FAQ
Like most FAQ's, mine is quite long! If your question is not answered here, then email me. ^^
General questions
Where are the mp3s??
Where do you get your music information?
You used to have over 600 songs listed. Where did they all go?
Why do you have so little CD info, compared to all the songs listed?
I have an anime CD you don't mention. How can I add it to AMP?
Where can I buy legal CDs?
What's a "Son May" CD, and why should I care?
How can I tell if a CD is made by Son May?
What CDs do you own?
I want to make my own anime music page! Any advice?
What does "Pantechnicon" mean??
"Sailor Two Moons"???
A: There aren't any. My site does not distribute mp3s, end of story no exceptions. The music information listed here is just for that, for information purposes only. If you want actual music, you'll have to go someplace else.
Q: Where do you get your music information?
A: Whenever possible, my music info is noted while I watch anime. Friends often contribute song info from shows I have not yet seen, and occasionally I find the information from other anime music sites.
Q. You used to have over 600 songs listed. Where did they all go?
A: It takes time for me to rework all the html involved in my site's former design, and I did not want to delay reopening AMP until every last page of it was tweaked. Hence, I reopened with only a few pages in the new format. Be patient, AMP's former music info will definitely return.
Q: Why do you have so little CD info, compared to all the songs listed?
A: Unfortunately, for several years I did not keep track when someone told me what CDs a song was available on, so I am having to play catch-up. To add to it, until the past two years, I only purchased cheap bootleg anime CDs. Since I refuse to list those CDs here, I must wait until I find or am told about the legal versions. CD info will be slow to come, but it will get here. Eventually. <:P
Q: I have an anime CD you don't mention. How can I add it to AMP?
A: Please see my add a CD page. ^^ Your information is greatly appreciated!
A: For the best selection and lowest prices, stick to the internet. Stop by my links page or try the commercial stores listed in the Anipike. You can also get lucky on ebay. Comic stores are also an option, but beware of price markups, especially when they sell Son May or other bootleg anime CDs for legal anime CD prices. (A legal CD will cost anywhere from $25-$50 in a comic store. Son May and other bootlegs should never go over $15 in price. If they do, you're getting ripped off.)
Q: What's a "Son May" CD, and why should I care?
A: In short, Son May CDs are bootlegs, and so are CDs made by "Ever Anime". Here's the long story as I understand it: Taiwan never signed the International Copyright Agreement treaty, which gives companies in that city a nice legal loophole to exploit many things, including music. Son May and other Taiwan-based bootleg companies publish their own versions of anime soundtracks. Sometimes their bootleg version is almost exactly the same as the legal Japanese release, sometimes the CD books and inserts are radically different. Son May also "creates" its own compilations CDs, with themes like "Best of Anime from 1996" and such. These are CDs that have popular music from one or several different anime shows, compiled by Son May and released as an original CD for their label. Son May CDs are cheap, US$8 to US$10 cash directly from the company, with special deals like free CDs and free shipping if you buy enough at once. In comic book stores, Son May CDs are usually sold for $15, half again what you'd pay direct. (Yes, I've bought directly from Son May and in comic stores--but not anymore. I'm a good girl now.) I've yet to meet a comic store employee who knew--or at least admitted--that Son May CDs are bootlegs. Once, I had a girl behind the counter trying to convince me they were legal releases. *rolls eyes* When faced with a choice between $30 for the legal Japanese version, or $15 for the identical Son May bootleg, most fans go for the cheap knockoff. Some don't know better, some just don't care.
What difference does it make? Well, when you buy the Son May version, your money is going to a bootlegger. The legal copyright holder, the Japanese company, gets no money from your Son May purchase. Hence, no royalties are paid to the show's creator, to the singers, to the composers or the musicians. They get zip for their hard work and talent, yet you get to listen to all their efforts. While purchasing the legal Japanese release doesn't mean you're handing a portion of your money to the artists yourself, you DO know that you are reimbursing the company or person who bought that CD originally, whether it was from another company, person, or the actual music house. And that's a good feeling. ^^ I have met people who hate bootlegged anime CDs with a passion, and would happily lynch those who buy them and brag of their collections. I have also met people fully aware of the signifigance of owning Son May CDs, but they justify their actions with the statement, "I buy what I can afford." In the end, whichever way you go is entirely up to you. Over half of my own anime CD collection is made up of Son May CDs, but I am VERY VERY proud of my legal Japanese CDs, and I no longer buy Son May. I like to know that I help support the anime industry, in my own broke way. :)
Q: How can I tell if a CD is made by Son May?
It will say so. ^^ Look at the back of your CD. Somewhere on there will be their logo, which is a big black "SM". To the right of the logo is their contact info, written in Chinese. Their email address is ususally there as well, and starts with "sonmay@..." Sometimes, they will translate the song titles from Japanese into Chinese, with their translations ususally written in red ink next to each song. (For those who cannot read Japanese or tell the difference between it and Chinese, compare the shapes of the characters. If the charcaters are half complicated symbols and half simple ones made of two or three lines each--or all simple ones--it's Japanese. If all but one or two words are made of the complicated symbols, it's Chinese. Those are very general definitions, but they usually work.) Son May CD catalog numbers are also distinct. "SM-123". "G-123", "GA-123, "GGG-123", "PRO-123" are all Son May catalog number patterns. Some legal Japanese CD numbers are "KICA 123", "VICL 123", "TYCY 123". Legal Japanese CDs will also almost always be marked with the anime's copyright holder. For example, my Ririka CDs have "Star Child" on the back, and Kenshin ones are from Sony Records. And the final, most obvious mark: legal CDs will also say somewhere on there--in English!--"Made in Japan". Yeah!!! >:D
A: To view my CD list, please click here. It's smaller than you might think. ^^
Q: I want to make my own anime music page! Any advice?
A: Yes! First of all, start small! I cannot stress that enough. You might want to have a page with a million songs, lyrics for everything, pics for each show, a Flash interface, and every song available for download all the time. That's a worthy goal, but start with something simple. If you find you can handle the work of maintaining a simple music page, THEN set about to fulfilling your vision. As an anime mp3 fan, you've no doubt come across your fair share of pages that have closed down because it was too much work for the webmaster to maintain. If you don't want your own page to end that way, then slowly expand your HTML, music, and extra goodies, until you find something that satisfies your vision, and most importantly--that you have the time and energy to maintain. I began AMP in 1999. What you see here now is the result of three years and hundreds of hours of work. But when my page opened, I had only six songs and a Geocities web site.
Q: What does "Pantechnicon" mean??
A: Pantechnicon is a fancy word for "vault"--I wanted something different. Only after I named my page did I notice that "Anime Music Pantechnicon" made an appropriate acronym. There is also an alternate definition of pantechnicon in the UK, where it can mean a funiture moving van. *chuckles* Hen, ne?
A: My handle comes from combination of two of my favorite things: Elfquest and anime. The first led me to the second. :)
10-10-03