VGMDB's A Beginner's Guide to Buying VGM

[DXAshram]

Honestly, buying anime soundtracks is the same as buying VGM soundtracks. You go to most of the same places (eBay, Otaku.com, CDJapan, YahooJP Auction), look out for the same kinds of bootleggers and so on.

[CrossMitsuda]

Well I feel bad, I just bought a three bootleg copies of shadow of the colossus & ICO soundtracks from a eBay seller called HobbyLot. I knew the price was probably too good to be true but I decided to go with it. Guess I'll have to buy them again on CDJapan. Stupid. So that's another seller to watch out for. HobbyLot.

[LiquidAcid]

You didn't follow the golden rule: Never buy something if the seller doesn't indicate the (correct) catalog number and publisher for the album.

[CrossMitsuda]

Originally Posted by LiquidAcid

You didn't follow the golden rule: Never buy something if the seller doesn't indicate the (correct) catalog number and publisher for the album.

You're right, I was ignorant on how prevalent bootlegged items were. Guess I'll just search out authentic copies I suppose.

[Jodo Kast]

I don't know if this is true anymore, but some bootleggers had comfortable ties with retailers (non-auction). In 1999, the store GameCave told me to always buy Ever Anime versions of soundtracks. And gamemusic.com used to sell Son May versions. I picked up a Son May Dracula Battle II from gamemusic.com in 2000 (didn't know it was a bootleg - not back then).

Edit: I also bought a CD from gamemusic.com titled "Dragon Quest: Digital Sound Explosion", which was a Son May version of the 1986 Dragon Quest Symphonic Suite.

[GoldfishX]

Advanced trick for buying from Amazon Japan marketplace. Has been very fruitful for me recently.

Usually, items that are marked "Amazon" can be purchased by overseas buyers. The drawback is the shipping is skyhigh (I believe it's EMS) and most used items are not marked "Amazon". Usually, the marketplace is full of sellers that do not sell overseas. Hence, the need for middleman to nab these items.

However, some marketplace sellers WILL sell overseas. To find out which ones, search for the album you want (I usually do it by catalogue number) and navigate to the used marketplace listing for the item. Unless the album is stupidly rare, there are usually 10 or more copies sitting in the marketplace. Add 4-5 of the same item (but from different sellers) into your cart and attempt to check out. You will receive an error message for each one that will not ship overseas, so you can remove these from the cart. The ones that don't give the error message, you can simply check out and buy the item with your registered account. REMEMBER TO TAKE OUT THE DUPLICATE ITEMS FROM YOUR CART IF MULTIPLE SELLERS ARE WILLING TO SHIP OVERSEAS! The shipping is usually also less (I live in the US and I pay around $8 an item).

What is cool is some of the more common items that would fetch even $15-$20 on the US/European market are regularly had for 1-200 yen (yes, one crummy yen!). Amazon Japan is a pretty good indicator of prices that items fetch.

[smartalex2014]

Originally Posted by pepak

Actually, I never quite understood why bootlegs are such a problem. For people who like to listen to game music, that is - I see why collectors and copyright holders would be offended by bootlegs. (Note: I don't condone producing and selling bootlegs, but I do acknowledge that for the purpose of listening they are often as good as "the real thing", but more readily available and at far more affordable price.)

Btw., bootlegs are far more of a problem with asian (Japanese/Korean) game soundtracks than with european/american releases. Which is lucky for those of us who prefer euro/US music :-). Plus you don't need to learn japanese to actually have a chance of a good deal.

Korean music doesn't have much of a problem either. Most are official releases.

[Timugin]

this is a decent guide. Thanks for the info and comments.