The catalog number and the IFPI L*** are the most consistent things you'll find. Anything beyond the catalog number as a continuation along the same ring, are what I call the "pressing codes", and with EMI Japan it's usually 1 more letter/number or 3 more letters/numbers (but it's never just 2 more). I've seen 4 more letters/numbers on Shouso Strip & Noudouteki Sanpunkan and 6 more on Kono Yo no Kagiri - but those are freaks compared to the dozens of other EMI Japan CDs I've documented the bottoms of. Then there's the DVDs - don't even ask me about those.

The IFPI codes that don't start with L, can usually be found somewhere on an inner-more ring than where you found the L code, in a transparent zone, in often smaller print than the already-tiny L code. You can't expect the non-L IFPI codes to be consistent, so to me they don't matter as much. But if you still care, mine says IFPI 28B8 (in addition to the L153 we both have).

The pressing codes matter a lot more, even though in later years of CD collecting it becomes increasingly difficult to find someone else with pressing codes that match yours. If you can find a pressing code match, that means the audio data pressed into the discs is a complete match. Otherwise, there's almost always some tiny little difference you can't hear between pressings, but you can prove a difference with checksums, null samples, or ReplayGain values.

Elsewhere I mentioned how I'm sorta embarrassed for having missed the whole millennium without discovering Ringo -- but having said that, I'm still glad I didn't hear MM in '99, as I probably wouldn't have batted ..er, an earlobe I guess, for such a "nice but basic" kind of an ordinary indie/college rock album.

A touch of early Radiohead, another touch of Alanis, another of Smashing Pumpkins, with only a smidgeon of something idiosyncratic... Nothing that SS didn't do even better and with better songs (while adding whole 'nother spheres to boot).

I'm so glad Ringo herself seems such an old soul she grew past this phase and started dazzling us with crazy un-rock stuff like KYNK and TNIK. ;)

My friend has a Chinese version that came with this cool book introducing Ringo in Chinese with all these pictures and stuff. Is this a legit copy or a bootleg that has better packaging than the real version? I will take a photo next time I see him to show you what I mean

ummm... if it's in Chinese (or anything other than Japanese), I'm going to go with BOOTLEG.

Well, if it is or isn't- the packaging is still better than the official release :-p So you're saying that all the Chinese and Korean releases of Shiina Ringo stuff are bootlegs? I dun think so.... but yes, maybe with this one. Though it still is wtf because of the amount of effort they put into it.

Anyway: here are pics









All of this was housed in a slip case (which he didn't bring unfortunately)

The "Not For Sale" might mean it's a promo/sampler kind of thing rather than a fake.

If that's a fake, it's one of the best I've ever seen!

Oh and after opening the book of the CD, it had all this stuff too:

Noo, that's gotta be real. Bootleggers don't care enough to translate lyrics.

Aaand I totally want that version now. Mmm pictures.

This is legal copy, but cannot be sold in Japan.
You can say it's official Taiwan version of MM.
You can see there's official translation for the lyrics as well.

People can buy both the Japanese and Taiwanese version in Chinese speaking regions (such as China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc). However, the price of Japanese ones is usually triple the price of the offical Taiwanese ones.

The sound quality is the same, but it is true that you got the 'superiority feeling' when you own the Japanese copy. It is interesting to note that some Asian fanatics tend to own both Japanese and Taiwanese versions at the same time.