Hmm, are you buying "First Press" items?

First Press are the equal of the first set of books ever published, and they're sort of a big deal in Japan where they become collectibles. They also have limited editions, different jackets, and various other small things that allow them to up the price.

In my experience, I find it's usually cheaper to buy a CD almost a month or two after it's been released (unless it's iTunes Japan, but even then the prices can still be somewhat high). For example, Scandal's "Tears Of Regret" was about twenty-five bucks on the first day, but now it's sitting at eleven. Obviously, shipping is always gonna get ya though, that is the one sucky thing.

As for full albums, which do have a tendency to sit at twenty five or higher for awhile... I never understood it (though it should be noted most full albums come with DVDs now-a-days), but albums keep going up in price as the US dollar goes down as well. It's conflicting, but I guess that's their music industry.

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