(warning: this is long.)
Illegal?
Yes. Kind of. It’s supposed to be so, right? But just let me ask you something.
How did you find out about Ayumi Hamasaki in the first place?
What? Did you hear about her from your friend and automatically decided to buy her whole discography? Did you in any case just wanted to try her out before buying and wasting your money? There are some people who buy everything when trying it out, but how much people like that are really left?
Do you seriously think that for example, this site was closed down there would be more people buying Ayumi’s albums? Yes? Think again.
To people who think this is illegal (it doesn’t matter if it is or not, just think before implying anything),what you guys are really trying to do is irritate decent people who want to try out something, giving them such poor comments saying “Go and buy it you pirate ass!”, while the only thing they ever wanted to do is just try it out.
It doesn’t matter if they listen to it the whole time, why would that be a crime? You are telling me that it’s deprivation of Ayumi’s work? Or of avex’s money? You aren’t really doing anyone harm by posting download material of an artist, it’s actually very opposite, you are doing good not only to the artist but to the whole company that wants to earn so much money that they even remove every single damn PV from the internet sites so that people would buy more CD + DVD versions, but tell me one thing; How the hell can people know what the PVs look like then? How can they know what are they buying?
I’m positively 100% sure that if those bastards at avex treated their customers with a tiny bit more respect, would be half more richer than they are today.
Think about it. When people download all Ayu’s albums from here, would that make them not want to buy the album? If they’d enjoy it so much, wouldn’t they want to have it in a beautifuly decorated cases, with beautiful booklet featuring so much pictures of Ayumi, with beautiful original CDs?
This is just a form of promoting Ayumi’s music in my mind. There are lots of people out there who would like to know about Ayumi’s music more, but cannot since there is no source where they can start hearing this beautiful masterpiece music that this beautiful woman named Ayumi Hamasaki makes.
The other thing, Ayumi’s music is sold only in Japan, and other east asian countries. What do you think how hard is it to people to find out and even buy her CDs over here in Europe or America?
I’m not 18 yet, and I cannot get my parents to order every single damn CD that I wanted, but that’s NOT because they lack money. Hell, I have lots of my own money that I want to spend on Ayumi’s albums but I can’t since they are not available anywhere and my parents don’t want to order it for me because they think it’s a waste. I’m lucky enough to have her GUILTY and MY STORY album, and you don’t know how happy I am for that, yet I love all of Ayumi’s songs, and I’m 100% sure I’m getting all of her albums and even singles later when I’ll be able to, because that’s what I owe to Ayumi.
There is nothing comparable to original. Not even the best mp3 quality and even not FLAC. You hear me, there is NOTHING as beautiful as having an original album in your hands. Trust me.
So now, you’re telling me that I have no right to listen to Ayumi’s music just because I can’t buy her CDs (still no matter how much money I have)?
If you come to me like this:
“Go and buy it so you’ll hear it!” (but mostly people say it ruder than that)
Would THAT really make me buy her albums? I’d rather be pissed off at the comment and forget that Ayumi Hamasaki or her album ever existed. I would certainly NOT want to buy it. I’m sorry.
The key is, just be nice and it will return to you. The same goes for avex.
You can report this site as having illegal downloads because you think that it will help Ayumi (in some kind of awkward way), but the truth is, you’ll be making it harder for her and avex.
I simply want people to enjoy Ayumi’s music as much as I am, I want to promote her, tell people that she exists. Make it easier for people to find her music.
Lots of people cannot buy all of her albums no matter what. And it’s not the money that is only reason for it. So you think we should deprive them of music just because damn avex has to get their money?
Second.
After rambling that much, I wanted to tell you just how beautiful Ayumi’s albums are. Hence that, mostly only her CD + DVD albums come in thick cases, which are just so awesome and worth spending your money on (of course we are not alking only about cases here, but the content itself) and her CD only singles never come in those ultra thin cases.
Just look for yourself:
See? I REALLY encourage you to buy them and have them for yourself if you are able to. I’m not saying you HAVE to buy it, that’s your own thing.
And it’s not all only about supporting Ayumi Hamasaki, really. That shouldn’t be the only reason for you to buy something hers.
I just hope this site can last just a bit longer to promote her more. But I don’t think how long will that be from now on.
So everyone, just enjoy Ayumi’s music, you are worth it.
Thanks for reading.
-Mace
yeah…
i don’t have much money to buy her albums too…
it’s too expensive in my country..^^
Yes, I agree.
It’s not easy to buy a J-Atrtist’ album/single and mostly it’ll cost you a lot. Just search on amazon >.>
and I myself being underage can’t order for myself. I have some J-albums because my cousin lives in japan.(I don’t even open them unless I have 2 copies)
I would love to go to japan again to buy J-artist album but I can’t due to school.
and btw I just started listening to Ayu’s songs around August 30th.
and seriously though If I didn’t downloaded her albums from this site nor watch her PV’s I don’t think I’ll like her.
So Thank you~
You are welcome. I’m glad you found out about Ayumi. If you could give all of her songs a listen I’m sure that you’d love most of them.
And yes, I know how frustrating it can really get! I mean, I’d really love to get all of her albums (and not only hers, I really have lots of Japanese artists who I love and I want to buy lots of their works), but there’s simply no way.
That’s why later, whenever I’ll be able to, I’ll buy EVERYTHING that Ayu’s released, and most of the other Jpop related stuff that I’ve always wanted to have but couldn’t get because there was no place to get it from.
I’m glad there’s someone else who understands. Thank you for your support!
I agree, although usually I wouldn’t be sure. As far as I’m concerned, I first heard Ayumi’s music illegally through a fan video – thought she had a beautiful voice and looked her up. Since then I have downloaded every single pv and song she has produced and am now slowly deleting the illegal ones and replacing them with shiny copies of the real thing. The only thing I struggle with is buying the albums – half the time they get delivered and I find out they’re a Thailand rip-off and I have to buy them again :(
I’d say if you really appreciate an artist you should always try and support them in any way you can. Ayumi’s albums and dvds are like collectors items and well worth spending money on (especially considering they’re cheaper than British/American CD’s).
Keep up the good work mace. You’re one of the only English sources I have for Ayumi. It’s hard to stay up to speed when you live on the other side of the world.
Thanks :)
Honestly in my case Japanese Albums are way more expensive than American/British CDs mostly because those American/British CDs are widely available.
English albums are worth a few bucks and they are available in most record stores.
Seeing as I’m a completely-broke minor, I’m highly thankful that there are people like you who share J-music with us Westerners.
I’m looking forward to my class trip to Japan this summer so I can start replacing my illegal J-music with legit copies. ^.^
Meanwhile, I say thanks a bunch mace. ;)
keep on doing good work! We all love Ayu!!!!
First of all thanks for your hard work. I think it is not easy to get all these songs and upload them here. I really appreciate your hard work.
Secondly i fully agree with you..what you are doing here, no advertisement company will ever be able to do. Of course there are other ways to check out songs, like listening to them over the internet without the possibility to download them, like imeem, but really i don’t think it makes much difference whether you are listening online or if you have the files on your pc. The only thing that makes a difference is having the original album or not, and it is not easy to get Asian albums here in Romania. I have a few Japanese friends and i think i am going to ask them to bring or send me some of Ayu’s albums since i can’t go there to buy them myself. Anyway this is getting too long, so KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
Thank you so much for uploading all this wonderful music!!! I discovered Ayumi’s music recently and I absolutely adore her. I wish she would come to the USA!
Since I’ve started listening to her I’ve bought “Secret”, “Guilty”, “(Miss) Undestood” and “Next Level” from Ebay.
Thank you for this wonderful site. I agree with you that this could be a good way to promote ayu though Avex may think otherwise.
And sometimes abit of guilt cos I’d rather buy her albums where there are alot of new songs then an album with alot of repeated tracks and only added in one or two new songs which is pretty much of a style for Avex now.
I’m not a rich person and I dun wanna waste my money on an album like this even if I like ayu alot. Tht’s why I could only try out her new songs thru downloading them but yes I hope ppl continue to support her by continuing to buy her albums cos nothing really beats the original with all the exclusive pics inside!
I agree with you. If there weren’t Ayumi’s cds on the web, I couldn’t know all of her music, now she is one of my favourite singers. I have a single cd that I won in a contest, it would be beautiful to buy her original albums but even If I have money I use them for other things that cannot be replaced
hahah VERY nicely said. :D i adore ayumi and have her (mis)understood and iam albums but also very hard to get if you lack credit cards and what not. thanks for uploading and spending so much time doing this.
if only I lived in Japan then I could everyone of her albums….
Thanks for all the info, I liive in the UK and you wouldn’t beleive the cost to buy an Ayu CD, it would set me back £35 for 1 CD [as opposed to £5 for brit pop stuff] What I object to is companies like Amazon charging outrageous prices for stuff that is in the native language [ I mean THEY haven't spent any cash on translating covers and booklets for instance] they just rack up the price, ok rant over, thanks for a cool site, keep up the brilliant work…
Thanks for setting up this wonderful site. I discovered Ayumi thru free music downloads and videos. I am so happy to discover this wonderful artist and the music is simply awesome. I love the Guilty Album so much and listen to it everyday when going to work. I wish you could post music or other videos of her here because thats what I like as well. I do a small collection that I could share but would be great for everyone to see the music videos that are so wild.
Yeah, I buy all her stuff, Rock n’ Roll Circus just came in weeks ago. But I heard her for the first time on YouTube & downloaded a few songs to see what she sounded like.
After that she cleaned my pockets out. Anyone who buys her stuff knows what I’m talking about. I never had the intention of taking something like I wasn’t gonna buy it, but I’m tired of buying an album for one song and hating the rest, which is what happened before the net made it possible for me to find my true favorites.
Ayumi is sooo talented, my bookcase is stacked with her albums and singles. She is on a roll, everyone should know about her. All thanks to what I call ‘test out sharing’.
Agreed. I only own the Blue Bird single (which came in very prestige casing), and bought it from yesasia.com. Still, the single was 20 dollars, which is extremely pricey for ANY cd. Still, it is worth supporting Ayu in any way I can.
i really love you,you are a really ayufan….and of course i’m agree with you!!!
Well said, I agree with you, but it’s not that hard to buy her CD’s. Shops like Yesasia, HMV or CDJapan make it possible to buy her stuff.
I really, really appreciate what you have done here. Like you said, Jpop is alway tricky to come by, especially for the fans, and while I certainly do try and support Ayu when I’ve the chance to buy her album (they’re definite collectables, with the amount of work/stuff they put into them!), it’s never easy when you try to keep up to date.
So I’m very glad to have found this site. Keep up the good work and spread Ayumi’s music!
Now I’m going to listen to the new stuff I missed for the last 2 years… :D
I agree with all the things you just said!!
I myself dicovered Ayu by accident on the internet and yeah, at first I was searching for downloads to check out her music. At this time I was still a student with no money. Now that I have a job and make good money I have bought almost all of her CD’s/DVD’s and I also have been a couple of times to Japan just to see her live because I think her live music is way better than her Studio work. Without the possebility to check out her music on the internet I wouldn’t have spent one Euro for her music.
It’s a fact that she isn’t promoted officially in Europe or America, so there is no other way than looking in the web.
Without us fans spreading our knowledge there is almost no way to get Japanese music. The language itself is biggest problem and if I had the possibilty to buy her music her in my country I would do it!
She is the most amazing artist I have ever listen to.
Ayu meens the World to me, I can’t live without her anymore. Every day she is part of my life and I thank her for that.
Greetings from Germany
I completely agree with you. I only own a few J-singles from any J-Pop artist, as I am a minor who doesn’t have much money to spend…. so I am glad that many people on the internet, including you guys here, at ayudownloads, are able to provide me with some of Ayu’s music. It sucks how expensive the albums and things are, because they’re so great, but I cannot, simply cannot, afford them. So it’s nice for you to put stuff up here. It’s not like I don’t want to support Ayu, it’s just that I don’t have the money to. Thanks for writing this~~ :)