Happy to report mine also arrived safe and sound - and the actual value paid was also marked on the customs sticker. Very happy, and it will take me a while to listen to them all.
Got my box from SAE and thankfully, they marked the $ value price as what I paid for the discs ($5), so no poxy customs charges to be added. I bought... 1864 (Beltrami) - already had a CD-R of it and love the Main Theme. Pirate's Passage (Lockington) - the only CD by him I didn't have. Imago Mortis (De La Riva) - based on spook's thumbs up a while back. The 4 Musketeers (Matt Dunkley) - based on his stirling work on The Kid Who Would Be King. Way To The Rebellion (George Shaw) - cos it's StarWars related and one $
I got that Pirates Passage CD as well, I several tracks quite a lot, he manages to get the sea and brine in the orchestra. Very nice, and the notes are interesting as well, shows Sutherland pretty involved.
I don't quite understand SAE's logic here that Media Mail is more prone to loss and/or damage other than the fact that it may be in the system longer (or maybe it's an insurance issue). I haven't gotten a lot of damaged merchandise in the mail, but the couple of times it has happened it was regular 1st class. The only difference in handling with Media Mail is that it is given the lowest priority. If everything doesn't fit on a truck, for instance, Media Mail gets left behind and waits for the next truck. I got my order from Virginia here in Arizona in 2 days and in perfect condition. That's exceptional for Media Mail. A week to 10 days from the East Coast is normal and I've had packages take two or more weeks to/from Atlanta or Florida.
SAE's official statement is:
"We are sorry to inform you that due to excessive loss and damages, we will now no longer be offering the Media Mail shipping option. All US orders will only be shipped via First Class Mail and Priority Mail Services, which has always been the standard mailing method available on our site. This is based on weight and not able to be chosen for a preference. All currently pending orders with the Media Mail option selected will still ship via this method. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience."
I've placed more than 100 Media Mail orders with SAE over the years and used Media Mail to return items to them and other vendors as well. I've never had a single item lost or damaged, but apparently it's a big problem with others.
I went crazy during the last two sales for MSM and it's so worth it...even though not every score is a gem...enough of them are actually GREAT that it's worth the cost...I'm still working though the last batch and it seems like every other score surprises me with how good it is.
