Armed with Mark Allan Powell's Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music, I began my browse. From Powell's index, I formulated a rough shopping list. Radrockers seems to price their wares according to demand and availability. Some CDs I considered broke the $40 mark, while many were under $2. Then, I got my disappointment. There's $25 minimum for orders.
I thought about my normal record club order (buy one, get three free, plus, of course, outrageous shipping and handling) and figured it couldn't be much worse to order from Radrockers. I couldn't find Radrockers' shipping rates.
I found my just-over-$25-worth of CDs and took the shipping risk. I didn't know what that charge would be until I got the invoice with the order. The package arrived about a week later, and I was shocked! I paid $7 for shipping and handling. That's not each, but total! The postage, itself, came to $6.98, so they're not making money on their shipping.
On writing this article, I'm considering placing my third order with Radrockers. They're certainly among my favorite sources!
The next CD store was found by way of hunting for a particular artist's work. I heard Eowyn on the radio and added her to my buy list. Google.com sent me to her website, which, in turn sent me to CD Baby. I naturally had to give that site a browse, and was quite impressed at the selection.
They don't sort their music by Christian and secular. It's mixed, but their written descriptions usually give enough information. Click on the search function near the bottom of the welcome page, and type "christian" in the Miscellaneous window. Today (22 Sep, 04), on trying it, I got over 1200 albums. From there, you get 40 albums per page. I found one today that I checked out further, and I'll be going back to check on another as soon as I get finished editing this for the evening. Read and click as your interest is piqued, but be discerning.
After my first browse, I had a list of 88 artists to check on further. Most of their selection is independent artists, so you'll find stuff at CD Baby that's not readily available elsewhere. Listen to sound clips first, if you can. A listen reveals why some bands are independent, and a big company hasn't signed them.
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