Official Release of Girls Generation's Run Devil Run Repackaged Album in the Philippines

Yesterday, May 22, 2010, the Black Soshi Day event was held in 3 different places here in Metro Manila, Philippines. One in Astroplus in SM North Edsa's the Block, Music One in Greenbelt, and Odyssey in SM Megamall. This marks the official launch of Girls Generation's Run Devil Run repackaged album in the Philippines. This was made possible by Universal Records Philippines and Girls Generation PH Fan Club.

The perks are quite impressive. If you buy the Run Devil Run album, you get to have all 9 Run Devil Run posters of the Girls, a group poster and Thank you cards. Plus, the posters aren't folded. If you buy the regular album, it only has 1 random poster that is folded and a Thank you card. However, you must be among the first 200 buyers in either one of the 3 locations to be able to buy the special package and you must buy another one of their locally released albums which are Gee, Genie and Oh! Thus, if you already have any the previous albums, you'd have to buy an extra copy to be able to get the package. Well, not everyone can afford to buy 2 albums.

A while ago, my family and I went to SM Megamall and I went to Astroplus. The Run Devil Run album is on sale for 500 pesos. Gee and Genie are sold at 350 pesos and Oh! is at 500 pesos. So, you'd have to at least shell out 850 pesos to be able to buy the package plus you'd have to line up early to be among the first 200. I can buy the package but I don't want to have duplicate albums and I'm already fine with my Girls Generation albums being complete.

So, I was not one of them. I already bought my Run Devil Run repackaged album online. It was produced straight from South Korea. As expected, I did get a Thank You card and a poster, Jessica's. Back then, when Universal Records Philippines announced that Run Devil Run will also be released locally, one thing came to my mind. Will it have the same quality as the one from South Korea?

I was right and it wasn't. I compared my album that came from South Korea to the ones that are sold locally. The one locally has a low print quality. The letters seem pixelized and smudged and the sparkles on the hair and the rest of the cover are blurred. Well, I'm really into the smallest detail so I really didn't choose to buy the local version because of the poor quality of printing. The same goes for their Gee and Oh! albums. The prints of the local versions are also of very low quality. I'm not too sure of Genie since it looks the same as the South Korean version. But hopefully, they'd consider having it printed in high quality in the future not only for Girls Generation but for others' albums as well.

In any case, as a fan, I am glad that Girls Generation is really loved here in the Philippines and that there is solid support by Universal Records Philippines and the fans alike. The same goes for other K-pop groups under the same distributing label. It paves way for the local fan to support their idols and have original copies of Girls Generation or other K-pop idol group albums but can't acquire them overseas.

Source:
Official Universal Records Facebook Page - Today is "Black Soshi Day"
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=434977&id=214540185413&ref=mf