Although summer has not seen a lot of new releases, there have been some notably great ones (see Hot Wacks reviews). It seems that labels are concentrating a little more on quality instead of quantity. With Japanese mass production almost at a standstill the few remaining labels have attempted (with success) at producing some decent titles of mostly newly found shows. Production in Japan (as elsewhere in the world) is always somewhat slower in the summer so when the colder wind starts blowing I'm sure there will be more to spin when the few remaining labels hit full production. I think we can assume to that the labels who did dig their heads into the ground will no doubt resurface as new labels. American CD and CD-R labels also seem to be working a little harder at decent releases. It's been hard to find anything really bad to say about anything lately (really bad anyway!).

CD-R's and DVD-R's continue to take over more of the market. I've noticed lately that many of the Japan dealers are selling more R's than silvers. I think basically we've come to accepts R's and when properly produced they can be as collectible as silver titles. You shouldn't have to pay as much in my opinion (even though production costs are higher on R's than silver). It would seem the move from silver to R's in the Japanese market probably has a lot to do with the fact that minimal runs of pressed silver discs is usually 1000. A thousand of a so-so title can be hard to move and we know there are warehouses upon warehouses of unsold discs sitting in Tokyo.