Thought U all might find this interesting. I was shopping in China today and ran across the new Musicology CD. I picked it up out of surprise that it was there, and noticed that it was different!

This package is 2 CDs! The first CD is the standard Musicology set-list that we all know of. But then, there are also ~4 more songs including Let's Go Crazy, Take Me With You (I think), The Sun, Moon and Stars and one other Rave track (forget which one).

There was then a second CD that was basically a bunch of past hits...sorry I don't have the complete track list for U...the most interesting track was Pope.

The packaging was just like the Musicology in stores in the US (from what I could tell on the outside). It did have the Universal logo on it, so it "appeared" to be official.

However...it was being sold at one of those road-side shops...it had all the song titles in English and Chinese...and I could have purchased this 2-CD set for 15RMB which is approximately US$1.83.

So, should I be proud or ashamed that I did NOT buy it?

You did the right thing

As they say in China sgeltoob yub t'nod or something like that

Uh...if I were you I'd buy that motherfucker with a quickness.

The general feeling about this release is that it isn't official.
The release is a mix of Musicology, The Hits 2, with a 2 or 3 other songs added. Check the back for spelling mistakes on track-listing.
These things are fairly common in the far east.

thebumpsquad said:

I think U are right...I think there may have been spelling mistakes...

Are you really that unaware of the fact that the vast majority of CDs sold in countries like China are NOT official. They are so called "pirate" products, not what we understand by bootlegs, but just basically illegal pressings of the album releases. None of the money goes to the artist or even the record company. Purchasing such products doesn't in any way differ from stealing.

Novabreaker said:

Yes it does.
If you pay money for it.....you haven't stolen it.

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thebumpsquad said:

Exactly...it's the ones who are making/pushing products that don't really get released over there are stealing.

There is SO MUCH of this going on overseas no one really knows how much. Electronic Music especially gets pirated...or worse, people pushing your music off as theirs. Due to it's nature and the type of industry of the unknown artist...there is no way to monitor such things.

Back

I'd never buy music like that, but seriously, it's one of the BEST things about living in Asia. Who wants to buy PS2 games at full price when u can buy perfectly good copies for $2 with cover art and everything? Looks identical, plays the same, great stuff.

I'll be heading down to Chinatown to see if I can pick this up. 90% of all music sold in China is pirated. Let the bootlegs roll!