So Kompakt has this thing where you can purchase MP3s online. It’s kinda like Warp’s Bleep except that it is largely sucky. Here’s my problems with it.
- It’s slow as fuck. I’ll allow that maybe their server is all up in Dusseldorf or Cologne or whatever, but please… If you’re going to encode the damn things at 320 KBps, can we at least try to get the download speed somewhere up in that vicinity? Otherwise, it’s just perverse.
- The site is coded in such a way that I can’t even post a link to an album on here. (In case you’re curious, their entire shopping cart is built in HTML forms, and they all submit to the home page. It really looks like they did this so that “http://www.kompakt-mp3.net/” is the only thing you ever see in your browser’s address bar. Laaaaame. Oh, did I also mention that it was a pain in the ass to even figure this out, since their HTML source all outputs on a single, unbroken line? Well, it does.)
- Anyway, if I could post the album link, I’d let you know that I purchased the album “Okie Dokie It’s The Orb on Kompakt” recently, and while I’m really enjoying the MP3s, what I’m not enjoying is the fact that *after* purchasing the album I found out that they were selling the same exact album for half the price in another part of the shop. Why the difference? Well that’s the truly stupefying part. See the MP3s I bought are from the Double Vinyl version of the release. The cheaper ones are from the CD. Just to be clear. I am *not* getting a hard-copy of this music, and I’m pretty sure that there is no difference between the MP3 versions of these items (In fact if there is, that’s a whole other problem.)
So the whole point of all this ranting is this: Due to carelessness on my part and a basic lack of understanding of the economics of online retailing on Kompakt’s part, we have a problem. Now once I get to work and dig up my “customer number” they are going to hear about it! (Did I mention that they don’t email reciepts, instead opting to give you a random number to keep track of your order?) I’ll follow up here and let you know if I get a refund. In the meantime, I’ll continue to suggest that you take your online MP3 shopping to a place that knows what they’re doing.
ps. How awesome is it that Bleep sells Thrill Jockey records (including Bobby Conn) now? The answer? Very. =)
pps. How not awesome is it that Bobby Conn is doing a residency at Schuba’s next month, and here I am all the way out in the middle of the other side of the country? I’ll leave this one for you to figure out =P
[UPDATE] Well here we are 3 days later and still no response from Kompakt customer service. I guess i’ll just eat the €6.26 they overcharged me. I am very disappointed in Kompakt’s unwillingness to work with an otherwise very satisfied customer to improve their site. Why is this so often the default mode of merchant/customer interaction? Has no one read cluetrain? (or hughtrain for that matter? =)