CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Amazon sells a legitimate CD from the original releasing company.

I don't know what the other stores sell, but there are Taiwanese copies that many stores offer that are direct copies of packaging and the disc. Like all Taiwanese releases, they are only legal in Taiwan, but many places import them anyway because they are much less to purchase and resell.

Have you tried looking at http://www.cdjapan.co.jp ? In a group purchase, they can frequently be less expensive because you can pay shipping for a group rather than "per CD" if you bought them piecemeal + markup from Amazon.

My uncle runs a music store. If a cd isn't selling well they will mark it down to cost just so they won't lose money. Amazon sells that cd for more because they wish to make a profit.

there is an excellent thread somewhere on these boards with a link to a site with detailed info on finding all types of bootleg merchandise. Usually a Taiwanese CD will A)have the name of the Taiwan company (like Sonmay) on it and B) be about 15-20 dollars. Remember that CDs in Japan cost 25-30 dollars each. not cheap.

> What do the Taiwanese edition look like?

Often, they use the same cover art as the original and similar CD "sleeves" (since they are, after all, total copies). As panegryst said above, some of the larger copying bureaus will add their own marks to the art, and they usually have a different SKU# (for the Taiwanese reissuer, not the original Japanese record company).

double post!! *wags finger*

if the label looks like somebody printed it on their laser printer using cheap paper, it's a fake.

cdjapan is excellent. I've bought from them many times and they have a good selection of CDs which are all *legitimate* and released by the original manufacturers.

I recommend with cdjapan that you make a shopping list, save up and buy a whole lot at once so you save on shipping that way. When you decide to get them, make sure to have them shipped via EMS (the Japanese Post express mail service). EMS is insured, it's fast (a few days to California, in my case), and you get a tracking number. It's the only way I accept items shipped from Japan anymore (when my rare Commodore and Tomy computers were coming over the Pacific, I specifically requested EMS, and they arrived in fabulous shape and in less than a week).