sure hope they will honor them whether they continue to stand alone or roll into Amazon.
I also have a GC and e-mailed them at the address they gave for GCs ([email protected]), still no answer after 36 hours. I want to spend it but I cannot. Fantastic...
I think I should add the GC to my account and request a refund cheque??

MFRONE 12-06-02 06:42 PM

I liked the fact that you could listen to a sound clip from every CD they offered. Now, it's just CDNow's name on the Amazon.com music section.

eau 12-07-02 12:49 AM


Originally posted by Emulator
I also have a GC and e-mailed them at the address they gave for GCs ([email protected]), still no answer after 36 hours. I want to spend it but I cannot. Fantastic...
I think I should add the GC to my account and request a refund cheque??

Can you still add them to your account and request a check? I thought there was a cut off date December 3 or something.

Emulator 12-07-02 03:11 AM


Originally posted by eau
Can you still add them to your account and request a check? I thought there was a cut off date December 3 or something.
That's on the FAQ page, right, but the checkout page is identical to the one before; and I'd be really curious if a CSR would know when I added the GC. If I still had a $15 Intel GC, I'd already tried that, but the problem is that I have a single $60 GC and I do not really want to spend that on overpriced CDs; maybe if they had a real selection not just a skeleton of what they used to have. A couple of days ago they had maybe 50 CDs, now they have more, I just hope they bring back the full catalog, especially in the electronic/dance department.

BTW, I still have not got a reply to my converting e-mail.

shooter 12-08-02 08:37 PM

I have over $300 on hand. I think I'll wait and see what happens. This sucks big time.

Emulator 12-09-02 02:49 AM

Just checked their CD selection again, not even close... I think it's identical to the BMG Club (of course, same company) where you can average $5-6 per disc. Here you can have them $15 each. I'm really pissed, and still no response from the GC e-mail.

abintra 12-09-02 01:11 PM

FYI, I received my exchanged GC's today from CDNOw. I had 3 $15 worth and they gave me 1 $45 promotional Amazon GC contrary to request which they didn't acknowledge.

That means I can't use the coupon and other non-promotional $10 Amazon gift certificate I have correct? Does that mean I still get free shipping?

Should I accept it or write again requesting for my orignal non-promotional GC's to be honored or write www.wa.gov/ago/?

Edit: I have since found out that I can use my other Amazon GC but that is because it wasn't promotional. I think if it was promotional then I could not. You can use free shipping with promotional GC's. The only thing that no longer applies is that you can't use the coupon.

Emulator 12-09-02 02:05 PM


Originally posted by abintra
FYI, I received my exchanged GC's today from CDNOw. I had 3 $15 worth and they gave me 1 $45 promotional Amazon GC contrary to request which they didn't acknowledge.
How did it work?? Have you just forwarded them the GC e-mails? How long it took?

abintra 12-09-02 03:19 PM


Originally posted by Emulator
How did it work?? Have you just forwarded them the GC e-mails? How long it took?
I wrote the address you mentioned above with the information they request (gc's numbers, name, address, etc). It took a little over four days for them to send me back the Amazon promo GC.

I am trying to write them again now to ask about a non-promo GC but they are bouncing.


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