Music Links - a listing by the CD & DVD Shopper's Guide The Very Best Links AllMusicGuide : great database on artists and albums (with reviews). RockOnTV.com : check when your favs are on the tube. RockOnTheNet.com : not as detailed as RockOnTV, but easier to scan quickly. Best Links are in larger type . Links last checked Oct. 4th, 2002

Artist & Album Research Tools Performance Music News For Musicians Marketplaces for Used & Rare Recordings Various Music Resources Music Genres Comparison Shopping Customer Experience with Retailers Other Resources Other On-Line Music Buying Guides

Artist and Album Research Tools

• Besides getting the best prices and service that you're looking for, it also helps to make an informed choice before buying a particular album. To that end, the AllMusicGuide is a great resource. It is a giant, up to date, and free data base on recorded music. It will provide you with artist bios, album reviews w/song listings, as well as links to similar artists and albums. I rank it as one of the top ten web sites of any kind.
• Rough Guide to Rock : From Abba to Zevon with more than 1200 artists inbetween, Rough Guide covers the Rock Music landscape in their same colorful and personal style that their world travelogues spring from. It's not nearly as comprehensive or meticulous as the aforementioned AllMusicGuide, which is like a world almanac, but it's a fun trip, and a good read. Check out the web Rough Guides to Travel and the Internet as well.
• WWW Music Database : Pages on thousands of artists with comments from users. Enter an artist's last name first when using the search box.
• Internet Oracle: Music - offers more than a dozen search engines for searching music databases.
• SonicNet - by VH1
• Rockmine : says it's the "internet's largest rock music source", but I'm not so sure.

Performance & Concert Info

• RockOnTV.com : check when your favs are on the tube.
• RockOnTheNet.com : not as detailed as RockOnTV, but easier to scan quickly.
• Pollstar : world's largest database of international concert tour information.
• Mojam : similar to Pollstar - worldwide concert info.
• Musi-Cal : especially good for finding out (and submitting) performance dates for folk and indie artists. You can search by artist, city, venue (be it a stadium or club), or event. Will also send you a weekly e-mail alert.

Music News

• Rolling Stone - News and Reviews from the magazine on-line and much more: 'Artists A to Z', Message Boards, a great archive of RS magazine covers , - Thousands of MP3s, Music Videos, archived Reviews, and Photos.
• Rock on the Net : Up to date music News, Charts, Rock artists on TV schedule, listing of New Album releases, and more.
• CMJ Music : College Music Journal ("new music first") - news, reviews, charts, artist interviews, links
• MusicNewswire - 'the Global Music Information Network': links to headline news from dozens of music sites.
• Billboard Online : News, Rock on TV, Tour Search, and of course, the Charts.
• Yahoo's Music Chart Directory - dozens of links to check an artist's or album's popularity.

For Musicians

• Harmony Central : links to free guitar tabs and sheet music for sale
• String This! : Guitar Strings for as low as $2/set!

Marketplaces for Used & Rare Recordings

• GEMM (Global Electronic Music Marketplace) is an open marketplace for music. You can search and browse more than 2 million new and used CDs, LPs, and memorabilia, and place orders directly with over 1450 retailers, collectors, labels and artists around the world. However, GEMM only seems to include one of the retailers I've compared (CD Universe), and the prices on new CDs are generally higher. My experience is that GEMM is primarily useful for finding used and rare CDs. Plus, if you don't find what you're looking for, you can set up a want list, and GEMM will send you an e-mail when it becomes available.

Various Music Resources

• CD Owners Guide : a good explanation of how CDs work, and how to handle and repair them.
• CD Collecting FAQ has answers to questions like: - Is "CD Rot" for real? - Where does my money go when I buy a CD?
• Repair Scratched CDs and improve the sound of all your CDs
• Foetusized's Page o' CD Collecting Resources
• radio-locator.com : A fairly complete listing of radio stations, around the USA or around the world, on-line or on the air. You can search by geographical location, musical genre, or call letters. Most of the radio stations have web pages that you can click to.
• AudioReview.com : Links for researching hi-fi audio equipment.

Music Genres

• Classical Net : information about and recommendations on selecting Classical music. Like Jazz Online, Classical Net helps people new to classical music find their bearings, and for those who are already aficionados, reviews to more than 1000 CDs, a buying guide, and links.
• Jazz Online : information about and recommendations on selecting Jazz music. "Everybody needs a little jazz in their life". Check out 'Jazz 101' and the 'Starter Kit' sections if you're new to this music medium.
• A Passion for Jazz! : Music Commentary, History & Education
• Electric Blues    The Blue Highway    The Blues Foundation : Links to the Blues
• About.com : Lists of links on all sorts of music (Blues, Classical, Country, Folk, Jazz, Punk, Rap, World, etc.)
• Rock & Roll Hall of Fame : in Cleveland
• Glitzine : on-line magazine dedicated to Glam/Sleaze/Punk rock

Comparison Shopping

These are for shopping for a specific album. They aren't very useful, in that they only search about half a dozen stores, and the presented information usually requires some wading through. You're usually better off using this site's retailer price comparison page to find out which retailers are generally the cheapest.

• BottomDollar
• Yahoo

Customer Experience with Retailers

• rec.music.marketplace.cd - Usenet group
• Internet Fraud Complaint Center - run by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center.
• National Fraud Information Center - run by the National Consumers League.
• Federal Trade Commission's on-line complaint form.

Other Resources

• The Universal Currency Converter : use it when shopping at a store and in another country, and you want to know (for example) just how much Canadian dollars are worth these days.
• SmartShip : Free Tracking Service and Drop Off Locator for US Postal Service, UPS, FedEx, and Airborne. Also features Zip Code Finder.

Other On-Line Music Buying Guides

• BizRate.com : Independent site that reviews 30 CD retailers (and hundreds of other retailers). While their retailer services listing is comprehensive, their rating system is questionable (ex: they give Amazon.com 4.5 stars out of 5 on Price while I have found Amazon to be one of the most expensive CD retailers).