My Favourite places to buy are as follows:

1. Screen Archives Entertainment

2. Varese Sarabande

3. Ebay UK

4. The Cinema Store - London

mkorenhof, December 6, 2003; 10:04 AM

NOTE TO EVERYONE: Please include web addresses for these stores so that we can check them out for ourselves!


Some of the BEST:

1. Ark Square (www.arksquare.com) - Many rare titles from around the world, usually in-stock and always new. Excellent customer service!

2. Footlight Records (www.footlight.com) - I've found a few gems here, and their service is usually efficient. They also have a section for hard-to-find rarities.

3. Intermezzo Media (www.intermezzomedia.com) - Lots of cool titles on European labels for an affordable price. Excellent customer service.

4. Dusty Groove (www.dustygroove.com) - Can't be beat if you're a fan of the funky backbeat. A literal warehouse full of grooves, on lp and CD, both soundtracks and "regular" albums. Fast and efficient service.

5. and of course...eBAY! (www.ebay.com) - Probably 60% of my collection is made up of CDs that I've purchased from people through eBAY, and believe it or not, in over 1000 transactions, I've never been ripped-off.





Some of the WORST (caveat emptor!):

1. Monsters in Motion (www.monstersinmotion.com), for the same reason as mentioned above: they sell poor-quality bootleg CD-Rs, without even advertising them as such. I don't know how they get away with it, legally speaking, since they are located in the USA.

2. Forced Exposure (www.forcedexposure.com), because they advertise items that are no longer available, and because I had a negative customer-service experience with them.

3. Movie Boulevard UK (www.movieboulevard.co.uk), because they tease us with rare items for sale, many of which are not even available, and their prices are OUTRAGEOUSLY HIGH!

4. Silva Screek UK (www.silvascreen.co.uk), because they also advertise items that they cannot produce, one of which I ordered (and was immediately charged for), but it was never sent, and it took 3 months of sending e-mails and finally an intervention by my credit card company for me to get my money back!



Adios amigos!


American_Nightmare, December 6, 2003; 10:04 AM

Some stores I would highly recommend:

1. Screen Archives (http://www.screenarchives.com). Which is the best online store. Great service.

2. Footlight (http://www.footlight.com)Never bought nothing from them online. Has the good fortune of visiting the store. I wanna Goooo back!!!!!!!

3. Vinilo (http://www.vinilo.es). spanish store. Good service.

4. Intermezzo (http://www.intermezzomedia.com). Italian. Great selection. Good service.

antonio_lerias, December 6, 2003; 10:04 AM

I am French, and the same thing that happened to American Nightmare, also happened to me. Silvascreen will never see me there anymore.


le8bis, December 6, 2003; 10:04 AM

1. Ark Square (www.arksquare.com) - Japanese site. As said above they have many rare titles ("private pressings" as well as Japanese releases). They are quick to tell you if the are out of stock of items. I've had no problems. Recommended.

2. Footlight Records (www.footlight.com) - I've been lucky to find some hard-to-find items here. But their prices for rarities can be a bit steep. I've always had good service from them and they'll keep you informed of when to expect an order if it is delayed. Recommended.

3. Intermezzo Media (www.intermezzomedia.com) - An Italian-based site that has a good list of rarities. It does say that they may list items that they don't stock but they will endeavour to find what you want. I've always had excellent service from them. Recommended.

4. Movie Boulevard (www.movieboulevard.com) - A UK-based site that has a large catalogue of titles - many of them hard-to-find titles. Again, they list titles that they may not have immediately to hand but they will try to find them for you. The only "bad" experience I've had with them is that if you order something from them and they do not have it they will spend months hunting it down for you - but they don't tell you. So if you find an alternative source for the CD in the meantime, chances are it'll also arrive from Movie Boulevard - but they won't take it back. Also, for US titles they tend to just replace the $ sign in the price for a £ in their prices - so a hard-to-find CD advertised in another site for $25.00 will appear in this site at £25.00. Recommended if you know how they work.

5. Screen Archives Entertainment (www.screenarchives.com) - My first port of call for soundtracks. They are reasonably priced, have a good selection of rarities and their customer service is excellent. For example, I found a games soundtrack CD for sale on a games website that does not sell to the UK. I gave all the relevant details to Craig Spaulding at Screen Archives and they got it for me and sent it on. Highly recommended.

6. eBay (www.eBay.com) - If you are resolute about your bidding and are not sucked into a bidding war you can sometimes get some bargains. I got a 24-carat gold CD Warner Video release of The Exorcist for less than $20.00. Recommended if you know what your doing.

alan, December 6, 2003; 10:04 AM

1. Footlight is great. Excellent selection and good prices. Nothing has got lost to me to Europe and nothing was damaged. The only thing what is negative, if you order something what is out of stock, they inform you a few weeks later or never (but the score is still on their website).
2. Moviemusic.com, at the moment my favourite internet shop
and (of course)
3. intrada: Very fast reply to your questions and good service

Negativ:
Buysoundtracks.com because of their packaging. Almost every jewel case is damaged

Droenix, December 6, 2003; 10:04 AM

hi
nothing much to add : i have tried each one of these online stores and i've never had any problem.
but you're missing one of the biggest : www.amazon.com which also have a "used records" section for ost.
if you're looking for an ultra rare ost check out ebay auctions and remember prices can rise very fast for some scores

tomzecat-bis, December 6, 2003; 10:04 AM

The replies to this post have already been very good and informative, but I'll add my two cents' worth!

I've had very positive transactions with intermezzomedia and arksquare.

I have to agree with the view on Monsters In Motion. I'm sure that they provide a great service for model collectors and other film merch but their soundtrack sales are very suspect. Although they don't advertise that they sell bootlegs, I was happy enough to get hold of CDs of Hawk the Slayer, Manhunter and From Dusk til Dawn from them.

I recommend www.hurricaneshop.de

I bought a number of rarities from them including the Days of Thunder score and Predator (a great bootleg now superceded by Varese's recent release). They're not the cheapest, but they are reliable.

I've found www.buysoundtrax.com and www.supercollector.com ok to trade with too.

As you all know, you have to be very careful buying soundtracks from traders on ebay. I have had many great transactions on ebay with some great sellers,but unfortunately there are those unscrupulous traders who sell homemade bootlegs of rare soundtracks.

richard_neal, December 6, 2003; 10:04 AM

Personally, I prefer the actual 'stone and wood' CD shops to the internet shops, and particularly the second-hand CD shops. I agree that ordering over the internet is easy and comfortable, but the feeling when a rare CD is discovered and immediately owned (no waiting) is so much... fabulous!

42zaphod, December 6, 2003; 10:04 AM

42zaphod,

Wow! I almost forgot about actual three-dimensional buildings, often called "stores," within which people would sell their goods and wares. You mean to tell me that they still exist!?!?

Seriously, though, I totally agree with you. There's nothing like rummaging through the Soundtracks section of a used-CD shop and stumbling across that rare out-of-print import CD that I through I'd never find.

It's times like those that I realize how the California Gold Miners must've felt upon discovering a particularly wealthy vein of the shiny stuff. Whew...what a rush! (pun intended)


American_Nightmare, December 6, 2003; 10:04 AM

>3. Movie Boulevard UK (www.movieboulevard.co.uk), because they tease us with rare items for sale, many of which are not even available, and their prices are OUTRAGEOUSLY HIGH

I agree. I only heard about them recently, as i had to frantically hunt down the Varese Predator cd. I had been out of the country for months and missed the Predator 3000 editions release by a matter of days. Movieboulevard was one place i was recommened by others as one of the few left still offering it. I went there and bought it (it was pricey, but close to the Varese price anyway). I was also shocked to get that "post order" email saying "Thanks. It could take 30 days or more. If it's out of stock we'll let you know after then". Huh?. Anyway, i was lucky on that occasion and got the CD at my house within 2 days. But i see many interesting 2cd sets on there of rare expanded scores, and i'm just not going to pay them US$60 for them, no matter how much i'd love them. Afterall, they're not official releases. You cant expect somebody to pay $60 for a bloody bootleg CD (but somebody must be doing it, as they're sitll in business).. I agree that they are an option. But they're taking the piss with their prices.

fanntasia, December 27, 2003; 3:55 AM

amazon.com

, November 3, 2005; 3:30 PM

I have to say I've never had any trouble with Silver Screen. Personally Movie Boulevard are just ripping collectors off, especially with their bootlegs. Almost all of them are home made CDRs with very poor quality covers, and they cost as much and sometimes more as a proper limited edition score pressed by a ligit company. They don't say they are CDRs, but once they've got your money what do they care. Their attitude is that if you want the music you pay the price. Their so called "sale" is CDRs costing pennies to create and selling for £24.99 or more. If you look around u can get far superior versions of these boots at less than half the price, with better service too !!

funkybunny69, April 12, 2007; 12:17 PM