Each month on recommended, we'll be roadtesting five indispensible items for modern living, and giving them the Rock Midget onceover. This month...
FIVE ONLINE INDEPENDENT MAILORDER WEBSITES



Map Records - www.maprecords.co.uk
A snazzy and nicely coloured site, simple and not overwhelming. Quite a friendly and personable guide through finding reasonably priced CDs online.

SEARCH RATING: Keyword and artist search. Unfortunately there is a 200 items search limit on viewing results, which can be a little annoying, but is more than enough for most bands.
SELECTION: Quite a few past and present rareities, from Radiohead's Planet Telex club DJ remix 12" (£27.99) to the promo video for Muse's last single Bliss (£10.99). A fair selection of new releases, and also has a small selection of posters, clothing and calenders.
EXTRAS: It also takes your unwanted stuff, paying you within 24 hours of receipt of the item by recorded delivery; check out their wants list for an idea of what they're after.
PRICES(5 being dirt cheap, 1 being Harrods): 4
POSTAGE:Postage currently stands at :
12's, LP's, 10's, £1.95 for the first item & 85p for each additional item.
CD,7's, Cassettes £1.00 for the first item & 35p for each additional item.
Videos £1.95 for the first video & 85p for each additional video.
Calendars £2.00 for the first calendar & 75p for each additional calendar.
Posters(Large) £3.00 for the first poster & 50p for each additional poster.
Posters(Small) £2.20 for the first poster & 30p for each additional poster,
And anything over £26.00 automatically is sent by recorded delivery (with a 60p extra charge).
They also deliver around the world.
CUSTOMER SUPPORT: Comprehensive FAQ's, a 'how to...' guide to the shopping basket, an 'About Map' section, technical bulletin, and the email for enquiries in corner of each page.
MAILING LIST: Yup, but only by email - there's no catalogue apart from the odd advert in the music press.
OVERALL RATING: 4/5 Friendly and helpful for the newbies to online record buying looking for that rare Feeder vinyl.


Opal Records - www.opalmusic.com
A little more expensive, but extremely good for rarities. Often stocks Radiohead's first Parlophone release, the Drill EP.

SEARCH RATING: Search by album or title, but also has an alphabetical list.
SELECTION: Has a CD compilation containing Thom Yorke's former university band Headless Chickens. I think that says it all.
EXTRAS: A currency converter, a list of what's just come in during the last four days, featured labels.
PRICE: 3/5, but only just, as they are offering classic indie albums for £9.99.
POSTAGE: 12's, LP's, 10"'s, T-Shirts, Small Posters, Tour Programs are UK 2.00 for the first item and UK 0.60 for each additional item. CD albums, CD singles, Cassettes, 7' Singles, Fanzines, Press Packs are UK 1.00 for the first item and UK 0.30 for each additional item. Videos are UK 1.50 for the first video and UK 1.25 for each additional video. 60' x 40' posters are UK 2.50 for the first poster and UK 0.50 for each extra poster.
Again they have worldwide delivery.
CUSTOMER SUPPORT: Apart from the currency converter, a slightly impersonal approach to this. There is no specific help section - though contacts are given for placing orders.
MAILING LIST: Again, only appears to be email. Unfortunately they seem to have abandoned their old postal catalogue.
OVERALL RATING: 3/5 a good selection of rarities for the obsessed fan, but a little overpriced compared to other websites.


Penny Black Music - www.pennyblackmusic.com
Tailored towards your discerning muso and experienced online shopper, this site has a comprehensive selection of new independent releases.

SEARCH RATING: By artist, label or title only, but a search for "Ant" brought up.
SELECTION: One of the few stores to stock Ant from Hefner's Fab Friends single, so very good for rare and obscure CDs. Stocks stuff from Antiproduct to King Of Woolworths, but only focusses on recent releases by independent artists and labels.
EXTRAS: Currency converter, sound samples, listings by genre, popular band and label listings, discussion board, chat, catalogue, release dates...
PRICES: 4/5 - most albums around the £10 mark, but VAT has to go on top of this...
POSTAGE: Shipping seems to be about £1-2 for everywhere, but there's nowhere on the site that clarifies this apart from at the checkout.
CUSTOMER SUPPORT: The info section isn't up yet, but the ordering system is quite straight-forward.
MAILING LIST: By email - weekly and very comprehensive.
OVERALL RATING: 3-4/5 Very good for those who know their Elastic Fiction from their Sub-pop, but not somewhere for the inexperienced online shopper.


Sister Ray - www.sisterray.co.uk
An easy-to-use site with emphasis on secure online shopping. The design slightly put me off, but a good site, nonetheless.

SEARCH RATING: Provides a key to the catalogue. Allows browsing by genre or by artist/name.
SELECTION: All Thirteen:13 and Voy's recent releases, but unable to find the Drill EP by Radiohead. A good comprehensive selection of different genres, though.
EXTRAS: Links to relevant websites, but that's about it.
PRICE: £19.99 for a promo copy of Muse's first album, so 4/5.
POSTAGE: Cheapest we've seen so far...
1st CD/7"/MiniDisc £0.95, each additional one £0.35
1st LP/10"/12"/DVD £1.95, each additional one £0.85
CUSTOMER SUPPORT: Good. Comprehensive details of how to pay by post, online, by email, etc.
FAQ's and an "About" section. Also has a customer feedback form. Customer comments indicate some very satisfied people...
MAILING LIST: A downloadable catalogue and a newsletter by email.
OVERALL RATING: 3.5/5 Good for those worried about online security, and a pretty cool selection, as well as bargainous postage prices.


Songsearch Cd Store - www.songsearch.net
The most comprehensive in terms of genres so far, this US based company certainly wins the prize for the range of CDs available. However, this site falls down on price and doesn't provide a currency converter...

SEARCH RATING: Alphabetically by artist or album title, by genre, search the special order and regular catalogues. Pretty comprehensive, really.
SELECTION: In terms of genre, bloody huge. Anyone want to buy a polka CD?
EXTRAS: Links with Dialpad to call them free, internet radio searches, translator. A regular and special order catalogue. Also provides full tracklistings of all CDs.
PRICES: An American company so quite pricey for us Brits. To give you an example, Murry The Hump's 'Songs Of Ignorance' is $20.46 (£13.86)
POSTAGE: Global Priority postage is only available to some countries (including the UK), and to the rest it's recorded delivery. Global Priority is about $10-$15 (£7-£11), depending on how many items you have. There's optional giftwrap at $5 (£3.40).
CUSTOMER SUPPORT: Nothing until you purchase something, but ordering is fairly simple.
MAILING LIST: Nope, not that I can find...
OVERALL RATING: 5 for range if you're looking for a wide selection, but speaking from an English point of view you may be able to find places cheaper based at home, so it's only a 3-4/5.