Thread: That darn yen, again!

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Post by rammiepie February 17, 2009 (1 of 28)
We know the American Dollar is in perilous waters when I went into my currency calculator website and discovered that the dollar is worth 11 cents against the mighty Japanese Yen (the British Pound is now $1.43). Where I used to purchase SACDs from Japan at approximately $23 (US/shipping included), the same disc is roughly $35 to $40.
Perhaps The Flying Dutchman who lives in Japan can illuminate why the Pioneer Kuro Plasma TV (which used to be $10,000 US) is now below $5,000 (in a much improved form) but the Japanese CD market stubbornly refuses to make their music more affordable to markets outside of Japan (we're talking about a polycarbonate disc in a much-reduced oil market.) As an example, for May 2009, a three disc set (consisting of a hybrid SACD/HQCD (for comparison maybe) and a vinyl LP of HYPS, Chaotic Planet is slated for release at US, $194.26 or $64.75 per disc), and the TEAC Esoteric Decca's are US, $60.00. Oh well, I just went into Amazon.com and purchased the newly-remastered Director's cut blu-ray of Amadeus (2 discs with booklet) for $14.99 and silently sang "God Bless America" under my breath....as Zeus stated, companies can charge whatever they wish for their products but the perceived wisdom goes: "When you take a small bite, you LIVE, when you take a BIG bite, you STARVE! So only time and the river flowing will tell! With small companies like Pentatone, BIS, 2Land Chandos (all IMPORTS) producing stellar, affordable SACDs. The British Empire vendors(Crochet/AmazonUK) are all looking better by the second.

Post by tailspn February 17, 2009 (2 of 28)
rammiepie said:

We know the American Dollar is in perilous waters when I went into my currency calculator website and discovered that the dollar is worth 11 cents against the mighty Japanese Yen

How bout 1.1 cents?

Post by rammiepie February 17, 2009 (3 of 28)
tailspn said:

How bout 1.1 cents?

Sorry, I WAS an English Major!

Post by TerraEpon February 17, 2009 (4 of 28)
Yeah, as someone who's been buying Japanese discs for 10 years, it's been quite dismaying to see the exchange rate like it is. Oh to be back at 130yen/$1...

I don't even understand the economics where. Why did Britain get better against us where Japan got worse?

Post by AELK February 17, 2009 (5 of 28)
rammiepie said:
We know the American Dollar is in perilous waters when...

Dear Mr.Rammiepie:
This is the situation where all others countries ever lived, except U.S. and UK.
Now the U.S. credit bubble burst and you are facing the reality of living with their own sweat.
Sooner or later someone would have to pay for 60 years of easy credit and ilimited public deficit.
It was just Mr.Alan Greenspan leave the FED that the shit, or say the bubble broke.
So welcome to the machine...

Post by flyingdutchman February 17, 2009 (6 of 28)
rammiepie said:

We know the American Dollar is in perilous waters when I went into my currency calculator website and discovered that the dollar is worth 11 cents against the mighty Japanese Yen (the British Pound is now $1.43). Where I used to purchase SACDs from Japan at approximately $23 (US/shipping included), the same disc is roughly $35 to $40.
Perhaps The Flying Dutchman who lives in Japan can illuminate why the Pioneer Kuro Plasma TV (which used to be $10,000 US) is now below $5,000 (in a much improved form) but the Japanese CD market stubbornly refuses to make their music more affordable to markets outside of Japan (we're talking about a polycarbonate disc in a much-reduced oil market.) As an example, for May 2009, a three disc set (consisting of a hybrid SACD/HQCD (for comparison maybe) and a vinyl LP of HYPS, Chaotic Planet is slated for release at US, $194.26 or $64.75 per disc), and the TEAC Esoteric Decca's are US, $60.00. Oh well, I just went into Amazon.com and purchased the newly-remastered Director's cut blu-ray of Amadeus (2 discs with booklet) for $14.99 and silently sang "God Bless America" under my breath....as Zeus stated, companies can charge whatever they wish for their products but the perceived wisdom goes: "When you take a small bite, you LIVE, when you take a BIG bite, you STARVE! So only time and the river flowing will tell! With small companies like Pentatone, BIS, 2Land Chandos (all IMPORTS) producing stellar, affordable SACDs. The British Empire vendors(Crochet/AmazonUK) are all looking better by the second.

Look at the price of a Japanese disc...it is preset according to what the disc costs in Japan. In fact, the price is right on the front. There is no consideration for yen-dollar exchange. If a disc sells for 1000 yen and it points it out right on the front, it is sold in the US or elsewhere according to the exchange rate. The cost is the same in Japan. I can buy the same disc in Japan for 1000 yen last year, tomorrow, or next year.

Again, you by ignorance, believe that the Japanese market should somehow price their product according to your demands. The Japanese market is not stubbornly refusing to make their music more affordable to markets outside of Japan because again, as I told you before, they are marketing and selling their product to Japanese citizens or residents of Japan.

Honestly, I have never seen anyone so willfully ignorant such as you.

Post by bissie February 17, 2009 (7 of 28)
rammiepie said:
With small companies like Pentatone, BIS, 2Land Chandos (all IMPORTS) producing stellar, affordable SACDs. The British Empire vendors(Crochet/AmazonUK) are all looking better by the second.

Could I just lodge a small protest against the word "small"?
What is "small"? If you mean organization and overhead, yes, OK. If you look at production, hmmm.

FYI, if you go into ArkivMusic and go through all labels and see how many live and available titles each label has, you'll find that BIS is on 7th place in the world and Chandos is marginally even bigger, and that includes all majors.

If we go into SACD (which is probably more interesting here) I believe that BIS is the biggest label for new, original, Mch releases and certainly with 113 titles one of the biggest overall.

So, small, yes and no. We spend our money where it makes a difference - on the Artists, the sound, the recordings, the MUSIC, but NOT overhead, parties, Business Class flights and fat bonuses.

Best - Robert

Post by braver February 17, 2009 (8 of 28)
Dear Bissie -- I'd also like to ask you, as well as the Channel guy and the Pentaman, here:

/showthread/34557/

Cheers! :)

Post by azure February 18, 2009 (9 of 28)
Japanese releases have always been expensive.. now with the exchange rate as it is.. (SACDs are approaching AUD $50..) they are becoming unaffordable..
I just can not justify outlaying that type of money for one disc..
Considering I mainly buy my SACDs from Japan.. this will definitely curtail the number of SACDs I purchase this year :-(
I read somewhere that the Japanese place "bonus tracks" on their CDs to dissuade importation.

Post by Paul February 18, 2009 (10 of 28)
TerraEpon said:

Oh to be back at 130yen/$1...

Bite your tongue! As someone paid in yen I am happier than I have been in a decade, thank you very much! With the pound tanking and the yen soaring I have been able to get some truly excellent deals on all sorts of merchandise and still send money back to the States... good times, good times. I know it won't last but I am reveling while it does.

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