The Ground Rules
As before, I compared the stores on ease of use, selection and price. Also as before, prices were comparable in all the stores, so the site design and selection became the primary criteria. The two new stores in the mix are CD Connection and Music Boulevard.
Ease of Use
I still think that the strength - or weakness - of an online store derives primarily from how easy it is to use. Both the new contenders score well here, but CD Connection is the clear winner. While its default interface does require frames, you can switch to a no-frames version (very nice for those with older browsers or who just don't like frames). The classical search on CD Connection is quite impressive; you can search by composer, performer, album title, work title, or label. The results screen is easy to navigate, and includes prices. Clicking on "details" gets a screen of further information about the CD, though not a complete track listing. The details screen does often include information about the date and genre of the works featured on a given recording, as well as suggestions for other composers to try. A unique feature of CD Connection is its "Golden Ears" rating system, which allows users to rate and review recordings. That information is also included in the details screen.
Music Boulevard has about average ease of use. It's a straightforward search interface, but unfortunately doesn't allow searching by work title (though you can search by album title, composer, performer, and catalog number). The searches seemed slower than at CD Connection or CDnow, but not as slow as at Tower Records. The search results do include prices; if you click on the title of the recording, you get more information about the recording. Music Boulevard's details screen does generally contain a track listing or at least a full listing of the works contained on the recording.
