STOP! Illegal Copy!

Monday, 14th July 2008 15:15

Piracy has always been something that I've always been on the fence about, having studied Computing at University pirated software is something that I've always used, I've even been known to buy films off of the dodgy looking guy that comes into the pub around the corner from my work. I know it's wrong but sometimes I think it can be justified, in Uni it was either fight over the PCs that had the software needed to do your coursework with the possibility of wasting a whole day and never actually doing any work, or grab a copy of the software needed install it at home and have no worries and with some of the software costing far too much to buy legally, copying become the norm, and then there's the age old argument that the company producing it isn't actually losing any money as I would never have the money to buy it in the first place so technically their not actaully losing out. I very rarely buy pirate DVDs and on the odd occasion I have it's because I can't wait to see a film, the last pirated film I bought was George Romero's Land of the Dead, I'm a huge fan of George Romero's films especially 'The Dead' series and although you might be thinking why if I'm a fan did I buy it on pirate it's because I just had to watch it I couldn't hold out. I ended up going to see it in the cinema and buying it on DVD as well.

Now moving away from films and software and onto something more related to the site, H!P.


In a recent post (3rd ~LOVE Escalation!~ Poster) Saria commented on what the "STOP! Illegal Copy!" was at the bottom of the poster, I too wondered this when I first saw the poster and from what I understand it's a campaign from RIAJ to promote the sale of music over copying/downloading. I've also seen the message appearing on some of the more recent H!P posters, certainly the High King poster I've order through Ohta features this on the bottom as well, as does the poster for Berryz Koubou latest single release. At the moment I'm a little unsure as to whether there's a difference between posters sold/given away at concerts/FC events and those given to shops to help promote the single. I'm wondering if the "STOP! Illegal Copy!" only features on the promotional versions of the poster? But as I don't know I can only assume that it features on all the posters and as I've never noticed this on any of the previous posters it got me thinking, are illegal copies of music/DVDs affecting H!P as a whole? If this message on the recent posters are anything to go by, does it indicate that it is?
There's the obvious answer that it must affect them quite a lot, if figures in the UK are anything to go by it seems everybody within the music industry is affected, but I've always thought to myself that H!P had a much firmer footing when it comes to things like this, I've always considered that the albums and singles produced by H!P to be of a much higher quality than those released elsewhere, there's always some added extra to help entice you into buying the latest release, whether it's a bonus DVD, cards, poster, booklet or stickers, there's that something that you can't have if you download it. But that aside the main incentive for me is showing my support for the groups and with things like PBs, DVDs and photos it's showing support for not just the groups but the individual members.

With H!P trying to push themselves to appeal to other Asian countries, I'm guessing their main concern is how many illegal copies of their products are floating around not only Japan but these areas as well, as these are their target audiences, but what about outside this area? It's quite a curious situation as without them I think the H!P community outside of these areas would be practically non-existent. Speaking from my own experience of getting into H!P, although I was introduced to them whilst in Japan it wasn't until I was back home and searching YouTube that I actually found out more about them, I was able to listen and watch their older releases and without this ability to watch and listen to these uploaded files chances are my interest in them would have died down and I wouldn't be the fan I am now. Unfortunately there's no radio station I can tune into or TV station that I can watch that will offer me the content that I'm after, with the :::Dohhh Up!::: website appearing it's now offering a great way to catch previews of upcoming releases and chance to listen to and watch PVs before they become available to buy, the only downside being that it takes an age to load in, but then that's a small complaint to make about such a great site.
The thing that really interests me though is that there are numerous Japanese fan sites that share video, music and photos and I've seen these come up and go down, I'm guessing because UFA have put a stop to them? But what I find interesting is that sites like Hello! Online and accounts such as mine on Veoh stay open and unaffected. With sites like Hello! Online, I'm guessing the main reason is because there are no actual downloads offered that are located on the site, the use of torrents and sites like MegaUpload and RapidShare get round the issues and the site remains unaffected as they are unable to control what users link to or share, but if you look at it a different way Hello! Online is so much more than a file sharing site, sure you can download all the latest releases, but the most important about the site is the community built around it. Sites like Veoh have a huge selection of H!P clips and as far as I can tell either UFA are unaware of the sites or there not particularly bothered about it, during my use of Veoh I've only ever received one message to take down a video and the video in question was a clip of Tanpopo on Utaban and I think it had more to do with it being a clip from Utaban then anything else as I've heard numerous people have had similar clips taken down.

I've also wondered as to how many people are actually buying the releases as opposed to downloading them, understandably it's an impossible task to buy all of H!P releases, with so many coming out on such a regular basis you'd need a never ending supply of money to keep up then there's the fact that a lot of the items are so difficult to get a hold of it's not like we're able to get copies of FC editions easily, but I'd love to know how much we all contribute to them compared to the Japanese fans I know it's going to be a tiny amount in comparison but it's something that really interests me. It's also something that I think could reflect how UFA treat us as a fan base, as I'm sure if sales from overseas were to pick up it would have to attract H!P attention. But it is a really awkward situation, without the file sharing that goes on there's no way we'd be able to see the full scope of H!P products and appearances, there's even the possibility that people who are fans now wouldn't be, but on the other side there's the fact that we all start shouting when singles don't sell so well. Financially I think UFA have little to worry about, they have so many avenues to make money from fans outside of the usual music and DVD releases; concerts, FC events, photobooks, photos and all manner of other merchandise that can't be shared like the scarves, calendars etc etc, and I've yet to meet a fan that doesn't want to buy H!P merchandise.

TAGS [ Stuff ]
Posted Monday, 14th July 2008 15:15 | 6361 Reads

Comments

Comment by Strawberrie on Monday, 14th July 2008 17:42
I think they started doing the message at the bottom of the poster since beginning of 2008 I believe. When I was browsing photos at HelloProLand I notice it at the bottom thinking maybe it was only the overseas version but I notice them at the Japan auction and realize that maybe its to help stop illegal downloading. The most downloading I do now is various TV appearances H!P does (mostly subtitle). Have you watch the treasure hunt special (forgot the TV show's name) featuring Sayumi, Takahashi, Niigaki, and JunJun. The show really bought the best out of JunJun and it the Niigaki-JunJun team was quite funny throughout the show.


Comment by Shwee on Monday, 14th July 2008 23:41
Truthfully, I download more than I buy. As a 15 year old without a job and credit card its kind of hard to get my hands on the merchandise. Despite of this I still have a small collection thats slowly growing.

It's kind of hard to say whether all illegal downloading should be banned as if it wasn't for file sharing I'm sure a lot of fans wouldn't have discovered H!P without it and then inevitably, they would buy some sort of merchandise in the future (well the majority of them at least).

I think it's important to buy what we can to show support but at the same time I think file sharing is a good way to introduce more fans to H!P. If H!P started selling merchandise in stores worldwide then I'm sure a lot of people would buy more merchandise rather than download it as then they won't have to rely on ordering through the internet (which can be a pain I guess..)



Comment by Nathan on Tuesday, 15th July 2008 01:25
These posters are becoming more and more common place. I just hope sites like HearJapan (http://www.hearjapan.com) can get more artists to help fill the gap so I don't need to pirate.


Comment by bulmasman on Tuesday, 15th July 2008 04:11
Do i download a lot? Yes i do. Do i feel guilty for it? no i don't. I sink enough money into H!P that i don't feel guilty for downloading, say, Berryz DIscography. I know that in future i will most likely buy one of their albums. As it currently stands i own all MM albums plus a myriad of other H!P cd's. Not to mention i'm a relatively strong supporter of Reina, owning 3 PB's and the scarf (which i can't wait until winter rolls round again for :D).

If i didn't buy any of this stuff, i would feel guilty for the amount that i download. At the same time, i have a LOT of Jpop and Jrock that i'm a fan of, and i try to support all my favourite artists. I do have a wide selction of downloaded music that i haven't bought etc... but it's not humanly possible. If this stuff was all readily available to me (radio, mtv etc...) i wouldn't feel the need to download so much, but clearly since we don't live in Japan, we're never gonna reach a point where i can turn the radio on and have the latest MM or Hamasaki Ayumi song playing, and so that's where the internet plays such a big part. Also, 99% of what i've bought, wouldn't have been bought if i hadn't downloaded stuff previously... so in a way, illegal downloads outside of Japan have done nothing short of giving the industry MORE money.

Also, on the subject of subtitled shows like Utaban, Hello! Morning etc... I don't see that as a problem at all. These shows aren't commercially available, and if they are, they're sure as hell not subbed in English. If a dvd containing all of MM's utaban episodes, subbed in english, was released you could guarantee i would buy it.

(sorry for the giant rant)


Comment by momo on Tuesday, 15th July 2008 04:55
I made my statement pretty clear at my blog about this issue, I basicly said it's wrong, and if you are caught doing it, you go to jail and you may be sued by the copyright holder for restitution.

you can read my full post at my blog


Comment by WhoWhatWhere on Tuesday, 15th July 2008 04:57
I try to support H!P for the groups I like (°C-ute, Buono!, Berryz) by buying all the CD's they put out, but I could never afford the price of the DVD's. Between the low value of the greenback and shipping cost to the States your talking fifty plus dollars for one DVD. I really wish they would sell their products in the States. I think they miss out on a lot of sales by not being more international. I know it will never happen but I'm waiting for the world tour :)


Comment by Rad on Tuesday, 15th July 2008 11:05
The recent Anime Expo 2008 was dominated by the downloading controversy. Crunchyroll caught the most flak, and its Vietnamese CEO had a thicket of troubles with Japanese anime creators, right down to near-shoutdowns during some panels.

But you're right to point out that the industry provokes downloading by 1) delaying releases to the West by as much as 90 days, and 2) blocking distribution to the US in subtle ways. Nothing from H!P has ever been available on Region 1 DVD (you have to get a region-free DVD player illegally from overseas). Geneon, in a brainless decision out of Japan, abruptly cut Region 1 DVD sales to the US and all Geneon anime titles are available only on Region 2. What's with that? Talk about slapping your fans in the face.

Prices? Lord, it's costing me US $82 just to get the Battle Concert DVDs, and you have to get both (Berryz version, $42, C-ute version, $40), and AKB48 titles have soared above the $60 mark. Prices have skyrocketed 10 percent or more because of the sick dollar.

But none of that is excuse enough to download. I never have and never will. I perfer factory CDs and DVDs (though I almost exclusively order DVDs these days). Yes, I will sample things on YouTube or elsewhere, but never download an actual copy. It's just wrong.

And, yes, I do admit to using screencaos from my legally produced DVDs ti illustrate my blogs -- but they are all published in the spirit of PROMOTING sales of the DVDs (which I'm sure they do because my SiteMeter tells me I have a global audience). It is also for that reasopn that I use very few video links from my blogs.

In any event, another great post and analysis, Tom/Paul.

Hope to see you in Tokyo in January!


Comment by paul.thomas on Tuesday, 15th July 2008 16:40
I must admit to being a little bit wary of writing this post, especially knocking it up in my lunch break, i wasn't too sure if I'd cover all the points I wanted to and if it sounded like I was preaching.
Strawberrie, I haven't seen the show, I'll look out for it, if you can remember the name of the show let me know, I want to fill my iPhone up with some H!P shows as I'm off for a week on Sunday and it'll be a great opportunity to catch up on all the shows I've missed. The whole subtitled side of things is something I've totally ignored in this post and you raise a great point, without the subtitled versions that are available for download there are a lot of people who just won't understand what's going on and again without this community and the sharing of files it's a whole aspect that just wouldn't be around

Shwee, again another great point, which was also raised by Nono-chan in another post, with the younger side of H!P fans it's not the thing of not wanting to spend the money or knowing where to spend the money, it's just not having it, mix it in with the fact that you then have to add shipping on top of it it's certainly not cheap. I think that you've also raised the best point, I think that most H!P fans want to own the merchandise, I certainly haven't met anybody who doesn't want to own and support through their merchandise, but if for what ever reason they can't I have no doubt that at some point they will. It's a shame that shops don't stock foreign music, in my experience of walking into the world music section of places like Virgin (Zavvi) and HMV is that all they seem to sell is the more traditional style of music for the countries rather than a modern collection, you'd imagine with the ever increasing popularity of Anime and Manga that shops might try selling JPop and JRock as well?

Nathan, this is the first time I've seen the Hear Japan site, that's a great service they provide and the ability to actually preview the tracks is great, fingers crossed Japanese artists will sites like this as a great means of reaching the rest of the world.

bulmasman, no worries at all I enjoyed the read. And I completely agree with your comment about the downloads outside of Japan generating more money for the industry as it's practically one of the few ways to experience it. It would be great if a radio station or TV show would take up the whole asian music scene, not necessarily just Japanese, but Chinese, Korean etc etc even if it was on at some stupid time like 2 in the morning, I'd stay up and listen to it, oddly I think MTV has moved away from the whole other countries music scene, I could be wrong as I watch so little of it now, but I remember when I first started watching it on Sky when I was in college, they had the European chart and the music played although mostly English and American also featured European artists not singing in English. With Japan being the 2nd biggest market for music only beaten by America you would have thought that someone would of thought to bring it over?
The TV shows are a thing that have always puzzled me, not just with Japanese shows but with all of them, I've seen the pulled from YouTube and it's really odd, especially when it comes to things like chat shows, at no point are these going to be released to buy just because of their very nature, yet the makers of them are very protective over them being shared I can understand it from their point of view, but it's also really frustrating for the fans, as you say it shouldn't be a problem.

momo, I see you're not backing down in your opinions, good for you! I was actually reading something a little earlier that you might be interested in, apparently the G8 are thinking about introducing legislation that would allow customs to scan Media Players and laptops for illegal content, I'm not entierly sure how they could prove that anything was downloaded illegally but it's a move that may stop people from sharing files.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2008/07/10/nairport110.xml

WhoWhatWhere, I think that's the best approach any fan can take, as long as we try our best to support them as much as we can, what more can be asked? I'd agree that H!P should try to become more international, even if it's opening up their online stores or fanclub to allow foreign fans to shop and join. The World Tour sounds like a great idea! Never say never ;p

Rad, I guess that's a disadvantage with living in the US, luckily the UK is the same region as Japan so DVD run fine for me, a lot of UK DVD players come built in with a hack for removing the region locking, it's normally a hidden menu accessed by the right button presses on the remote, but the whole Region thing in general is pain, especially when it comes to watching DVD on PCs, I only have the problem really with American DVDs on my home PC I've ended up having one DVD set on region 2 and one to regioin 1, lol it can get confusing at times.
As for prices I've certainly noticed an increase in YesAsia's prices lately, so much so that I've started going back to CDJapan as it's working out cheaper and I don't have to put up with the stupidly long delivery time. But as you say owning it is true form, CD/DVD is something I also enjoy (as you've probably guessed lol). I think much the same when it comes to my blog too, when I put up images and video clips it's more to promoting sales for H!P rather than the sharing of files, it certainly makes me happy to see how Ohta is doing, I remember when I first stumbled across him on eBay selling a couple of H!P tshirts and now he's regularly selling all manner of H!P merchandise .




Comment by Matt_D on Tuesday, 15th July 2008 17:15
Interestingly in reference to system scanning there was a statement that it was far more pushed towards full scale dupping and piracy, however I'm not one to trust official types so i travel with a clean laptop.

I first saw the "stop illegal copy" grafetti defacing my Momoi, when I went to Japan most posters featured it, it's a shame as it really distracts from the actual poster having this hideous defacement vomited across the bottom.

Re region encoding - A region free DVD player costs you £20 in the UK so even if we were in different regions it wouldn't make a difference (this all changes with Bluray of course as Japan and the US are now together.)

Re Piracy - whatever there are worse things in the world, I'd rather H!P love was spread around the room instead of busted or 50cents. If it weren't for youtube I'd never of decided to check out AKB48, and if it weren't for all the people saying momosu were better I'd never have checked them out either, never would of downloaded their discography, never would of spent a grand on merchandise and £150 on seeing Reina in a stage show earlier this year.

As to my purchasing I tend to download singles/albums unless I can get first presses and special editions but I buy Reina photobooks and concert dvds (I probably have all the concert dvds from Momosu and Berryz back to 2002 maybe later I can't remember without looking) and I'm making a second pass to pick up stage shows and dramas. Also fronting a vast amount of cash on concerts in the first 10 days in november (can i manage all 8 - 6 Momosu - 2 Berryz with a pair of Perfume in the middle?)

O I also picked up a Reina towel at the stage show <3 this November will be expensive.

As an aside - woah awsome site dude I shall be visiting more often - nice to see another UK Morning Musume fan.

Matt


Comment by Strawberrie on Tuesday, 15th July 2008 19:31
http://www.hello-online.org/index.php?act=tracker&CODE=details&torrent=14907

The show is called Pussuma, I just really think the show brings out the best in JunJun. I'm sure you'll love Sayumi and JunJun's introduction. Niigaki's shouldn't be too much of a surprise and Takahashi is the same as always.


Comment by nono-chan on Wednesday, 16th July 2008 01:58
ayaka's married! X3 ai and risa talk about it too^^ and from what i see we might get cindi the musical shirts XD from what i see, they look good lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTy-Xn2MSFk


Comment by Helmi on Wednesday, 16th July 2008 14:06
I'm going to get myself Tanaka Reina Girl photobook! I have order it already at a book shop since I don't trust internet business like eBay and others. Just imagine, this will be my very first purchase and I have been a Morning Musume fan for 8 years. For 7 years I downloaded MM videos by file sharing. This year I have started downloading H!P DVD. (fans of H!P for 2 years) For the photobook of Tanaka Reina Girl will cost me $60. I'm living at South East Asia and I have been searching for MM DVD or CD everywhere but it seem as they are not selling their DVD over here. If the file sharing doesn't exist, I won't be a MM fan or C-ute & Berrys Koubou fan. When I visited a music shop, what I get to see is Ayumi Hamasaki DVD/CD, Utada Hikaru DVD/CD, but no Morning Musume, C-ute & Berryz Koubou DVD/CD. If I found one, for sure I will buy it. Koharu Kusumi - Papancake release today and I won't be able to buy it. T-T


Comment by Saria on Wednesday, 16th July 2008 20:07
Wow. I've been a lurker around your site for a little over a year now. Wouldn't have imagined that the first (or second?) comment I've ever made on your site would have sparked a post haha (or maybe I'm just taking too much credit :p).

When I saw the "Stop! Illegal Copy" on the poster, I originally thought that maybe it was the poster that was a fake (thinking back, that doesn't make much sense does it? haha)

Anyways, I was introduced to the world of H!P by downloading an episode of Ayu-Ready (Hamasaki Ayumi's now defunct TV show). The guest for that show was none other than Mini-Moni. I had first heard about Morning Musume in one of the manga-focused channels I used to be a part of on IRC but didn't really think anything of it. After a lot of searching and trying to understand this whole H!P thing and its history, I downloaded a Haromoni episode which was a Mini-Moni special (when the group was going on indefinite hiatus). Momusu performed "My Dear Boy" live on the show and honestly I thought it was cheezy and laughable (writing that now looks really laughable in retrospect). But (like most H!P songs) the song was catchy and from there I went on a H!P downloading spree. This was while I was a poor college student (so I know what it's like being in Shwee's situation).

I'm still poor despite having a job (I live in an expensive city - NYC, USA - where all my money goes to rent) but I've curtailed the downloading majorly (mainly because I find it a huge time suck trying to keep up with everything and always running out of disk space). I've bought H!P since and always give my family a whole list of H!P stuff to buy if they come across it when they visit Taiwan so I buy when I can ('can' is the key word here). I don't really have an issue purchasing music or merchandise but I do wish the whole region issue with DVD's was easier. That hasn't stopped me from purchasing Jpop DVD's but it really does but a damper on wanting to purchase one.

Great post! Looking forward to more! :)






Comment by Saria on Wednesday, 16th July 2008 20:10
Oh one thing I forgot to mention. That player you have on the left side which plays H!P's latest releases? Ingenious. I think it's a great way to promote the latest songs (w/o having to resort to looking up the video in YouTube and playing it in the background which is what I've had to do 99% of the time).


Comment by paul.thomas on Thursday, 17th July 2008 13:51
Matt_D, great to meet another UK H!P fan! Much like yourself I'm not a fan of customs, they can be a right pain, I remember when the first time I went to Japan and I was coming back and the customs guys stopped me and was going through my luggage and I got into an arguement with him because he wanted to unwrap some amazingly wrapped presents for my family, I know it's their job but still. I feel slightly better that it's aimed at more at the normal individual but knowing my luck my I'll get stopped and my laptop searched, lol I'm so unlucky like that my last trip to Japan I was stuck in imigration for what must have been 4-5 hours :(
The "stop illegal copy" sign at the bottom isn't the greatest thing in the world, but it's good to see that the colour scheme of it is allowed to be altered, at least they can try to mix it in with the poster a bit better, but it not being there at all would be ideal.
You raise a great point about the concerts and events, I'd imagine that the majority of the money made by H!P has to come from the concerts, what with the ticket sales and merchandise they must make a fortune, it's not like there's ever really a break, there's always something going on. And it's so easy to spend cash at the concerts, when I went I spent a load of money outside the venue buying tour merchandise then I stepped inside and realised they had more stalls selling albums, CDs and DVDs, I loved it...my wallet didn't ;p
It sounds like you're going to have a great time when you're out there in November I hope you get to see the concerts, it's safe to say I'm extremely jealous, so mant concerts!

Strawberrie, thanks for the link, lol it actually made me laugh a disscussion about piracy and mid way through a link to a download ;p Usually me and torrents don't get on very well, my ISP restricts the speed when downloading them. but oddly I got really good download rate, so I now have it and will give it a watch as soon as I can :)

nono-chan, I was reading about Ayaka getting married, it kind of makes me think if this wasn't the real reason she left? Seems a litte coincidental doesn't it? The Cinderella shirts look great!

Helmi, eBay can be a bit worrying at times but when it comes to H!P merchandise I feel really confident with the buyers that I get my items from, I've had no problems at all with them. If you want to give eBay a go Ohta's store is a great place to start, quite possibly the most trustworthy eBayer I've met. I think the fact that their CDs and DVDs aren't really sold outside of Japan (well at least in out countries) plays a big factor in why people download them, there is always that worry with online shopping.
Reina's Girl PB is a great first buy, Reina has to be one of the most photogenic members of H!P, she can look good in anything!

Saria, lol the credit is all yours I wouldn't have most the post if it wasn't for your comment. I actually thought the same as you when I first saw it and then I thought much the same as in it didn't make much sense, I'm guessing it's just badly worded english, 'copy' should be 'copying'?
I find that a lot of people think much the same when they see H!P...cheezy pop music, but when you get into it's so much more, appearances can be deseaving and all that. I have Mini Moni to thank for getting me into H!P as well, it was Aibon and Nono that originally got me into it and then inturn Mini Moni, lol I was so confused back then searching for videos on YouTube and seeing them cropping up in different units, I really couldn't understand H!P it went over my head for such a long time, lol.
The player comes in really handy when I'm in work and I haven't got my laptop, listening to H!P is one of the most calming and relaxing things I know, it certainly helps on a stressful day!


Comment by Daniel on Thursday, 17th July 2008 13:57
Tsuku comments about Ayaka in his blog, I was expecting him to comment about her soon after she graduated from H!P but his wife had just given birth to twins. The link below takes you to his blog:

http://ameblo.jp/tsunku-blog/entry-10115808851.html

I wish I knew what he was saying...sadly, I can't read Japanese. Anyway, I miss Ayaka in H!P but I'm very happy for her and she is in my thoughts and prayers. I wish her and Hideto all the best! Congratulations Ayaka!


Comment by Matt_D on Thursday, 17th July 2008 17:00
I noticed on that ebay store they had the Reina Solo shot bomb kyu DVD <.< I want it... Reina is without a doubt my number one member.

Concerts are the number one motivator for visits to Japan, but we always seem to get lucky with the way they all just line up. Last time we got to see Minori Chihara, Perfume, Harepan, a dozen AKB48 shows and the last performance of the cooking stage show (Reina cried, we cheared her on, all was epic). This time we have Berryz, Morning Musume and Perfume. No time for AKB

Stopped by customs on the way back too, you defenetly don't have much luck (read about you getting stuck at Japanese customs - man that had to be sickening.)

Biggest thing with the stop illegal copy posters (beyond the grammatical nightmare - honestly I wanted to correct so many signs in Japan) is that you've almost certainly bought something to have one, and there they are telling you not to copy things. It's like signs on bins saying that you can be fined £2000 for littering, the only way you see the sign is if you're about to put something in the bin... Of course, at that point I drop the liter on the floor and walk off, I hate being told to do things I'm about to do, and those posters have the same demented mentality to them. The only people that suffer are the ones who buy tihngs legally (like the piracy funds terrorism trash you get at the start of legit DVDs - get a pirate don't have to watch that junk woohoo.)

@Daniel
You can get a word by word translator plug in for Firefox Rikaichan also this is a good translator (well about as good as you're gonna find for free)
http://nifty.amikai.com/amitext/indexUTF8.jsp
just change it from 英語＞日本語　to 日本語　＞英語
English > Japanese Japanese > English.
Can take a bit of guess work, and doesn't deal well with slang.


Comment by Matt_D on Thursday, 17th July 2008 17:33
Lol just noticed that that smilie resulted in the middle of the post being eaten, doh.

Main thing,
Translator software
If you have firefox Rikaichan is a good tool, and http://nifty.amikai.com/amitext/indexUTF8.jsp is also good.


Comment by R.B. on Thursday, 17th July 2008 17:35
"I've also wondered as to how many people are actually buying the releases as opposed to downloading them, understandably it's an impossible task to buy all of H!P releases, with so many coming out on such a regular basis you'd need a never ending supply of money to keep up..." -- STOP RIGHT THERE!
Of course it's an "impossible task"! That's the whole point! Buying "all" their releases would be ridiculous to even consider -- totally irrational behaviour!It goes against the whole point of having different tastes and preferences! So you don't try to buy every single thing! You just buy the ones you really, truly like best! :) See? Me, for example: I love Morning Musume. But I mostly prefer their work since 2000, some albums and songs more than others. I have members I love to look at, and members I only LIKE to look at. If I buy a PB, it's gonna be of a member I love to look at, not one I like to look at. I'm not really into C-ute, so I don't buy their stuff. I like a few Mini Moni songs, but I probably wouldn't get a whole album. And so on and so on. It's just sensible shopping, being selective. That's the whole point of having such a variety of groups and styles (past and present), innit?
On a related note, I can understand that if someone's too young to have their own PayPal account or their from some place with a wacky sense of economics like, say, Venezuela, then they're gonna have to settle for pirated stuff for the most part. But everyone else has got no excuse! If you truly love something, then as long as you have even the most modest income, even if you're on bloody welfare, you will SAVE and SAVE and SAVE until you can get it. If that means you have to go without something else, be it a favourite food or latest technological thingamajig or whatever, then do it! Learn to suffer a little in the short term in order to have what you love in the long term! It's not cool when people mope just 'cause life doesn't hand then everything on a silver platter. I go through the day with my somewhat faded flannel shirts, the button holes so worn the buttons just slip out now, and I'm kinda skinny, and I've probably needed new shoes for the past 10 months, and half my socks have holes in them and fall down but that's okay 'cause when I go to bed I have my dozen or so shiny H!P cds and dvds in a box nearby and my MM calendar and clock and posters and stickers on my guitar (which I don't have an amp for 'cause I spent the money for it on H!P stuff but that's okay, I was smart and bought a semi-acoustic....) and I have my PB "Happy Girl" right beside me for when I wake up so I don't get out of bed grumpy.... :p I pretty much chucked in the towel on a 10+ year goal of a career in music for MM in particular; songs I spent the last 2 years recording, mixing, etc, all for nothing it seems, even though making music looked like my only ticket out of a shite life of unemployment and disability pension-collecting..... But you know how it is: "Tokui na koto yori mo, Suki na koto ga ii...". I have to do what I love. It's lovely to not have to spend every day or even one day every 9 months entertaining the idea of killing myself (thanks to MM, Tsunku, etc; excuse me for being weirdly-sentimental). And I barely even speak Japanese. But some things just touch your heart. If anything from H!P means even one-tenth to you as much as it does to me then for fuck's sake go out of your way to buy it. 'cause you know they deserve it.
Sorry for writing so much!
On a somewhat different note, this might be handy for some people who don't have region-free players, as it worked a charm for me:
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks
Have a nice day!


Comment by R.B. on Thursday, 17th July 2008 17:38
By the way: the last message was mostly directed at so-called "fans" in general who make excuses for not buying H!P stuff. It wasn't directed at those who genuinely can't. Let's be clear on that.


Comment by momo on Thursday, 17th July 2008 17:58
I agree with you R.B. If you're a fan, you will save and save until you can get a MM item or CD or whatever. People like me who are "real fans" have done this for a few years and I have lots of various items like cd's, dvd's PB's, shirts, etc.

Pirating their music is no excuse for being a fan, if you really are a fan, have a heart, save some money and buy their music and maybe also buy concert dvd's, and other items too. Music Pirates have no place in society and thats the bottom line. Bittorrent may have it's legal uses (linux distribution, transferring other large legal files without incurring server costs since doing it this way is literally free) but it's illegal uses (downloading music, copyrighted videos, illegal software, etc.) need to stop if not minimized. Sites like hello-online are engaging in this illegal activity but their server is based in Sweeden. If the Sweedish government found out about them, they could be the next "pirate bay fiasco" (Pirate bay is based in Sweeden).

Youtube I will not say is completely wrong, I think sites like Youtube serve as a place to put up little clips for promotion. Copyright holders like Viacom (which is suing google/youtube for copyright infringment and google has handed over 12TB of logs of everyone who has watched a video there, you can find it in the news somewhere) don't see the benefit of their clips on youtube. Other People say that when their clips are on youtube, their shows ratings (Daily show, and other viacom shows) have actually gone up, people go ahead and watch the show on TV after seeing a short clip of a viacom show like the daily show on youtube. It was the same with Saturday night live, their clips were on youtube (NBC obviously wants them down of course) and their ratings went up because of that (SNL's ratings had been down for a while beforehand).

so illegal file sharing surely needs to stop, but youtube could serve a good purpose.


Comment by R.B. on Thursday, 17th July 2008 18:06
Oh excuse my typos, ie: "their" instead of "they're", bad spacing, etc. Sorry. I'm usually ultra-anal about these things so I feel sorta bad. And posting 3 times in a row when I've already said way too much. That's bad form isn't it? Sorry again. I always suck at things like this. I should've checked for errors the first time. But I rarely communicate with anyone online, let alone in real life, except my immediate family. So I'm not good with this kinda shit. So deal with it. Besides, I'm tired and I don't feel well....so if anyone's got a problem with me, fuck them 'cause this is the Internet and nobody here knows me from Adam. So I hope they die of AIDS.
Again, have a nice day. Nice site btw.


Comment by R.B. on Thursday, 17th July 2008 18:11
Hahahaha...... Oh God that's a relief. I thought I was gonna have 3 crappy comments in a row. Thanks momo for breaking the continuity. :D
And I agree with what you wrote btw. It's all totally true which means you're a model fan so wooooo! May you live long and successful!
I'm so tired and moody. :p
Seeyas.
~R.


Comment by nono-chan on Thursday, 17th July 2008 23:36
i'm sorry if this makes me a bad person for typing this, but i would like to put my two cents in. for me,if i could and i mean IF i would buy as much H!P stuff that i could afford,but just it being my mother and i, and being 16 years old, and not having a job whatsoever, i cannot buy any items. i'm not saying this as an exuse but as a fact. my mom would love to get these H!P items for me,but the bills and food come before it. i'm not like many people who buy stuff because they want it. i wait (and pray lol) for the right time to get it. so the only way i can support H!P is in doing fandubs on youtube and drawing pics of them as paul said in the c-ute poster comment. i usualy try to save, but it comes up that i need supplies or clothes for school than an H!P shirt that will cost almost 50 bucks,so i use that saved money for those school items. even though i've known H!P for about 2 years, i've grown to love it and admit that i don't know everything about it, but i am still a fan.if there was anywhere to gett H!P cds in Maiami,i would go there and buy them. but since there isnt. what is a fangirl like me supposed to do? just whish i could litsen to momusu's new single?yet again, i'm sorry if i sound like a bad person,but i just felt like some of these comments wee directed at fans like me. i'm sorry if they're not.


Comment by Daniel on Friday, 18th July 2008 01:22
Back again, just thought I'd share a link. Lehua Sandbo is making news in Hawaii, here's the link to a really good article:

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080715/LIFE/807150307/-1/ISLANDLIFEFRONT&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL


Comment by momo on Friday, 18th July 2008 02:58
nono-chan, the comments being made are NOT being directed to you in any way. We are talking from a general point of view. However, we never talked about it from an age perspective

The US doesn't have Japanese oriented shops except for NYC and LA, Miami FL isn't very Japanese oriented. The internet has come a long way when it comes to discovering Japanese music and to buy it. However, minors like you can't really order online until they are 18. And yes having a job would be good, but I understand

I hope you are able to understand what I mean. If you need help, please ask me.


Comment by nono-chan on Friday, 18th July 2008 03:33
oh ok^^ i'm glad you do. that was the longest comment i've writen so far.lol
hopefuly i'll get an H!P item soon, because my mom has been asking about the 10th aniverey shirt,so there's hope!^^and thanks for your help, but i'll just wait.^^ that's how i got my PS2, and my DS,so who knows? mabe i'll get a whole bunch of stuf for my birthday or christmas.^^


Comment by momo on Friday, 18th July 2008 05:04
continuing on...

nono-chan, your mom likes the 10th aniversary shirt? Thats pretty cool. Did you show her a picture of it? The last shirt I got was from the bonkyu bonkyu bomb concert last year. I got like 10 other shirts too starting from 2006.

I started being a fan in 2005, I had downloaded some songs in the beginning, but then I found the benefit of actually owning the CD's (I happened to turn 18 that year) so I started from the 29th single onwards.

have you seen my blog at all? I have run it for a couple years now. I see your email address, is it ok if I email you? let me know.


Comment by R.B. on Friday, 18th July 2008 05:19
@ nono-chan:
I don't hold anything against the fans who CAN'T buy stuff, only the ones who can but WON'T. So you're cool.
Oh while I'm here, let me apologise to everyone unfortunate enough to read my outbursts. I don't normally go around cussin' the place out, but while I was writing my comments I started feeling poorly (chronic health issues but nothing too serious) and it kinda set me on a really bad course temperament-wise. But I'm okay now. ^_^


Comment by momo on Friday, 18th July 2008 05:40
It's ok, things happen. This whole thing can be mindboggling. But the good thing is that no one has said anything bad or rude about it so everyone appears to be taking the whole thing in stride.


Comment by Rixie on Friday, 18th July 2008 06:46
I agree with the whole "don't pirate H!P" stuff, but I'm just wondering, is buying H!P songs on American iTunes considered pirating? Probably not, but I just want to know. I mean, if there's an album that I like only a couple of the songs, I wouldn't buy the whole album on YesAsia for like, $40.00


Comment by BladeMaster on Friday, 18th July 2008 12:26
Hi Paul, I'm back. My modem blew up and I had to wait a couple of weeks for a replacement. Didn't feel right to comment in ur site when I'm using the work computer:)
Seems like a lot of people have a say in regards to this topic. Well, I started buyiing H!P goods in 2006 after I have a full-time job. I'm a big fan of MM and continued to buy any new products from them since I can afford it. Had to buy them through YesAsia, CDJapan, PlayAsia, AmazonJp and Ohta-san. Gotta admit it's expensive with the postage and all. But I believe it is a fan's way (especially overseas) of showing support to their work. re: Rixie, I think purchasing H!P songs off iTunes is all good. For example if you can afford $10-20 for buy a couple of songs, then by all means.

Funny thing is, that I bought the High-King poster (Taiwanese version), and it's got the same logo of STOP! Illegal Copy.


Comment by momo on Friday, 18th July 2008 14:55
on iTunes, just like any song, it is a legal place to download music. However, you got to be over 18 with an iTunes account and a credit or debit card to buy songs there. If you're fine with DRM on the songs, then it's a good place to download H!P songs.

oh hi Blademaster, that must have sucked not having internet service for a while, good to see you back


Comment by Matt_D on Friday, 18th July 2008 15:55
I think I'm rambling a bit...

Paying for luxury items (CDs/DVDs) over essentials (clothes/food/footware) isn't a good thing to do. As you're about to see I'mquite the example of fanatical expense in the pursuit of idols, but I also copy/download to fill the gaps, but i'd never jepordize my health... okay that's a lie, my financial health. (When in Japan we were out drinking till 5am, now - we knew A-chan, Harunyan and Erepyon were going to be performing at akb that day... so we went streight from drinking to queueing for akb48 - man that was a hard day - we got to see them twice though.)

Now in a normal year I'll spend £300 or so on HP dvds and merchandise (inc packaging and middlemen). This year, as I got the two hello project special edition box sets I've spent £320 on MM/HP DVDs alone, we then add £120 for the momosu stage show in March (by the way we were a mere 10 seats from the camera at the end of that show.) Flight and accomidation to Japan £1200. Going back to Japan in Novemeber another £900, 6 Momose concerts say an average of £70 (some will be expensive, some cheap) a ticket, so what another £420, then two Berryz another £100. Now lets not forget I have other people to see. Thats just morning musume and Berryz.

Add what I've spent on AKB48 another 10 DVDs and a dozen lives and a half dozen first presses of special edition releases, plus 11 copies of one single (got to shake Erepyons hand 8 times!).

Plus I went to LA last year and Germany to see Halko Momoi live (got to have dinner with her in Germany with the Japaese fans). I spent another £100 on a signed momoi t-shirt from LA, and got it signed a second time in Germany (one of a kind t-shirt.)

So... in 2 years including my next trip I've probably spent somewhere in the region of £6000 on idols and traveled to 3 countries. My mate has probably spent about £5000. He doesn't have the AKB48, Momosu or Berryz collection but Momoi, Perfume and asssorted others.

Now, if you think copying from bittorrent is o so bad (yawn) I have say 7 or 8 mates, who come round my house and watch my DVDs!!! How bad is that, and they look at my photobooks (well, as long as they don't touch them too much...) and my photos, they must be seeing like £1200 worth of merchandise without paying for it. Add my AKB48 dvd collection (another 10 DVDs) and my word my house should be shut down.

Now I'm not gonna lose sleep over the fact that I've copied music off my mates (I don't actually use bittorrent for music - too much like hard work, I have people who catalogue these things for me I just synch off.) Or that I've downloaded bits and pieces I havn't bought yet. Or that other people have downloaded, becouse at the end of the day there are hundreds of other things that people would prefer to spend their money on. Not all of them are as mad as me.

Different people value different things in different ways. Me, I like my concert dvds, my autographs, my photobooks, my live(which are most important), I'll watch a DVD a dozen times, maybe more, I'll watch it with friends over a few beers, on my own, whenever. However I'll rarely listen to music, maybe when I'm playing a game with a naff soundtrack - but then i wouldn't listen to most idols (maybe Perfume.) As such I don't spend money on albums or singles unless there is something else I can get, bonus footage and such like. I respect that some people always buy music, but not me, I don't value it that much. Some people are the same about dvds, others about anime, others about film, each to their own.

As I said there are far more things that are far worse then downloading things, and the inbound recession is going to make piracy look like a minor joke - although I'm sure the MPAA,RIAA, BPA and assorted cronies shall still point the finger at piracy for their down turn as opposed to just facing up to the reality that their monopolies are a thing of the past and they need to come up with new ways to capitalise their properties (something HP! do very well - concerts/dvds/pv dvds/specials/photo books/merch) and inovating (most music/movies/games are just rehashed rubbish not worth the money that was put in them in the first place in a desperate attempt to latch onto some short lived trend.)

Hope I havn't offended.


Comment by nono-chan on Friday, 18th July 2008 16:59
momo, yup! i've been asking my mom for a while now about it, even though she hasnt seen it yet. lol if anythingi told her that i wanted to get the cidi. musical shirts if they come out lol. and you can e-mail me if you want to^^. i think that my mom's finaly given in that i'm not gonna give up on H!P for a long timeXD. she's not too keen on getting stuff through ohta's ebay store,so she said that when this japanese family comes back to my church, that i should ask them about it.lol.


Comment by paul.thomas on Saturday, 19th July 2008 16:55
Daniel, the message seems to just be a congratulations message. And it's good to see that Lehua is getting in the news, the pageant isn't too far off, I hope she does well! She's certainly got the looks to do it!

Matt_D, yeah Ohta has some great stuff on his site, I've always been tempted to get one of the solo DVDs but they're so expensive. I'd love to get a Kohachan solo concert one some day. Sorry about the smile cutting your post off I thought I fixed that bug, I'll have another look at it and try and sort it out.
I don't even want to think about how much I've spent this year on H!P items, the very thought of it scares me! The amount I spent when I was in Japan is really worrying, luckily I'd saved and intended to spend it on H!P but still...lol, it was worth it! For me CDs are the things I love the most, I'd love to be able to say live performances but I know there's just no chance of me seeing that many of them, although I'm really hoping that from now on I can see 1-2 a year, but with the amount of travelling I do for work being able to listen to my music is something I really enjoy, spending at least 3 hours day driving or sat on the train the music of H!P is something I always have playing, the journey would be unbearable if I didn't. I'm also starting to watch PVs a lot more as well as I have put a few on my iPhone at the moment I'm trying to put Berryz vs C-ute concert onto there as well, fingers crossed the quality will be good, this will be the first time I've tried ripping a DVD onto my phone.
The music industry is really overpriced generally, especially within the UK and as you say they're always pointing to the illegal downloads causing the problems rather than as you say a lack of originality or incentive to buy the product itself. I really think that H!P have no worries, sure they might lose some cash from pirates but the amount they back through the rest of the items they sell must help balance everything out.

R.B, it's great to see you're so passionate about H!P and I can understand with what you're saying about buying everything and myself much like everybody else am selective as to what I buy, the only problem being that over the years I've been a fan my love of H!P grown and my love of the members within the units has grown also, which raises the problem with singles and albums and concert DVDs that I want to watch/listen, there's just so many to get and at times it certainly does feel like a never ending task.

Momo, I was hoping no one would mention the whole "real fan" thing, I don't know it just feels odd to say that someone is a "real fan" because they buy their merchandise, I understand where you're coming from but I feel that anybody that's a fan of H!P is a real fan, people that buy the merchandise are more "supportive fans". Besides in all honesty I can't believe that apart from passing fans of H!P nobody could refrain themselves from getting the odd piece of H!P merchandise it's just far too tempting. The people at UFA really know how to exploit their fans when it comes to merchandise, they know exactly what we're after (well almost all the time they do...when's Erika getting her first PB!!!??) and no how to keep us hooked and spending.

Rixie, the whole ITunes thing and H!P is a wonderful thing and it's amazing that some of their releases have started appearing on it, unfortunately the last time I checked the UK store there wasn't any H!P tracks on there.

nono-chan, you know how I feel about your situation as I've mentioned it before, you show great support to H!P in the things that you've done and certainly it shows an approach that shows real dedication to them! I hope your mum let's you get a one of the Cinderella shirts!

BladeMaster, buying H!P merchandise can certainly burn a whole in your wallet that's for sure, as I said earlier H!P have a knack of knowing what us fans are after. Certainly within the UK the reall annoyance I find isn't so much the cost of shipping (which can be a pain) but it's the customs and handling charges that I really hate, and if I'm honest it's more the handling charges that annoy me I really fail to see how people like Parcel Force can charge the extortionate amount of money they do for the handling, FedEx I let off becuase they have the common decency to deliver you're parcel and then bill you but Parcel Force just keep it until you pay, really really annoying. When I got my signed Koha poster the amount extra I had to pay to get it to me was stupid, it's a pain when you consider that you've already paid for postage it's really shocking that they can get away with adding this on top as well.
You got a High-King poster too! My copy of the poster has the "STOP! Illegal Copy!" on it too, but I think it's good how the colours have been changed to fit in with the colours of the poster, it's still intrusive but certainly a lot less then that of my 3rd ~LOVE Escalation!~ poster


Comment by MorningBerryz on Friday, 25th July 2008 04:14
First thing that I wonder is if perhaps UFA and their affiliated record labels are planning a more serious way to deal with the matter. Before I say anything more, I have always purchased the actual releases from day one and that goes back to the early 90's. I've never downloaded any commercial release as I just prefer deeply to have the real thing. Understandably it's really expensive to be this way and by now I've probably helped Tsunku and UFA executives buy themselves extensions to their homes and maybe some new cars. :P PB scans I will download and only when I own the actual pb. The thing here is that I really would like to avoid placing my pb copy onto the scanner as it really does damage its spine so I really appreciate it when other fans upload pb scans! My J-Pop album and single collection is nearing 2000 real releases...or perhaps it's already passed that as I haven't done a count in awhile but yes everything is the actual release with no downloads.

It sometimes made me wonder why UFA and its affiliated record labels such as Sony Music (Zetima) for example seem to be so relaxed on the matter and personally I never really saw a problem with this...it's just that so many other labels such as Pony Canyon in particular are quite aggressive with removing illegal downloads or even Youtube clips at times. And with Buono! being on Pony Canyon it always makes me hesitant to put up a video of them from an actual release that I own, although others do without incident, but still it sticks in my mind so I tend to avoid doing so. I always hear fans saying how disappointing some recent H!P releases' sales have been and while I do my part in supporting them by buying just about every release they put out...ouch! the bank account isn't too happy with me for this! :P...I sometimes wonder if those complaining are actually purchasing these said releases. I guess a little thought is if you don't buy a particular release than wouldn't it be odd to then say how poorly it sold?...every single release sold makes a difference I believe but I do understand at the same time how difficult it can be to purchase overseas releases especially from Japan where they're so expensive! :O Shipping costs is a killer too! I really think that uploaded pvs on sites such as Youtube can do more good as it can help to generate a larger fan base through exposure, which otherwise may have never reached some potential future fans and it really can help to generate interest which can spread from person to person thus becoming a very positive effect. And for the most part these uploads are very small files of their original so even if someone does download them, they're not getting the commercial equivalent by any means in this way so I don't think there's any harm done there either.

Someone covered this already about region codes and players and I agree that videohelp.com is the best place to search for hacks for your region 1 players. I purchased my first region free player back in the summer of 2000 when Ozaki Yutaka's final concert at Yoyogi Olympic Pool was finally transferred to DVD. Back then I knew nothing about region hacks so I purchased a Pioneer deck from an online seller which cost near to $400 with shipping. :O...but I had to have one because I had to have this concert DVD! But now you can easily hack your player by finding a code for it and it can be done in just seconds or minutes depending on your particular model. Some models just require a few remote control pushes while others may require you do burn a disc which when fed into your player will produce the same region free results easily. Right now I have 4 store bought DVD players which have all been made to be region free in this same manner so make sure to try this first before ever considering buying a region free player online as it'll save you lots and lots of money! ^-^

Artists depend on sales to keep their careers going just as we work to earn a living it's the same for them. So seeing your work taken with no compensation...I can understand the issue there. But it's difficult for me to have any judgment on this matter as I see and understand both positions. There are so many variables here in terms of purchasing some releases, downloading some...and the different situations that fans or potential fans are in financially. Being that I purchase everything that I collect I would like to see the fan support out there as it's a substantial reason why these artists/groups that we all love continue on exist for us. But at some point does the downloading become too much?...I don't know. Say for instance if one person buys a single concert release and then 50 others get it from them by downloading...is this right? Seems these days that anything and everything is available somewhere online to download and it's really hard to figure out how much harm and how much help it's doing at the same time. A potential fan may see/hear something and like it and from there begin purchasing a few releases and if there wasn't anything available to markets outside of Japan in this nature how much would the artists and record labels possibly lose out on potential future sales? A very strong argument as well. Living outside of Japan you really don't have too many markets which promote their music, shows , etc. so it can really have a positive effect in this way, but at what cost is the question. If there were a clear balance to all of this I don't think there would be an issue....something which is clearly pushing UFA and its affiliates into taking a stance right now. I can only hope that they see and understand both sides of the issue as pushing too hard may possibly hurt their outside marketability but really who can say exactly where that point lies? And can they really be passive/aggressive in this matter? I'm really not sure and I'm just posting some thoughts here as this is such a large matter to think about. Still as you mention and I know we both strongly agree on this...the incentive that the extras create is what sets Japanese releases apart from others. It's those photo books, cards, metal single tins, stickers, single pouches (Ayaya's "Ne~e" first press single), extra slipcases, posters, hard cover booklets, and yet the sometimes odd but always interesting special packaging that makes getting the actual releases such a rewarding and fun experience...there' simply nothing like having the real thing.


Comment by Ben on Sunday, 26th October 2008 06:02
I am from Canada and downloading music is still legal here (Harper's Government is trying to change that but is facing a massive public resistance). I am from Toronto and spent two years for school in a small city in Northern Ontario called Thunder Bay. The best store to shop at there was Wal-Mart...they had one real mall and it was meh at best. While I was there I discovered H!P because I had nothing to do but sit at my desk and surf the web. I was already a Japanese film fan and listened to the odd Jpop song here and there but it was in Thunder Bay through downloading that I discovered H!P. When I came back to Toronto I found a store selling imported H!P stuff and since May I have spent around $475 before tax (give or take a few) on H!P stuff, much of which I had previously downloaded while in Thunder Bay.

Personally I believe the industry is wrong when it comes to accusing file sharing of cutting into its profits. H!P just made $475 off me in a little under 6 months BECAUSE I downloaded their music originally and I just was at the store today buying H!P stuff and putting in a massive order for lots more. I feel no guilt in downloading because most of what I download is not available here in Canada (which is why I download it). I refuse to buy anything that supports companies that are part of the RIAA though no matter where it comes from. That means I unfortunately will only be downloading AKB48s music because they are released on the Sony label and Sony is part of the RIAA. I will support the RIAA only after they stop suing the weak, poor, disabled, children, innocent, struggling student, the dead, and grieving consumer for insane amounts of money. I have a hard time justifying the idea of supporting a corporation that sues a grieving family because a dead family member possibly downloaded some music while they were still alive.


Comment by paul.thomas on Monday, 27th October 2008 01:31
Ben, that's the thing isn't it, especially with H!P the only way of finding out about it outside of Japan/Asia is via the web and downloading and I'm really confident that anyone who takes an active interest in H!P will buy their products. And the fact that you found an import store that sells their music is amazing, I really miss the days (mainly because I didn't take full advantage of it when I could) when I could pop into the Japan Centre in London and pick up the latest single/album.
I haven't really followed how the music industry is dealing with people downloading music lately, the last thing I remember about it is when they arrested the guy behind Oink's Pink Palace, which was understandable really.

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