Great Music on a Budget

This is an example of why, when used correctly, the offers available from places like BMG Music Club can be amazingly worthwhile. The basic deal that you see in magazines and newspapers is simple: buy 12 CDs for the price of one. First, pick seven free CDs and just pay shipping ($18.73):

Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come
Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
Miles Davis - Milestones
Benny Goodman - 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert (2 discs)
Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners
Oscar Peterson - Night Train

Then, you buy one for full price. However, if you've got a promotional code (like the one I found on the DVDTalk forums), you can get a "Buy One, Get Two Free" offer. Pick three CDs, pay full price for one and shipping for all three ($24.55):

Bill Evans - Sunday At the Village Vanguard
Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto - Getz & Gilberto With Jobim
Dexter Gordon - Our Man in Paris

Finally, you pick four more free CDs and just pay shipping ($11.16):

Thelonious Monk - Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane (SACD Hybrid)
Wes Montgomery - Incredible Jazz Guitar (SACD Hybrid)
The Quintet - Jazz at Massey Hall (SACD Hybrid)
Sonny Rollins - Tenor Madness (SACD Hybrid)

All told, I paid $54.44 for fourteen discs (counting the Goodman set as 2), for an average of $3.89 per disc. By comparison, these discs would cost $204.33 from Amazon. The savings are a bit greater on this order because I got the SACD hybrids (which cost $20 on Amazon), but the point is the same. The key is to then cancel the account (none of that monthly selection stuff), and start again.

For less than four dollars a CD, I am getting some of the greatest music ever made. It's a great way to build a collection on a budget.

On a side note, I've listened to Cannonball Adderley's Somethin' Else about fifteen times today. Genius. A good place to start if you're trying to take a baby step beyond Kind of Blue (almost invariably the first and often only jazz CD in many music collections).