That sounds like really interesting software. Is it free/shareware you could link us to?

Not sure if it's what Amber's talking about, but I believe Nero Info Tool, which is freeware, will tell you. You can get it here: http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=download.html

The only things worse than this guy's overpriced bootlegs are his overpriced originals. I mean, really, $50+ for Xenosaga III?

All ri ght - I got my friend's copy of hte FF8 collection - scans will be here in the next day or so (God willing)

Thanks,
~Andy

Okay...I'vescanned the stuff...

www.ffcompendium.com/~Skylark/ff8/

The disc art/printing/label/whatever it is called is NOT a sticker.They are actually stamped/printed onto the disc.

The Eyes on Me is obviously a boot - it was never offered at that size   -- and I imagine in the picture of the 'salvage' lot he shows a picture of the mini-cd too.

Anyhow, I hope that helps.

Thanks,
~Andy

It seems to tell me "audio CD" weather it's a normal CD or a CDR, for me.

-Joshua

Then there's a strong chance it's a printed disc, and not burned (just like Taiwanese bootlegs)

Thanks for the scans! Hmm, interesting that the disc labels are actually printed, but then again, they ARE "custom specialists," so I wouldn't imagine it would be too difficult for them to get the equipment to do that.

And yes, the Eyes On Me is obviously NOT the original Japanese version, nor is it any of the Taiwanese or Chinese versions that I've found. So yeah, that's obviously been copied. I'm rather impressed that they managed to stretch a 3-inch label over a 5-inch CD with little quality loss. Here's to high-res scans I guess, hehe.

Actually, what I'm talking about is this, it's called CDR Identifier.
It tells you the type of the media used.  I would like someone to compare the media of the originals to the media of the burned discs, and see what's up.

http://www.cds.com/cdrid163.zip

FF8 Disc 1

ORIGINAL:
ATIP:              Information not available
Disc Manufacturer: Unknown
Reflective layer:  Unknown
Media type:        Unknown
Recording Speeds:  Unknown
nominal Capacity:  Unknown

BOOTLEG:
ATIP:              97m 32s 19f
Disc Manufacturer: Prodisc Technology Inc.
Reflective layer:  Dye (Short strategy; e.g. Phthalocyanine)
Media type:        CD-Recordable
Recording Speeds:  min. unknown - max. unknown
nominal Capacity:  702.82MB (79m 59s 71f / LBA: 359846)

~Andy

I found this url at ebay - I tried emailing them explaining the situation and what we've tried to do so far.

http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?V … id=r.i.a.a.

Also, I did email Square-enix directly.

I have no idea if it will help - but it's worth a try - anyone else care to submit an email to either?

~Andy

I doubt the RIAA would care about this considering the stuff isn't distributed in the US. But mailing S-E on the other hand sounds like a good idea. You did e-mail the NA division though, right?

this guy is getting worse by every listing, now he has tons of new bootlegs on ebay including rockman soundtracks.
look at recent comments:

"Nice packaging, but salvage lot nothing but bootlegs. Easy to tell."

seller to which reponse sounds:

"We sell orig editions of salvaged sndtrcks. U have no idea what u r talking @."

how can you talk sensibly with this guy?

I really hate saying it, but this guy really seems to have thought this through...Especially if he's not using CD-R's. It's really hard to explain to Ebay exactly what this guy's doing wrong, since no one there is probably familiar with the nature of the VGM market. I mean, if they haven't done anything about the Taiwan boots...

Although...Anyone who believes the whole salvage lot story (plausible as it may be) is an idiot. I can see once or twice, but this guy's making a living off it by finding plenty of idiots...

Ebay caters to fraud.  They don't care as long as they get their cut of the sale.

There is really no good way to stop this unless the copyright holder contacts eBay.  That means Square-Enix needs to get involved, possibly the Japanese parent company, since the fraud is occurring on Japanese soundtracks.

I think Carl can attest to this from his past visit to Japanese record companies, but most of these Japanese publishers are primarily concerned about sales in Japan, not elsewhere.  They simply don't imagine that there is potential business outside of Japan.  And, even if they do factor international sales into their plans, copyright enforcement outside of Japan may be too onerous for many Japanese publishers, who may not have international presence.

I think it would be a little easier to use the bootlegged Resident Evil movie scores that customspecialists is bundling with the bootlegged Biohazard OSTs as the base for an argument. Although those are supposed to be the Japanese versions of the scores, there is a better chance that the RIAA might take notice to something like that, but there's very little light at the end of that tunnel. Filing reports on Paypal instead of eBay sounds better, too, since cutting off his Paypal account would at least make their life a little harder.

it's so sad that we're all here trying to put a stop to a fraudulent seller, and all the agencies and corporations in the world that claim to care about this stuff DON'T because it's Japanese VGM.

I think in RPGFan's next series of composer interviews (being scheduled with Ms. Ezaki of cocoebiz), we'll ask everyone their thoughts on the bootleg market, and whether or not they think it's worthwhile for them to have an international fanbase.

Ramza

DOUBLE POST:

I went ahead and sent the following message to about ten people that won bootleg auctions from customspecialists:

----
Hello,

I just wanted to let you know that the item you purchased from customspecialists is without a doubt the work of a bootlegger. The discs are carefully crafted prints to look like originals, but they are not what he claims for them to be. This can be confirmed by the existence of discs in other auctions that were never really in in the US or Japan (such as the FFVIII 'Silver Collection' or the full-CD version of 'Eyes on Me' which was originally printed on a mini-CD). You ought to be giving the seller negative feedback for scamming you. If you are not concerned about owning legitimate copies of CDs, know that you were royally ripped off when you could easily be getting these albums for free on the internet. Either way, you are the loser in this transaction and you should not be happy with customspecialists or any seller like him.

Cheers,
rpgcrazy2
----

I had to start filling out number coded things to each person after the second message (I guess to prevent spam letters), and even after that little trial, after the tenth message I received the following note from eBay:

----
The form is not available at this time.
You have exceeded the maximum number of messages you can send.
----

Oh goodie.

Well I did the best I could. If someone would like to send a similar message to everyone from "turncoffee" to "jesselu" (and then beyond that for other posters), we can at least get the word out to his buyers that what they're buying is a sham.

I also sent a message to the seller himself, letting him know that many people are contacting authorities (such as Square Enix) and the composers themselves to address the issue of elaborate bootleggers such as himself.

Ramza

Unfortunetly Ramza, YOU are the one who's against eBay rules, and the buyer can complain to eBay against you...which could get YOU in trouble with eBay.

-Joshua

Bidder interference (warning buyers about a bootlegger) is why my ebay account was suspended.  I don't care anymore because ebay is the epitome of dishonesty.  Anyways, if you want to still be able to use ebay, you'd best stop.  Because bidder interference affects ebay's profits, they WILL suspend you.  They won't care if you are right or wrong.

Just to satisfy curiosity, I counted his VGM sales for the last week, and he grossed over $2200.  Of course, since it's holiday time, it's probably not valid to extrapolate, but that works out to over $100,000 per year he's grossing from selling fakes.

Ebay won't do a thing without a complaint from the copyright holder, and they are all the way in Japan.

I still think that the only way to beat him is to undercut him -- flood ebay with the exact same albums that he is selling, but much cheaper. Once he finds there's no profit in it, he'll move on to some other shady money-generating enterprise.

I wonder if ACLU would be at all interested in a case like mine if eBay banned me for telling the truth...

Ramza

UPDATE:

two of the buyers responded to the letter I sent:

-------------------------------------------------------
Hi -
I am really new to ordering on ebay.  My 14 year old daughter wanted the Kingdom Hearts I
& II so very much & I thought I was doing a good thing for one of her Christmas presents. 
I don't know what to do now, as I have not yet received the CDs.  Any suggestions? 
Thanks.
Cresia

-------------------------------------------------------
If only you had sent this message earlier... I already left a feedback for the seller. I
truly didn't know anything, because I bought this as requested by my friend who doesn't
have eBay account. I'll pass on the information to him, just so he knows.
-sharakael

There you go, two people who were once ignorant are now privy to the truth. I like my "one at a time" philosophy, even if it does eventually get me banned. f*ck eBay.

I'm going to respond to them with some good information.

Ramza

EDIT -- yeah, I'll send them good info *later*. eBay is still refusing to let me send messages through their system because I've sent so many. I wonder when that timer resets...

Has anyone tried contacting the RIAA at all? I realise that next to none (if any at all) of the cds he's selling were published by companies that support the RIAA financially, so it might be a long shot... I also tried to find a simple "contact" link on Square-Enix's North America site, but to no avail. Anyone know if they have a contact address, or what?

Damn, it just makes me so mad seeing this kid fool honest, trusting people like the ones Ramza posted e-mails from without being able to do anything about it

Anyone thought of contacting JASRAC?  It's like the RIAA equivalent over there in Japan I think.