Anime Music FAQ
                       for REC.ARTS.ANIME.*
                                Part 2

Edited by Ru Igarashi
Based on the work of Steve Pearl

This article can be freely distributed for non-commercial use,
as long as all credits and notices remain intact.  If this is to be
used in any publication, including CD-ROM collections, please
contact the maintainer for permission at
e-mail:ru.igara...@usask.ca.

Please e-mail all additions/corrections/comments to:
ru DOT igarashi at usask DOT ca

Changes since last posting:
- added link to Marvelous Entertainment [rob kelk]
- updated some links or noted dead links

FAQ Entries needed (submissions welcome):
- need more music sampler sites!
- more info and links for legal download sites

----------------------------------------------------------------------
This FAQ is posted in three parts.

Contents:
Part 1
1. General Questions
2. Legality Issues with Anime Music
3. Artists
A. About ths FAQ

Part 2
1. Online Anime Music Resources
   o WHERE CAN I FIND INFORMATION ABOUT SPECIFIC CDS?
   o WHERE CAN I FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT VOICE ACTORS?
   o DO THE ANIME CD COMPANIES HAVE WEB SITES?
   o WHERE CAN I FIND LYRICS FOR ANIME SONGS?
   o ARE THERE ANY ANIME INTERNET RADIO STATIONS?
   o WHERE CAN I FIND AN ANIME MUSIC SAMPLER SITE?
   o WHERE CAN I BUY LEGAL DOWNLOADABLE ANIME MUSIC?
   o WHERE CAN I FIND SHEET MUSIC FOR ANIME?
   o ARE THERE ONLINE JAPANESE DICTIONARIES?
   o MAILING LISTS
   o ARE THERE ANY ANIME MUSIC VIDEO SITES?

2. Anime Mail Order Businesses

A. Contributors
B. Disclaimer

Part 3
1. GLOSSARY

----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Online Anime Music Resources

General anime-related web sites and electronic resources:

Anime Web Turnpike
   http://www.anipike.com/

If you can't find the information you want at the specific sites
mentioned throughout this FAQ, try the above.

If you are after anime theme songs, "Anison Generation" lists songs
used as themes at
   http://anison.pobox.ne.jp/ [link dead]
   http://anison.info/ [Japanese]

o WHERE CAN I FIND INFORMATION ABOUT SPECIFIC CDS?

Yet Another Anime CD Cyclopedia
http://yaacc.cjas.org
        [Doesn't seem to be maintained.]
        Maintained by Jerry Hsu, based on Steve Pearl's AnimeCD
        Cyclopedia from the 1990s.  This is an HTML version
        containing:
        - catalog numbers,
        - front cover scans,
        - track titles,
        - track times,
        - title translations,
        - singer/artist,
        - comments  
        Contributions are welcome, as are corrections, preferably
        in his tagged format but also in the old Cyclopedia format.  
        Ratings are optional.  

Colette CD Connection
http://www.colettecdconnection.net/
        Contains:
        - catalog numbers,
        - front cover scans,
        - track titles,
        - track times,
        - comments

Moon Prince's Anime and Seiyuu CD Reviews
http://wwwcsif.cs.ucdavis.edu/~hueyt/cd.html
        [link dead]
        Contains:
        - catalog numbers,
        - front cover scans,
        - track titles,
        - reviews,
        - ratings

Studio Neko-Han-Ten Anime/Manga CD Guide
http://anime.geocities.jp/st_nht/index.html
        Contains:
        - catalog numbers,
        - track titles,
        - track times,
        - title translations,
        - singer/artist,
        - comments

Animephile
http://catsspat.dyndns.org:2080/anime/index.html
        Contains:
        - catalog numbers,
        - track titles,
        - track times,
        - title translations,
        - singer/artist,
        - comments
        Has cross references for singers.

Anidisc.com
http://www.anidisc.com/
        [link dead]
        Contains:
        - catalog numbers,
        - track titles,
        - track times,
        - singer/artist
        - searchable in addition to browsable
        Has user interface for entering or changing entries.

Chris Sypal's Domestic Anime CD Guide
http://www.radiks.net/~csypal/cds
        [link dead]
        A site for CDs licensed for re-release in the West.  
        Contains:
        - catalog numbers,
        - track titles,
        - track times,
        - singer
        Correlates to original Japanese release when applicable.

Gracenote
http://www.gracenote.com
        A site for general audio CD track listings for use by playback
        software/hardware.  Some anime CDs are listed here, but other
        production information is very limited.  Gracenote now charges
        royalties to software makers, so it's not clear what will
        happen to it.  Used to be called cddb.com.
        See freedb.org for its free alternative.

FreeDB.org
http://www.freedb.org
        An alternative to gracenote.com (was cddb.com), which is used
        for general audio CD track listings for use by playback
        software/hardware.  Like Gracenote, production information
        tends to be limited.  It's newer so its database is currently
        smaller, so anime CD information is even more sparse.  

CD information for specific shows can sometimes be found at
fan web sites.  Check the Anime Web Turnpike,
   http://www.anipike.com
for lists of sites for specific shows.

o WHERE CAN I FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT VOICE ACTORS?

You can try these seiyuu databases or link pages.

Hitoshi Doi's Seiyuu Searchable Database
   http://www.usagi.org/doi/seiyuu/index.html
      Has J-pop CD info as well as seiyuu info.

Voice Actor(ess) links
   http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~AE5T-KSN/anime/voice-e.html
      A link index to web sites for both official and fan pages.

Anime News Network Encyclopedia
   http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/

      The Anime News Network Encyclopedia holds information for a
      large number of anime titles, for both Japanese and English
      versions, with multiple search categories. It's entries list
      both cast and staff.

Anime Web Turnpike Seiyuu/Voice Actors links
   http://www.anipike.com/

o DO THE ANIME CD COMPANIES HAVE WEB SITES?

Some do.  The sites for the original anime CD companies tend to be
in, well, Japanese, and as such I can't vouch for their usefulness
(some do have English links):

Aniplex (Sony/SPE Visual Works/SME Visual Works)
   http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/Animation/
Avex Mode
   http://avexnet.jp/
   http://www.avexnet.or.jp/
Columbia Japan
   http://columbia.jp/animex/
DefSTAR (see Aniplex/Sony)
Geneon
   http://www.geneon-ent.co.jp/
   [This is site is a bit convoluted.  No dedicated page for CDs.
   I have no idea where the old Pioneer CD info is now.]
King Records
   http://www.kingrecords.co.jp/
Lantis
   http://www.lantis.jp/
   http://www.lantis.co.jp/
Marine Entertainment
   http://marine-e.co.jp/
Marvelous Entertainment
   http://www.mmv.co.jp/
Mellow Head (division of Lantis)
   http://www.mellow-head.jp/
Pony Canyon
   http://www.ponycanyon.co.jp/
Starchild (division of King Records)
   http://www.starchild.co.jp/
Tokuma Japan (note the specific Ghibli link)
   http://www.tkma.co.jp/tjc/
Toshiba-EMI
   http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/
VAP
   http://www.vap.co.jp/
Victor (JVC)
   http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/m-serve/index.html

In North America there is:

Animetrax (ADVision and Right Stuf International)
   http://www.animetrax.com

Soundtrax (TokyoPop)
   http://www.tokyopop.com/soundtrax

Geneon Anime Music
   http://www.geneonanimemusic.com/
   (note: Geneon USA has apparently partnered with Starchild, a division of
   King Records)

o WHERE CAN I FIND LYRICS FOR ANIME SONGS?

You can find a good list of web sites that have anime lyrics at the
Anime Web Turnpike at
   http://www.anipike.com/

You can also find official translations of songs from anime
that AnimEigo has released at their web site:
   http://www.animeigo.com/Liner/

If you don't want to navigate AniPike, try:

AnimeLyrics.com
   http://www.animelyrics.com/
     Searchable site.  Also has J-Pop and game lyrics.

AnimeLyrics.tv
   http://www.animelyrics.tv/
     Searchable site.  Also has J-Pop and game lyrics.

[Maintainer's Note: the above two are somewhat related as of late
2006.  The maintainers of the original site have split, each taking
the original content and going their separate ways.  I don't know
how this is going to settle out, but it's somewhat emotionally
charged, so I'm just going to list them both.]

o ARE THERE ANY ANIME INTERNET RADIO STATIONS?
[editor's note: I'm open to recommendations]

Anime in the Limelight
   http://www.limepub.com/radio.html
     Licensed anime music radio site, about 1 hour content.

Adventures in Anime Music
   http://www.adventuresinanimemusic.com/
     Licensed anime music radio live broadcast and site, about 1 hour
     content per broadcast, archive of previous broadcasts.

Anime Hardcore Radio
   http://www.animehardcoreradio.net/
     Live365.com station, but also broadcasts on other streaming
     formats like mp3 and realaudio.

Interactive Anime OST
   http://ftp.jav.net/
   [Dead link]
     A Shoutcast station with an online request system.  Uses streaming
     mp3 at 128kbps so you need a reasonably fast network connection.

Japan-A-Radio
   http://www.japanaradio.com/

ToonRadio.net
   http://www.toonradio.net/
     Broadcasts "Anime in the Limelight" and "Adventures in Anime
     Music" in scheduled time slots.

You might try some of the streaming media vendors, like Real.com and
live365.com, shoutcast.com or check the site database at the Anime
Web Turnpike (http://www.anipike.com/index.php?cat=92).

o WHERE CAN I FIND AN ANIME MUSIC SAMPLER SITE?

Many people say they use MP3s to get an idea of what's on a CD before
they decide to buy it.  There is a school of though that says the more
ethical way of providing this is by provding exerpts from any given
track rather than the whole track (for example, see WHAT'S THE
RECOMMENDED WAY OF PRESENTING MUSIC SAMPLERS ON MY WEB SITE?).  The
following provide that service to anime music fans.
[maintainer's note: this REALLY needs more entries]

                           Anime Music FAQ
                       for REC.ARTS.ANIME.*
                                Part 3

Edited by Ru Igarashi
Based on the work of Steve Pearl

This article can be freely distributed for non-commercial use,
as long as all credits and notices remain intact.  If this is to be
used in any publication, including CD-ROM collections, please
contact the maintainer for permission at
e-mail:ru.igara...@usask.ca.

Please e-mail all additions/corrections/comments to:
ru.igara...@usask.ca

Changes since last posting:
- none

FAQ Entries needed (submissions welcome):
- need glossary entry for streaming Windows Media

----------------------------------------------------------------------
This FAQ is posted in two parts.

Contents:
Part 1
1. General Questions
2. Legality Issues with Anime Music
3. Artists

Part 2
1. Electronic Anime Music Resources
2. Anime Mail Order Businesses

Part 3
1. GLOSSARY

A. Contributors
B. Disclaimer

----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. GLOSSARY

The following are short descriptions of terms and abbreviations common
in this newsgroup.  For a comprehensive list of acronyms used in the
rec.arts.anime.* news groups, see Rob Kelk's "Anime Acronym List",
posted monthly, or found at
   http://robkelk.ottawa-anime.org/acronyms.html

.au/.aiff/.snd/.voc/.wav:  Suffices for different types of audio files.
        Most of them do not use any compression.  Are now mainly
        used for computer system sounds (which is what they originally
        started out for).

.avi:   AVI video files.  AVI is not actually a compression format,
        rather a wrapper for a wide variety of video compression formats.

.gz:    Suffix for unix "gzip" compressed file.
        See Compressed File.

.lha/.lzh: Suffix for Lempel-Ziv-Haruyasu algorithm compressed file.
        See Compressed File.

.m3u:   Suffix for "MPEG1 Layer 3 URL" file.
        See M3U and MP1/MP2/MP3 files below.

.mov/.qt:  Suffices for QuickTime video files.  Like AVI, this is a
        wrapper for a wide variety of video compression formats.

.mp1/.mp2/.mp3: see MP1/MP2/MP3 Files below

.mpg:   MPEG1 video file.  Not to be confused with MP1/MP2/MP3.  See
        MPEG below.

.ogg:   Ogg Vorbis audio file.  See Ogg Vorbis file below.

.pls:   Suffix for Shoutcast PlayLiSt file.  See PLS Files below

.ra/.rm/.ram/.rpm: "Real" audio/visual files, a proprietary format by the
        company that produces the RealPlayer line of software.  These
        are usually used as a source file for streaming AV content
        over the net rather than download-then-play.  Some of these
        (.ram, .rpm) are actually contain pointers to the actual file.

.tgz/.tar.gz:   Suffix for gzipped GNU tar compressed archive file.

.Z:     Suffix for standard unix "compress" compressed files.  
        See Compressed File.  [SP]

.zip:   Suffix for the MSDOS zip compressed archive file.
        See Compressed File.

Anime:  Japanese word for animation, pronounced "ah-nee-meh". In North
        America (and probably everywhere outside of Japan), "anime"
        is used only in reference to Japanses animation (whereas, in
        Japan it refers to all animation). The term "anime" is preferred
        in this newsgroup over "japanimation" (a term used by North
        Americans to refer to Japanese animation), as the latter seems
        to be offensive to some people. [SP,RI]

Anison: Japanese word for "anime song".  Detailed definitions vary, but
        basically these are songs made for and used in anime.  Often these
        are OP or ED, and sometimes instrumental OP or ED are considered
        anisons.  Technically speaking a "song" is sung, i.e. has a singer,
        so it might be argued that instrumentals don't count.  Purists
        also stipulate that anison are sung by career anime artists,
        singers who don't have (much of) a singing career outside of
        anime songs.

Anonymous FTP:  A type of FTP to log into a remote machine without
        needing an account, and extracting files from it (see FTP).  
        Web browsers make use of this "automatically", so you don't
        really need to know how.  If you want to use anonymous FTP
        manually but don't know how, ask your local System
        Administrator. [SP,RI]

BGM:    Background music

bitrate: In the audio context (also in video), the bitrate cited
         is usually the maximum volume of digital data (number
         of "bits") available at a time (e.g. per second) for
         compressed audio data.  It is often used synonymously with
         compression factor and audio quality (more compression
         results in poorer quality) because the raw audio data
         usually starts out with much higher digital size and must
         be squeezed down the the assigned bitrate.  For example,
         CD audio runs at more than 1 million bits per second,
         and MP3s typically reduce that to the order of 100,000
         bits per second (100 kbps).

bootleg:  Copies of a work (e.g. CD) made and distributed illegally,
        especially with respect to copyright laws, which usually
        stipulate that copying and distribution require permission
        (and usually licensing) from the original producer of the
        work.  Frequently used synonymously with the term "pirated".

Browser:  An application for accessing the web, like Netscape.  [SP]

CCCD: Copy-Control CDs.  As the name implies, these are CDs with
      a form of copy control, particularly to try to block copying of
      music on computers.  Introduced to the market by Avex, it is
      my understanding that the CCCD is actually a multi-session CDROM
      with data (plus some black magic) and audio tracks.  The audio
      tracks contain the usual CD format music, but the data track is
      what computers see, and that typically contains compressed
      audio files along with a M$ Windows "private player" (it looks
      like some companies use their own encoding, one company uses
      K2 enc and Sony uses their minidisc ATRAC).

      If you want to identify CCCDs, the standard logo can be seen
      in this Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) news:

         http://www.riaj.or.jp/e/news/20020418.html

      There are currently 5 Japanese companies using some variant of
      the CCCD format (you'll have to use a translation service to
      read their web pages):
         Avex (http://www.avexnet.or.jp/cccd)
         Toshiba-EMI (http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/)
         Japan Victor (JVC) (http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/cccd/)
         King Records (http://www.kingrecords.co.jp/cccd/index.html)
         Pony Canyon (http://www.ponycanyon.co.jp/tpci/cccd)
         Sony (http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/cccd/)
         Teichiku Entertainment
         Universal Music Japan
            (http://www.universal-music.co.jp/cccd/index.html)
         Warner Music Japan
            (http://www.warnermusic.co.jp/cccd/index.html)
      Avex, King, Universal Pony Canyon and JVC use Cactus Data Shield
      protection scheme.  Sony CCCDs use Labelgate protection scheme.

      It should be noted that Phillips, the originator of the CD format
      refuses to allow the CD trademark to be used on these CDs (because
      they simply aren't audio CDs).

CD:     Compact Disc.  These are 5 inch optical storage disks
        capable of holding up to 650 megabytes of data or 74 minutes
        of audio (well, they can squeeze in more, but that's the
        standard specification).  
        There are a few types of anime audio CDs:
           soundtrack or original soundtrack or OST - Contains the
                musical score for the anime.  An exception is the
                soundtrack for Akira, which includes the voices and
                sound effects!  If you just want the music, get the
                Akira Symphonic Suite instead.
           symphonic - A full-symphony rendition of the music in
                the anime.
           image - Contains music that "evokes the memory (or mood)
                of the film".  This includes new versions of music on
                the anime, music written for the film but not included
                in it, and other (maybe new) music somehow related to
                the film.
           drama - Much like a radio play, but on CD.  The story
                can be from the video, but often is not.
           high-tech - A synthetizer rendition of the music in
                the anime.
        [SP,RI]

CDROM:  CDs used for computer data storage.  They can, of course, hold
        audio files, but they can't be played in an audio CD player.
        Playback is via computer, or portable audio file playback
        device (similar to the Rio).

CD-R:   Write once, read many times CD.  Can be used to make audio
        CDs and computer data CDs.  Compatible with most CD-only
        players (home audio and computer alike), however, some
        DVD decks cannot read these since the laser frequency is
        mismatched to the disc dyes used.  Once written, it can't
        be written over and more audio tracks cannot be added.
        Data versions can have additional data written in a special
        "multi-session" format, which aren't readable on older CDROMs.

CD-RW:  Rewritable CD.  Can be used to make audio CDs and computer
        data CDs.  Can be written over many times (though there is
        a limit), or written incrementally. Not all CD-only players
        can play these, but DVD decks should because the dyes used
        are coincidentally closer matched to the DVD laser
        frequency than CD-Rs.

CD-Single: A 3 inch version of the normal (5 1/4 inch) CD.  There's
        no difference in the data structure, but because it is
        physically smaller, it holds less music.  Usually used
        for music "singles" (the term "single" is loosely applied
        as often there are a couple to a few songs on one).  These
        can be played in most normal CD players (if you see a
        smaller diameter depresssion in your tray and have
        wondered about it, this is what it's for).