Secret Squirrel’s DVD Mailing Offer — In search of unheard music.

A couple of years ago over at SlightlyDark and Gamingforce, I came up with an idea to encourage more people to participate in ‘exploratory buying’, or buying a game soundtrack that no one has heard, simply for the sake of discovery. The response was quite good — a total of ~30 albums were purchased, and the participants were all positive about the experience.

Once again, I’ve gone through the list of a a couple of reputable Ebay sellers, who have a large number of game music CDs on Ebay right now, and picked out some soundtracks that nobody has, and that few would consider buying. Anyone who buys one of these soundtracks will get a DVD-R full of game or anime music from me.

One new thing that I’d like to experiment with is the possibility of expanding this offer to purchases on Yahoo Japan Auctions, which is really the ultimate source for unheard VGM. Generally, sellers on the site won’t ship outside of Japan, but there are a number of deputy services that will place the bid, receive the item, and ship it back to you; for these services, you pay a commision which is generally reasonable. (I use Shopping Mall Japan (http://shoppingmalljapan.com/), but there are several.) Depending on the auction price, it can be a little more expensive to go after an album this way, and in those cases, I’d like to offer a more favorable exchange than just 1 DVDR per album, maybe something based on final cost.

If you are interested in this (and this makes more sense for those in Europe, with the favorable Euro->Yen exchange rates), please post here, and I’ll start scouring YJA for some good candidates.

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What you get from me:
One DVD-R, filled with whatever you want from my vast list of VGM and Anime music, mailed to your postal address. Buying multiple CDS gets you multiple DVDRs from me.
( See here for lists.) (http://www.slightlydark.com/secretsquirrel/Secret%20Squirrels%20Lists.zip)

Title, Tracklist, and Artist translations where possible. (and an entry on VGMdb once we have it back up)

What you provide:
Purchase and receive the album successfully.
Rip your album using Exact Audio Copy (EAC) in Lame VBR APX, or VBR_New V1 (or even lossless if you prefer.)

Provide a nice set of scans (cover, booklet, disc, etc), if you have the capability.

Share the album with the community in some manner (an upload to one of the hosting sites and a link in this thread would be perfect).

As a quick disclaimer, if you live somewhere geographically remote, with a postal service that can’t be trusted, or if it would cost me more to send a DVD than to buy the album myself, then it’s best for both of us to pursue other means.

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Here is a list of some interesting albums that are on auction right no. As far as I know, no one here in the West has ripped these yet.

Ebay Sales by retrogaming_imports:
Crime Photograph Sound Mystery Soundtrack (NACL-1236) (http://cgi.ebay.com/Hankou-Shashin-Sound-Mystery-Soundtrack-NACL-1236_W0QQitemZ300082080689QQihZ020QQcategoryZ307QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
I-Mode mo Issho Original Soundtrack(SCDC-00088) (http://cgi.ebay.com/I-Mode-mo-Issho-Original-Soundtrack-SCDC-00088_W0QQitemZ300082080698QQihZ020QQcategoryZ307Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
Natsuiro Celebration Original Soundtrack (SCDC-00046) (http://cgi.ebay.com/Natsuiro-Celebration-Original-Soundtrack-SCDC-00046_W0QQitemZ300082080897QQihZ020QQcategoryZ307Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
TVDJ Official Game Soundtrack (SVWC-7068) (http://cgi.ebay.com/TVDJ-Official-Game-Soundtrack-SVWC-7068_W0QQitemZ300082081579QQihZ020QQcategoryZ307QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

Ebay Sales by Champs-des-pins:
[pop’n music artists Xmas Songs (KOLA-053) (http://cgi.ebay.com/Popn-music-artists-Xmas-Songs-SOUNDTRACK-CD_W0QQitemZ140149121554QQihZ004QQcategoryZ187QQss PageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
Touch de Zuno Original Soundtrack(WM-0559) (http://cgi.ebay.com/Touch-de-Zuno-Sega-DS-original-Soundtrack-CD_W0QQitemZ140200094027QQihZ004QQcategoryZ187QQss PageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
Samurai Spirits 64 Original Soundtrack (PCCB-00283) (http://cgi.ebay.com/Samurai-Spirits-64-SNK-283-original-Soundtrack-CD_W0QQitemZ140149248472QQihZ004QQcategoryZ187QQss PageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
Black Jack ~Hi no Tori Compilation~ Game Original Sound Track (WM-0562~3) (http://cgi.ebay.com/Black-Jack-Hinotori-Hen-DS-Sega-original-Soundtrack-CD_W0QQitemZ140160603721QQihZ004QQcategoryZ187QQss PageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

Yahoo Japan Auctions:
Coming soon.