Cheap Music: Amazon.com Black Friday Sales; Signature Sounds Sale

With Thanksgiving hot on our heels, that means the season of holiday music sales and Black Friday deals is near. Here are a couple of places to find good music at good prices, whether you're shopping for gifts for family and friends or, um, buying stuff for yourself.

Bruce Springsteen's "The Promise" 3 CD/3 Blu-ray set will be just $58.99 for a few hours on Thanksgiving Day.

Amazon.com Black Friday Deals 

Amazon.com is having Black Friday music dealsthat started yesterday and continue through Monday, Nov. 28th.

If you're a fan of Amazon's lightning deals and other time-limited sales, you'll like the setup of their Black Friday music sale. Several items are put on sale for a two- or four-hour window, then they go up to their regular price.

For example, here are the Black Friday specials for Wednesday, Nov. 23rd:

5 a.m. - 9 a.m. PST:
Various Artists: "Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology" - $55.99
Amos Lee: "Mission Bell" - $5.99

9 a.m. - 1 p.m. PST:
Pearl Jam: "Live at the Gorge 05/06" - $18.99
Tony Bennett: "Duets II" - $6.99

1 p.m. - 5 p.m. PST:
Queen: "Queen 40 Limited Edition Collector's Box Set" - $32.99
Mumford & Sons: "Sigh No More" - $4.99

5 p.m. - 9 p.m. PST:
Various Artists: "The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Concerts" (4CD) - $25.99
Eddie Vedder: "Ukulele Songs" - $4.99

Some of the highlights of Thanksgiving Day offerings:
5 a.m. - 9 a.m. PST: U2: "Joshua Tree" (Remastered/Expanded Super Deluxe Edition, 2CD/DVD) - $22.99
9 a.m. - 1 p.m. PST: Bruce Springsteen: "The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story" (3 CD/3 DVD) - $58.99

Signature Sounds Pre-Holiday Sale

This Massachusetts-based label features a great stable of singer-songwriters and Americana musicians, and their annual sale at this time each year lets you buy any CD for $9.99 or less. (You also get a free 11-track sampler with each order than includes a physical CD.)

I somehow missed this sale until I got an e-mail from the label today, so unfortunately the one-week-only sale ends tomorrow, Wednesday, Nov. 23rd, at Midnight Eastern time.

Signature Sounds artists include Eilen Jewell, Josh Ritter, Crooked Still, Kris Delmhorst, Patty Larkin, Chris Smither, Lori McKenna, Winterpills, Richard Shindell, and Louise Taylor. 

MP3 Specials Today Only: $1.99 for New Albums by Gorillaz, John Legend, KT Tunstall, More

The new album by John Legend & The Roots is one of the MP3 albums you can get for $1.99 on Tuesday, Nov. 23rd only.

I know it seems like I'm writing about Amazon.com's MP3 albums every week, but they are having some great Black Friday deals this week. Here's the story: every day this week they're offering five different MP3 albums for $3.99 each. And most of these are new albums.

For Tuesday, however, the five albums are only $1.99 each. Four are new albums (the latest from John Legend & the Roots, KT Tunstall, Gorillaz, and Belle & Sebastian) and one classic album, "Chronicle: 20 Greatest Hits" by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Check the Amazon Black Friday MP3 albums sale page each day this week for the latest deals.

2009 Amazon.com Black Friday & Cyber Monday Sales: Music, Movies, and More

For those of you recovering from eating massive amounts of turkey and other foods, the Amazon.com Black Friday sales offer you the chance to shop for your friends and relatives (or yourself) and get some great deals. (What's more, many of the specials will continue through Cyber Monday).

The Amazon.com Black Fridays main pagelists deals available in a number of popular categories: music, movies and TV, electronics, video games, etc. At the top of the page is a "Lightning Deals" offer. These are items available only for a limited time and in limited quantity, and below the item is a countdown timer and a progress bar showing you what percentage of the item has been claimed. If you like the pulse-pounding thrill of chasing down a hot deal and buying it at the last minute, this option is for you.

Check out the Black Friday music salefor information on sale prices running through Monday, Nov. 30 on new releases and bestsellers, boxed sets, and $5 lightning deals on CDs. You'll also see the list of timed specials available.

Amazon always offers a selection of 50 MP3 albums for $5 each month, but for Black Friday they claim to be offering 600 MP3 albums for $5 each. I didn't take the time to count them all, but go to their page to check it out. There are lists of 50 $5 albums in pop, rock, indie and alternative rock, jazz, Christian and gospel, R&B, singer-songwriters, Amazon editors' picks, and more.

Many of these albums seem to have been offered in the monthly $5 sale, but there are also some titles I haven't seen there. These specials, like many other deals, may continue through Cyber Monday.

The Amazon.com Black Friday movies & TV dealshas a bunch of timed specials available through Friday night, Nov. 27. Only a few titles are on sale in any particular time window, but if there's something you want there, you'll want to pounce.

If this all sounds like a bewildering array of products and deals, well, it is. I can only peruse the Black Friday pages at Amazon.com for a few minutes at a time without feeling bogged down with all the choices. But, an overselection of discounted music, movies, and the like to choose from is a good problem. Amazon will likely hold sales after Cyber Monday as well. Happy shopping!