It's a good way to build up a collection of back titles at ~$4/disc. It usually takes 6-12 months after the retail release for albums to become available. They don't have some of the mega-artists like Beatles, Stones, Floyd, etc., and if your tastes run toward independent labels you're out of luck. You can browse through and see what they have.
There aren't any hidden charges, as long as you understand that shipping is a total ripoff and the way they guarantee they won't lose money on any customer. They charge nearly $3 to ship each CD via media mail. The rule with all these places is buy the minimum required, quit, and rejoin. They'll throw all kinds of "deals" at you to try to convince you to buy more than the minimum, but without fail it will only raise your average cost per disc. They also offer monthly selections that automatically ship 3-4 weeks later, you need to stay on top of that and cancel them before they ship and bill you. Cancelling the membership is easy enough and can be done online.
BMG is the better CD club these days, the selection is better and their introductory 12 for 1 deal is better than what CH is willing to offer (they used to have some great coupon codes but they've been pulled). If you join BMG, you won't do any better for yourself by signing up through a referral, although the referer will get 5 free ones.
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