What version of NFN is this? [yahoo auctions]

[~angel*ayumi~]

The picture shows the recording of NFN and it is hotlinked from eneabba.net btw.

[4ever*ayu]

it's totally worth to buy!!

[~angel*ayumi~]

The single sold 290 times... the album sold 1200

[ayu1m]

Ou.. okay, thx

[Jordan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayumi_Hamasaki_discography

I got the information from Wikipedia =]

[LacusClyne]

so if this is real, normally how would a bootleg look like? how to tell the difference? other then the cd design, case and obi?

[Delirium-Zer0]

The bootlegs are fairly easy to distinguish from the original.

One bootleg is the Ho-Son release of just the single. It comes in a slide box, and the cover of the box & the jewel case are both the single cover art on the right side, and then a red column on the left with tracklist & ayu's name. The back is the same, but the BACK of the single artwork instead of the front, the red side includes the tracklist, and the UPC bar code is there.

(these pics are from eneabba.net... I have this particular bootleg but haven't scanned it yet)

The other bootleg actually has a different title, "The Past of A.Y.U.". It's basically a bootleg of a bootleg, just a copy of the first disc of Ho-Son/King Records HK's 'The Past & Other Side of Ayu'. It has the full NFN album and single included. The artwork is blue with some artwork of Concert Tour 2000 era ayu in a circle on the front. It's VERY easy to distinguish as an unofficial release.

[ayu1m]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

The bootlegs are fairly easy to distinguish from the original.

One bootleg is the Ho-Son release of just the single. It comes in a slide box, and the cover of the box & the jewel case are both the single cover art on the right side, and then a red column on the left with tracklist & ayu's name. The back is the same, but the BACK of the single artwork instead of the front, the red side includes the tracklist, and the UPC bar code is there.

(these pics are from eneabba.net... I have this particular bootleg but haven't scanned it yet)

Isn't that at least "kinda" official or am I understanding wrong..

Originally Posted by eneabba.com

To the best of my knowledge, this single has been re-issued later in the 'usual' size, but apparently withdrawn from sale almost immediately after some copyright issues:

http://www.eneabba.net/ayu/disco/singles/00.Nothing.htm

Or does this just state that it's a bootleg

[immel]

Originally Posted by ayu1m

Isn't that at least "kinda" official or am I understanding wrong..

I think the definition of a bootleg would be a company releasing a CD or DVD without a license to do so. It can be an exact copy, and the exact same quality as the original, it'll still be a bootleg. Bootlegs seem to come with all those funny small errors a lot, though.

So yeah, it states it is a bootleg, as it seems they didn't have any license to release it.

[orangeland]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

The other bootleg actually has a different title, "The Past of A.Y.U.". It's basically a bootleg of a bootleg, just a copy of the first disc of Ho-Son/King Records HK's 'The Past & Other Side of Ayu'. It has the full NFN album and single included. The artwork is blue with some artwork of Concert Tour 2000 era ayu in a circle on the front. It's VERY easy to distinguish as an unofficial release.

although it's unofficial, i think a lot of people still consider this a rarity (though probably less rare than the original NFN releases) worth purchasing. it's been sold in reputable japanese stores (i saw 3 copies of it at the kinokuniya in san jose. ~$35 a piece! T_T).

[Delirium-Zer0]

They didn't. Any Ho-Son or King HK release is gonna be best described as a bootleg. Even in places where bootlegs aren't strictly speaking illegal, if it doesn't say avex (or Nippon Columbia ), the money isn't going to ayu.

Nick's description at eneabba.net of the Ho-Son bootleg is REALLY kinda foggy and unclear, and I think it's the source of alot of confusion over whether it's a bootleg or not. He kinda presents it as an official release that just went wrong, but it's not. It was never official, it's a bootleg same as any other Ho-Son release. They're often sold in otherwise well-regarded stores (The Past & Other Side of Ayu was sold on yesasia.com for a short time), but that's just cuz they promoted themselves as respectable. They do alot of anime soundtracks too. Anime fans are often told to avoid them, but since they don't do a WHOLE lot of jpop releases, jpop fans don't hear the name of this company as often.

To be safe, just don't buy anything released by any of these companies, by ayu or anyone else:
Ho-Son
King Records (Hong Kong) (most of their stuff is just the HK versions of Ho-Son releases)
Smile Face
Alion International
Miya Records
Son-May
Ever Anime

Son-May, Ever Anime, and Alion International are actually all the same company, so. You can bet that all three are no good.

[Delirium-Zer0]

Eh, it's not CRAZY amounts of rare, but yeah it's kinda rare. I've seen it on Yahoo! Auctions Japan a number of times, far more often than several of ayu's orgel collections (the two X'Mas Healing orgel discs are FAR more rare), but still less often than most really common ayu cds.