Are CD clubs a good deal?

10 yrs ago, my girlfriend got me a Bjork CD which she got from BMG not knowing I already have a store purchased copy of the exact same CD. There are 2 main differences that I still remember til today which are the reasons why I don't go for cd clubs other than they never have anythign I want.

1) The BMG CD sounds tinny and shrill compared to the store bought copy.
2) The CD cover on the BMG is made of a cheaper thinner paper material than the store bought copy.

Ofcourse, I only care about the first reason. And, for a time, I people thought I was crazy to point out this difference. But, I felt very validated when I found a few articles that stated the same observations. One of which is the article mentioned by Matt.

I actually prefer Columbia house. They have a much better selection and after you have met your commitment, you can ask and they will make it so you never have to send in any of the monthly selection cards and they won't send anything automatically.

Another point about Columbia House is that they are owned by Warner and Sony and their CD's are not copies but the same as the ones you buy in a store.

BMG charges so much shipping and handling charges you could just go out and by used CD's.

CD clubs are a good way to build a basic CD collection of popular titles at a pretty reasonable cost IMO. In years past I've belonged to both BMG and Columbia clubs and purchased a lot of CDs from them. As to sound quality, I've not noticed a consistent difference between "club" CDs and those from typical music stores. Cheers. Craig