Web provides music disc-overies for fans

Capitalism is taking over the Internet.

Contributing to this grand spirit of commerce and free trade are used-compact disc vendors that have set up shop on-line.

With the World Wide Web growing larger every day, an increasing number of options now exist for people to buy, sell and trade CDs in an efficient and practical way.

One Web site, www.discgo.com, is maintained by the chain store Disc Go Round. The chain estimates it has more than 30,000 used CDs available on-line from a number of its linked stores. Of the 135 U.S. stores, only a few are on-line and selling used CDs, said Charissa Ondeck, manager of Disc Go Round, 228 W. College Ave.

"We send CDs to people all over the country," Ondeck said.

Ondeck said their Web page usually sells used CDs to the same group of people that check the store's Web site periodically. They also mostly sell their bargain CDs as opposed to their normally priced CDs.

- Melissa Fehr (freshman-biology and computer science)

Some music fans consider buying CDs on-line because they may be able to locate harder-to-find CDs. The Internet simplifies locating what they are looking for, eliminating the need to rummage around at a store.

"The advantage of buying things on the Internet is that it provides a tremendous search engine," said Gerry Santoro, a lead research programmer for the Center for Academic Computing.

Another site, Compact Discovery (www.compactdiscovery.com), has search engines to root through its 130,000-plus new and used CDs.

"We sell to people from around the world," said Jennifer Halenar, Internet sales representative at Compact Discovery. "We sell to people who collect special and out-of-print recordings."

Santoro also mentioned other good sites for on-line shopping. One of them, AudioNet (www.audionet.com), is a site where people can listen to CDs before they buy them.

Despite the hype for on-line shopping, there can be some disadvantages to buying used CDs on-line.

"Everything on-line is so much more expensive than any of the stores in town," said Melissa Fehr (freshman-biology and computer science). "I don't like paying shipping and handling either."

One of the issues with buying CDs on-line is that buyers are worried about the need to use their credit card numbers over the Internet. However, one can find ways to discover whether Internet sites are secure, Santoro said.

"Look in the lower left-hand corner of the Netscape window. There is an icon of a key, and if it is broken the site is not secure," Santoro said.

He said it's important to know credit-card law. If anyone rips off a credit card number, the cardholder is only responsible for the first $50. After that it is the bank's liability, Santoro said.

Though many Web sites claim to be secure, some students still worry about using their credit cards over the Internet.

"I don't think it's totally safe to give out my credit card numbers," said Kristen Lunetta (junior-musical arts). "You never know for sure who gets a hold of them."