A SUMMER BEST in Singapore
 

CD-Rama

-- 2 CDs only (Taiwan press) - S$20.95
-- 2 CDs + DVD (Hong Kong press) - S$29.95

Gramophone

-- 2 CDs + DVD (Hong Kong press) - S$25.95

HMV

-- 2 CDs only (Taiwan press) - S$20.90
-- 2 CDs + DVD (Hong Kong press) - S$25.90

I bought it on Tuesday!! :D
havent watch it yet though.. >.<
It's was weird to see chinese words on the CD only

and i went to the Marina Squ wan..and the Ayu section has shrunk to just being Party Queen and A SUMMER BEST

next time , just stick with HMV Somerset since HMV Marina Square is the smaller outlet unlike the main HMV outlet

anyway I was at HMV Somerset this afternoon & there were a lot of copies of A SUMMER BEST on the CD racks & surprisingly quite a lot of copies with regards to the 2 CDs edition too

Oh, wow... is that in dollars... or local currency?? It seems cheap either way to me...

I wonder if it sold well or not in the first couple of days?

It's not in US$ but rather it's in Sing $ which's my country's currency

Those prices that the local HMV listed will never ever apply to Japan press in any single way . If so , the price that they will tag to a Japan press will be at most x3 on what you see in that photo I uploaded in the 1st post

Cool, and I'mspotting YUI's newest single next to Ayu's CD. Yes I'm jealous!!!!

you know.. i didn't really japanese music was so big in Singapore

i read somewhere ayu i am sold more than 10k in Singapore

I'm surprised that for her recent works Singapore imports both versions of the albums..

Is there a Singapore version?

JPop was massive during the 80s - 90s in my country but back then , I was still a kid & still was listening to English music

Yes that's true

I know o_o , that never happened before . This started 2 years ago from Love songs onwards

The record label here already stopped making S'pore versions of her stuff from Love songs onwards & since then , they have been importing HK / Taiwan press of her albums to be sold here

Might as well , since Warner Music S'pore did such a poor job in marketing ayumi & that goes for the other avex artistes too :o

Cd Rama is selling the cd+DVD for $29.95.

hmms, do u mean during year 2000-2004....? she was quite popular back then.. but not now i think.... all they cared is KPOP...

edit: opps, sorry i read wrongly.... haha.... (now i realised u wrote I AM album...)

Avex releases are now distributed by Universal Music Singapore. Does the album comes with the poster?

mmm I'm not sure , I didn't asked the HMV staff when I was there last Sat

but somehow I doubt it . They haven't give posters of ayumi since GUILTY . I don't count NEXT LEVEL because you have to pay $ in order to get hold of the poster which's so terrible

Now im a little regret buying the Japanese version which cost abt SGD$50 more =/

:dead2

I think the amount you spent on the Japan press = 3 copies of the Hong Kong press / 2CDs + DVD that HMV is currently selling locally here X_X

this's why I don't believe in buying Japan press as it's downright ridiculously expensive . I only buy Japan press if the artiste I listen/support doesn't have any OS press

Don't think ill buy the japanese press again ><" Its kinda (T.T) since its for the same thing..

But its cool buying from the concert booth thou, makes you feel more like an ayu fan paying that $50 more HAHAHA =x

Same here... quite disappointed cos there isnt much publicity :( Im not even aware tt it was launched in sg -.-"

yeah everything is the same , it's just that why pay so much more for a Japan press where you can get the exact same thing that's made in Hong Kong and/or Taiwan at almost 3/4 of the price you pay in Japan ?

That's something I still don't get even up to now . Pureists will say oh Japan press is the best , it has the best quality & all but at the end of the day , what's more important , the music or the externalities ?

maybe because from day 1 since I became ayumi's fan , everything that I have/bought from her are all OS press which caused me to behave somewhat quite nit pick if not stingy but bear in mind that she's not the only artiste I listen/support so I have to take that into consideration -_-

Also , hopefully Universal Music S'pore will now do a much better job in managing ayumi locally . Warner Music S'pore was just so blah & they did everything so 1 sided , no wonder avex now let UMS handle matters which didn't really surprise me ~_~

I bought my Japan press second hand, it's only 2500yen, but in perfect condidition from Book Off last month when I went Tokyo for AKB48 Tokyo Dome Oncert.

OK guys i need some advice
What is the big difference between Japanese releases and Hong Kong's releases
I am trying to get all of Ayu's older albums and on CD Japan the prices are high
but on HMV are affordable.
I know that first difference is for the DVD because of the region 3
but i will get the DVD versions from cd japan
I have decided to buy first few albums from HMV because they have no DVD
and to save up a little money

EEK!! *JEALOUS* ./ignoring to see or ill be more heartache spending so much T.T!


Actually its exactly the same... Just that hk version comes with a chinese translation inside and behind the cd cover written Avex hk :thud

Ok thanks a bunch
God I can buy I am and RAINBOW for 35 euros from HMV!!!!

Yup exactly like what Tiffany has said , nothing majorly different except for the inclusion of a Chinese translation sheet for both the Hong Kong & Taiwan press

OBI wise , the Hong Kong press tends to replica the same OBIs as the Japan press , unlike the Taiwan press that has a white coloured centre & light blue wordings

for me I prefer to buy Taiwan press as I feel the quality is somewhat better than Hong Kong press but at the end of the day , both HK & Taiwan presses are equally good if not much more cheaper than Japan press

You know, I wouldn't order it online, but if my mall sold it, and I walked past it like that I don't think I'd be able to resist :laugh

I saw the Taiwan press / 2CDs of A SUMMER BEST being sold at CD-Rama earlier on

Priced at S$20.95

If you want to be 100% specific, I read somewhere that someone noticed a small audio difference between the Japanese and HK presses. You must note that the person used the state-of-the-art ($5000+ US dollars) surround sound system. So there is a small difference audio wise. I did borrow Namie's concentration 20 from a library and it was a HK press, but I didn't notice a difference.

Someone mentioned that Taiwan presses are better than HK presses. I don't know much about HK presses but Im aware that Hikki's ULTRA BLUE and HEART STATION Taiwan press CDs look like ****. Cheaper than cheap. but that's just me. I saw it at a convention and it looked like they got dollar store paper and ran it through a printer. I compared the jp version of HEART STATION to the taiwan version and the Jp version looks AMAZING.

Hmm are you sure you saw an official release CD of taiwan or the bootlegs lol. But hikki is from different label so they might not be the same as avex taiwan.
IMO, the major difference between Japan and OS versions are the printed materials.
I would rate the printed materials as Japan > Taiwan > Hongkong (not sure about china but I think it's not much better than Hongkong)
I have A BEST 2 White Japan and Hongkong version. And the Hongkong version soon turns yellowish but the japan version still stays white. And if you've both japan and OS versions, you can feel the paper quality is different. OS is thicker and slightly rough. It's much more easier to notice by the A Song for XX album.
Most of the OS albums will have difficulty in taking the booklet out but the japan version is thin and easy to take out.

I was at Cathay's Gramophone earlier on & they had quite a lot of copies of A SUMMER BEST being sold

Hong Kong press / 2CDs + DVD - S$25.95

same price as what they charge for Party Queen (Hong Kong press , CD only)