Britannia Classical Club - Good Idea?!

Does anyone have any opinions on whether it's a good idea to join something like the Britannia Classical Club. Those leaflets appear in seemingly every classical music magazine and on the face of it, don't actually seem like such a bad deal. Given that the only proviso is that you buy 6 full price CDs in two years, that doesn't strike me as particularly taxing. From the brochure, the selection looks like it's probably pretty good - I must say that for someone like me building up a collection, the cheap boxed sets look like a particularly good deal.

Hmm, that all kind of looks like a plug than a request for information, but honestly, I am curious as to know what the general consensus is on such clubs. Is the choice as good as it looks or are there catches that make it worthless?

All opinions greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I don't think so really. Shopping around in UK record shops, abroad and on the internet it's possible to get many recordings for considerable savings. Often the pleasure is finding that bargain. It just requires I guess some experience of what's out there, and what it should cost. Given the huge choice of magnificent recordings, there is IMHO no need to be constrained to buy from Britannia's choice of fairly central classical repertory at the full 16.99pounds or whatever they charge.

In addition many of Britannia's 'special' discounted prices don't seem so impressive or unusual to me - big HMVs often have similar sale prices for much of the year etc. I have a feeling a lot of what's on sale throughout the UK is dictated by the record companies.

I personally wouldn't be tempted by any of the box sets currently on their webstite. The Karajan 1960s Beethoven is a good first choice and looks dirt cheap at just a pound, but you can get this or other very good cycles for maybe 20 pounds and up. In any case any saving you make by buying this set will probably be eaten up by the amount you over-pay for the 6CDs you have to buy.

Now I have to admit when I first looked at their site it appeared to me that you could get all of Solti's Wagner recordings for 40 pounds, which would be the most amazing bargain of all time. Unfortunately it's misleading - it's only three operas and probably not the cream of Solti's recordings. So the saving wouldn't tempt me here either.

So basically I would just stick to normal shopping.

Actually it's 6 at 'regular price' so you do not have to buy full price CDs to achieve your quota eg in this month's Britannia classics magazine, the excellent 2 cd NAXOS Britten: Albert Herring at a regular price of 9.99ukpounds would count. By careful selection I averaged under 11ukpounds for each of the 6 'regular priced cds' when I joined a few years ago, and also took full advantage of some very low priced offers especially when they had 'sales' not just at the 'bonus' price. But don't forget that post and package adds to the cost. You also used to have to cancel your 'recording of the month' that they chose otherwise they automatically sent it, but recently they seem to have changed this: quoting from their advert on the back page of Radio Times 'no 'recommended recording' or 'editor's choice' to reject'. This is one of a number of changes for the better resulting from the new managements 'consultation' with members last year. (They now include more of the smaller labels and super budget CDs like NAXOS and Brilliant which the previous management refused to stock)

Wait for an introductory offer that really is good value for you. The reason I joined was that soon after the final remastering of the DECCA Solti Wagner Ring Cycle, Brittania made an introductory offer of 19.99ukpounds for the full set.

NB Unlike some 'record clubs' all Britannia's cds are normal proprietary stock not reduced packaging or special editions.

Over the years there have been anoying problems: wrong cds, payments not credited, wrong invoices, long waits for telephone calls, 'classical' including pop, crossover and jazz etc but all were finally sorted out and since the new management took over they have been much more efficient.

I would say that provided you are careful, that you understand the small print and you follow their instructions to the letter, then if you are intending to build up a classical collection then give it a go like I did but only buy cds when the deal is better than you can get elsewhere.

The commitment is to 6 at 'regular price' which does not necessarily mean full price - I averaged under 11ukpounds when I joined.

Members also get sale offers from time to time that don't seem to appear or are hidden away on their website.

I've been a member for a number of years (I got the remastered Solti ring very cheaply as an introductoy offer) so now it costs me nothing and I only buy from them when there is a very tempting offer, the majority of my recent purchases have been from HMV in Oxford Street and Super Drug!

I gather the Prokofiev/Scriabin/Shostakovich piano sonatas box is currently at £9.99 in HMV, but as it is £10.99 + P&P from Britannia and it costs more than the difference to get to HMV I'm not complaining too much..