> The funny thing was, I went up to a mini-convention in Daytona Beach, FL
> this past weekend ("AnimeExpress '98") and one of the folks travelling
> with me had almost nothing in his portable CD collection save Son May
> CD's. That leads me to believe that he picked up most of them at various
> cons for bargain prices. Then came the shocker: even at the con we
> attended, the other three guys I was with were able to purchase CD's for
> fifteen bucks a piece! Who made these CD's you ask? Son May. The
> contrast with Anime Weekend Atlanta couldn't have been more pronounced.
> There, for instance, one couldn't purchase a GFC CD for under 35 dollars
> U.S.. I suspect that those CD's were the real deal. I didn't look, but I
> think that in Daytona they were unloading their SM stock.8-) As for me,
> I stuck with an Urd key ring and a "Ghost In the Shell" t-shirt.
>
> Still and all, Son May succeeds because of the financial imperative of
> cheap CD's. I have not bought one because I accept the arguments of Les,
> et al, that the original manufacturer and the seiyuu artist (for
> example) should get the fruits of their labors, not some pirate in
> Taiwan, Macao, or Shanghai.

Damn straight Chris, don't buy Son May, but IIRC this still leaves you
bereft of AMS CDs, which I'm sorry to say bud is an unacceptable
situiation. ;-D

Yeah you're looking at at least $35 a CD, but they're very much worth it.
At least try and get hold of the two Soundtrack CDs, (as you know, Yasuda
Takeshi's compositions in CD 2 in particular are quite, quite wonderful)
but if you can at all afford it go for the lot, they're all great.

Maybe I prioritise things differently to everyone else, but the order in
which I spent my money was firstly all the OVA episodes, then all the CDs,
then the 16 manga volumes. I like the music that much.

End of rant.

Sam