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Post by grant on Jun 20, 2011 17:48:20 GMT
Hi Rodders and Gordon
I paid NZ$34.47 for the NZ release from Marbecks which converted to £17.28.I also paid NZ$34.47 at Marbecks which converted to £17.62 on my bank statement  Best wishes Grant |
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Post by Sing on Jun 20, 2011 18:44:42 GMT
Hi all, Which would you say is the best place to purchase this album? I've been dropping hints at a possible exam-result sort of present to my parents and they've relented and asked me to find the best site...probably knowing full well I'm terrible at that sort of thing particularly when it comes to exchange rates...anyway, i've still got to make the grades I need for them to get it for me...so no pressure there then  ... i've found some copies on ebay but my dad says they're all far too expensive because you have to pay import duties/ VAT...which tbh i don't really understand either... thank you for your help... best wishes Sing  |
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Post by grant on Jun 20, 2011 19:31:28 GMT
Hi all,
Which would you say is the best place to purchase this album? I've been dropping hints at a possible exam-result sort of present to my parents and they've relented and asked me to find the best site...probably knowing full well I'm terrible at that sort of thing particularly when it comes to exchange rates...anyway, i've still got to make the grades I need for them to get it for me...so no pressure there then ... i've found some copies on ebay but my dad says they're all far too expensive because you have to pay import duties/ VAT...which tbh i don't really understand either...
thank you for your help...
best wishes
Sing A difficult one Sing! Most of us here in the UK have purchased from CD Japan at around £25 and no one has, as yet, had to pay any import duty or VAT. Beware of purchasing the Japanese Paradiso via Ebay as I know that some have proved to be pirates. Amazon UK are importing it - available around now - but that will cost your dad £40. I hope you do get it, and I hope your mum will be OK. Best wishes Grant |
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Post by Libby on Jun 20, 2011 20:22:18 GMT
My total at CDJapan was 45.25 USD$. And that was the one with the DVD, of course. Of course the paper that came with it said only $44 or so, but the last time they said it was something to do with the currency rates changing. They must go up a lot, 'cause that seems to happen every time.  |
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Post by Libby on Jun 23, 2011 4:27:55 GMT
I've been wondering something. How come Japan gets all the stuff? Lyrics insert, high quality CDs, music videos, bonus tracks, 2 albums just with Japanese songs, several "Best Of" albums, a missing song compilation (Prayer)... I know Hayley's extra popular there, but how come they get everything, and nobody else does? Like why don't any of the other releases have lyrics? How come Japan gets access to them? Do they just ask for them, and they get them? Why doesn't Decca want the other countries to see them? The only album that had lyrics in the other versions was Pure. Just wondering. |
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Jillian
Global Moderator
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Post by Jillian on Jun 23, 2011 11:12:48 GMT
Hi Libby, I think the Japanese cds -- and all Japanese cds at that --have all the add ons because cds are expensive in Japan. I think it's meant to act as an incentive for Japanese people to just not import the cds much cheaper from overseas. Cheers, Jillian |
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Post by comet on Jun 23, 2011 18:58:54 GMT
Japanese industry has been "quality" driven rather than price competitive for decades. Take some of their top brands Canon and Nikon cameras. Yamaha and Suzuki instruments and sound equipment. Toyota and Mitsubishi cars and other products. The Japanese expect top quality' so why should cds be an exception. Or singers for that matter, that's why they only accept the very best, they have good taste.. just like us lot here..  I don't suppose it matters much that the cds are only released in Japan. With the internet, anyone, anywhere can order items from all across the world, if they know how to look for the items they want. When people develop an interest in something, ie. a singer, most people turn to their computers to get information. A Google search will get you all sorts of information, without leaving the comfort of your own home. |
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Dave
Administrator
HWI Admin
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Post by Dave on Jun 23, 2011 19:37:16 GMT
Hi Libby, As Jillian and Paul said. The cold facts are that in Japan, Paradiso sells for £18 or £22 (US$29 or US$35) but in the UK it will be about £9 and in the US around $12. At over twice the price, partly due to the strength of the yen, record companies in Japan can well afford to throw in the kind of extras that they cannot do in the price-driven West. Sadly, outside Japan, price is king. Dave |
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Post by Libby on Jun 24, 2011 6:41:20 GMT
Okay, the quality thing makes sense. And I really appreciate the high-quality CDs, and I certainly don't mind buying them once in a while. But then they made so many Best of albums. Why is that? Were they saying, "Hmm, maybe this one will sell better if we add "Time to Say Goodbye" to it. It's really too bad that song is on one compilation. Oh well.
And then what about the lyrics? Why don't other countries get the lyrics? But then I'd be out of a job if they did. :rollin
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Post by maya on Jun 26, 2011 0:56:11 GMT
Why expensive? The reason is very simple. The price has been keeping almost the same here for the past 30 years right after CDs were invented by Philips and SONY.
30 years ago, things were cheaper and the living cost was less. But CDs were priced 2200 – 2800 Yen depending on artists and the genre. I had a bit hard time buying CDs at that time. My income was less than half or should I say close to one third of now.
The currency or the exchange rate has been changed a lot for the past several decades. 1 US Dollar was around 240 Yen at that time and now 80 Yen. Japanese Yen is 3 times more expensive compared with early 80s and now.
Domestically CDs are relatively inexpensive for us Japanese but for American people, they have to pay 3 times more money if they want to buy Japanese CDs. For European people, the situation is a bit better but still you need to pay around 2.5 times more. SO it is the currency issue why CDs are relatively expensive here.
Exports and imports are done very easily these days and there come many foreign CDs to Japan and the price is less than half. People are now buying imported CDs but some people are not satisfied with them. The quality issue and no booklet of lyrics are the problem for them. People here prefer buying high quality products to cheaper ones. Also when they have guests at home they don't want to show cheaper products such as their furniture, electric appliances and etc including imported CDs because imported CDs are considered cheaper products although some of them are just the same. This happens often on classical CDs. I myself buy imported CDs often because I am not a typical Japanese living and working in foreign countries due to my job assignments. Half of my CD collections are imported ones or should I write I bought CDs a lot while I was in USA amazed at the low price there.
Best wishes
Maya.
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Post by Libby on Jun 26, 2011 4:50:14 GMT
So, the lyrics is part of the high quality product? Well, I'm so glad they do provide lyrics! But I still can't figure out why the UK or US can't have them, at least not since Pure.
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Post by martindn on Jun 26, 2011 16:50:45 GMT
Years ago quite a lot of (but not all) vinyl LPs used to have lyrics inserts. Another retrograde step I fear, just so that the price will be lower.
Martin D
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Post by Dennis S. on Jun 26, 2011 18:05:19 GMT
In all seriousness though, how much does a lyrics booklet cost anyway?
Heck, can't they put it up on each artist's website and then put a link to that website on the CD booklet?
This is why I hate record labels in general, they have ZERO creativity!
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Post by Libby on Jun 27, 2011 3:49:45 GMT
They don't need a lyrics booklet. In Pure, they just had the lyrics along with the titles and rights to each song. Everything was all in the CD insert. A few extra pages shouldn't be that much a big deal.
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Post by Sing on Jul 3, 2011 22:26:15 GMT
Hi all,
Which would you say is the best place to purchase this album? I've been dropping hints at a possible exam-result sort of present to my parents and they've relented and asked me to find the best site...probably knowing full well I'm terrible at that sort of thing particularly when it comes to exchange rates...anyway, i've still got to make the grades I need for them to get it for me...so no pressure there then ... i've found some copies on ebay but my dad says they're all far too expensive because you have to pay import duties/ VAT...which tbh i don't really understand either...
thank you for your help...
best wishes
Sing A difficult one Sing! Most of us here in the UK have purchased from CD Japan at around £25 and no one has, as yet, had to pay any import duty or VAT. Beware of purchasing the Japanese Paradiso via Ebay as I know that some have proved to be pirates. Amazon UK are importing it - available around now - but that will cost your dad £40. I hope you do get it, and I hope your mum will be OK. Best wishes Grant Thanks for that Grant...I think I've more or less persuaded my parents to get it for me...as long as I get good results in August!!...I think I've still got a little bit of persuasion to do though as I'm still looking for what I think is the best price which isnt necessarily what my dad considers to be the best price haha :/ ...for the moment I'm just happy my mum's feeling a lot better now ..I really hope I do get it though sometime in the near future...I really think my parents, especially my mum will love it (almost) as much as I'm hoping I will ...I've been showing her some of the reviews/comments on here and she seems impressed ...not long now until my I get my exam results so fingers crossed best wishes SIng |
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... i've found some copies on ebay but my dad says they're all far too expensive because you have to pay import duties/ VAT...which tbh i don't really understand either...
