When I used to do my show, it was the most common question I got. Whenever someone asked me that, I would have to ask back, "which music?" because depending on what they were looking for, the answer would be different. Here, I will attempt to list all the different sources I use to build my collection.
Nintendo music:
Music from the original Nintendo Entertainment System made up a large portion of
my requests, and also a large portion of people wondering where I got my stuff
were only wondering about the Nintendo stuff.
A handful of Nintendo tracks can be purchased on CD. These tend to be rare because the games are old and most of the CDs are out of print. The Japanese importers I list below will have any of these CDs that are still around.
Most of my NES music comes in a special file format called NSF. NSF files are the exact music data ripped directly from the game. In order to play NSF files, you will need a special player that mimics the sound chip in the NES. Plugins for winamp are also available. Players and the music files themselves are available at Zophar's Domain.
Are NSF files legal?
Technically, I think if you own the physical cartridge, they are. The thing is,
Nintendo and the game companies have never complained about these archives, even
though Nintendo threatened a lawsuit against the site for selling hardware that let
people load games off their computers and onto their Gameboy systems, so they
probably know about it. If the files are illegal, Nintendo doesn't seem to care.
If you checked out Zophar's Domain, you probably saw many soundtracks for different game systems, including SNES, Genesis, Gameboy, and even Playstation and Playstation 2 soundtracks. All these files are the data ripped from the games, but since soundtracks are available for newer games, I don't bother with anything past the 16 bit systems. I prefer a CD I can listen to in the car anyway.
Those fancy imports:
The modern game music that I have is on CD. The CDs come from two sources,
domestic publishers and foreign importers. I'll cover the importers first
because they've been around longer. Japan has been publishing game music alot
longer that the US has, so any Japanese game soundtrack you want will probably
come from Japan through an importer. There are many websites that import,
especially anime retailers. Small stores that sell anime have soundtracks
sometimes as well. I usually buy from
Game Music Online because they've been
around a long time, they have a good selection, and they were 20 minutes away
from where I went to college so I would get stuff the next day with standard
shipping if I ordered in the morning. (Good if you don't plan your radio show
until the day before)
The other reason I ordered from them is that they always had the Japanese originals. Their prices seem high at $30 for just a single CD soundtrack when some sites have those CDs for $15. Those cheaper sites usually sell Taiwanese knock offs. In Taiwan, they do not respect international copyrights and have legal pirating businesses. When you buy those CDs you pay money to pirates, not the composers or publishers who actually make the music. If you refuse to pay the high cost for the real CDs, don't pay money to pirates or companies that deal with them.
Domestic Goods:
The sites I listed on the front page sell game music that they publish. I would
love to add more publishers and retailers there if they come up. It is important
to buy their CDs because Tokyopop, publisher of almost all the Mangas in your
local bookstore had a bunch of Squaresoft soundtracks, but had to back out of
the business. That should never happen!
Other Sources:
Some companies, like Vivendi, offer some soundtracks for free on their website.
(Good luck finding them, they're hidden in the downloads section for their
respective games, and only a handful have them available). Many makers of older
DOS games have midi's for free on their sites (if they're still around), and
good remix/fan made midi site are in my links section.
