Japanese Music at the U.S. iTunes Store

I have decided to write an informative article today that not only covers the choices of J-pop in the U.S. iTunes store, but also touches on my music tastes. I hope that this article gives you some helpful suggestions about music and if you are a current iTunes user, perhaps it will help you find J-pop more easily. Here is a movie to watch while you read.

To start, I will tell some advantages in purchasing music from iTunes. First, the price is significantly less than if you were to import CDs from Japan. For example, lets say that you wanted a single that contained an A-side, B-side and its respective karaoke versions. To import this, it would be about $10 + shipping. If you were to purchase just the A and B side from iTunes it would only be $2. Another advantage of iTunes is that it is a quick and legal way to get music. However tempting it is to download music for free, it is not right, and it is important that you buy the songs to support the artists and labels. Lastly, iTunes has lots of extremely rare and out of print CDs for many artists. However, iTunes does have its drawbacks. It has a fairly decent selection of J-Pop, but it has very very few anime songs. Also, the music is in protected AAC format, which is a huge drawback to those that do not listen to music on iPods. However there is a completely free and easy way around this protected format. I will post about that tomorrow. Even if you are not a fan of Apple and do not own an iPod, it might be a good idea to check out their J-pop selection.

Here are some of the J-pop music iTunes has. I will split it into 3 different groups. I will list some artists of note along with my favorite song of theirs and will provide a link to the iTunes page for each song.

Avex
Hamasaki Ayumi- Vogue
Otsuka Ai -Sakuranbo
Every Little Thing -suimy
hitomi -Go my way
globe - Get it on Now
dream -Shine of Voice
Do as Infinity - Wings 510/Van Tomiko -Flower
Day after tomorrow -Starry Heavens /misono -Kojin Jyugyo
BoA - every heart ~minna no kimochi~
AAA Hurricane Lili Boston Mari
Namie Amuro - Come
m.o.v.e - Deep Calm

Hello! Project
Morning Musume - Resonant Blue
Matsuura Aya -Ne~e?
Berryz Koubou -21jimadeno Cinderella
C-ute -Ookina Ai De Motenashite
Goto Maki -Gennshyoku Gal Hadeniikube!
Kusumi Koharu - Chance!

Other:
Mosaic.Wav - Magical Hacker ~kurukuru risk~
Utada Hikaru -Automatic
L'Arc-en-Ciel -Daybreak's Bell