go listen to a very good song by 五月天, 一颗苹果 : “有些人经过我身旁, 住在我脑中, 在我心里钻洞. 有些人变成相片, 堆在角落, 灰尘象雪一般冰冻.” 五月天’s songs must be one of the best things that ever happened to me! i got quite tired of listening to that karen mok’s album, and bought mayday’s album. they only have one album selling here, it’s the “人生海海” album without the song人生海海. weird! so the album’s name is changed to “纯真”. i’m ashamed to say this is the first mayday album i bought, but i have all their songs in my computer at home, keke. so listening to the cd of familiar songs felt good! and the cd costs 49 yuan, which is only about $10.50 back home! i also bought 江美琪’s albums. both were on special offer, going for 15 yuan each! i asked repeatedly to make sure they were originals, and i was glad i wasn’t cheated. the only other recognizable album going for 15 yuan was a kit chan’s compilation album, the rest are all old china songs. i may go buy that kit chan’s when i feel rich. when i told my colleagues i bought 2 cds for 15 yuan each, they laughed at me, saying i got cheated. so i kept mum about the mayday album. upon interacting with the locals, i realized none of them have the thought of buying original cds at all! i mean, the chinese market is so big, but most of the cds they listen to are all pirated. pity the record companies and singers, the pirates really have a good time here man. i thought the normal original cd selling for 58 yuan ($12 - 13) is already cheap by our standards, but their pirated cds are only 8-10 yuan, sometimes even cheaper than the original cassettes. i heard the higher class piracy even comes with lyrics and pictures of singers! gosh! with 15-17 songs in one pirate cd, i think it’s rather tempting for the locals who don’t earn a lot. ultimately, it’s all a moral choice. i feel very guilty when i buy pirated cds, so i don’t do it at all. downloading songs gives me a chance to listen to songs which i would otherwise not have the chance to listen to, but i don’t get the convenience of portability, or good quality music. it’s terribly wrong, i know. the guilty conscience’s always pricking. hmm, seeing how rampant the piracy epidemic here is, i must really make a difference and support the originals.