“Australia’s million iPod users are all breaking the law. A Herald Sun investigation has found — despite the popularity of the pastime — no legal method exists for Australian iPod owners to fill their player with music. And they could face court with anti-piracy groups refusing to rule out suing users of the popular player,” Liam Houlihan reports for The Herald Sun.
“None of the tunes available from legal download internet sites are compatible with the Apple iPod music players. The common method of ‘ripping’ tunes on to an iPod from the user’s own CD collection is illegal — as a breach of copyright laws. And unlike Britain and the US, Australia does not yet have an Apple iTunes store for iPod-compatible legal downloads. An estimated million people nationwide have already bought and put music on their iPods — the most popular model of MP3 player,” Houlihan reports. “But all methods of filling the player with music are illegal, which means Australia’s hundreds of thousands of iPod users are all technically criminals.”
Full article here.
Near the end of the article, iPod owner Claire Cohen is quoted, “When I got my iPod I got online ready to pay. Hours later and after being devastated to find out Apple doesn’t care about iPod owners, I had to give up.” Cohen’s wrong. It’s reportedly Warner Music Group and Sony BMG Music that are holding up Apple’s iTunes Music Store Australia. It’s Warner Music Group and Sony BMG Music that don’t care about iPod owners, certainly not Apple.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Sony and Warner holding out on Apple iTunes Music Store Australia – September 08, 2005
Apple iPod sales humming right along in Australia – July 05, 2005
ha!!!!
being devastated to find out Apple doesn’t care about iPod owners, I had to give up.” Cohen’s wrong
—
Apple’s not a record label…
Ever heard of ripping CD’s?
Ah yes.. legal music.. don’t blame Apple for your own theft lol
Rack off. We’re convicts. Blame the Poms.
Doesnt matter about the iTMS, it’s the screwed up copyright law they have down there that people should be angry about. I mean, what are they going to do, rebuy all of the music they already own on CD through the iTunes store? I dont think so.
These people needs to get off their butts and get the law changed.
MW ‘such’ as in we need to be careful or SUCH a law may find its way onto the books in the US too.
I can buy a CD and put that on my ipod. As far as i know that is legal. I mean that’s the whole point of the pod.
ok got that out of my system……
a quote
“Speaking on condition of anonymity, one label executive said Jobs’ desire to keep pricing at 99 cents had a very simple explanation: ‘It helps him sell iPods. When he started iTunes, he broke through that psychological barrier that consumers had and made a lot of dough doing it, but it seems like he has a monopoly and he’s become the Wal-Mart of the Internet, and he wants to retain that monopoly.'”
errrr….. right……. as i said elsewhere i cant believe anyone bought an ipod just to access itunes.
this is disingenuous to the point of criminality. i fear a period of great turmoil and the forces of darkness may yet prevail……..
but the vistory will be phyrric and all will loose.
allah is great (but are beards really necessary?)
Oh sorry my mistake. I was unaware that ripping my own personal CDs was illegal. So why is the ipod not a prohibited import or something. What do they expext? People are gonna fill 60gigs with voice recordings?
Did you guys who commented about ripping a cd to the ipod not even read the article above? READ the entire thing next time before you spout off crap.. it’s ILLEGAL in Australia to rip songs from a CD! comprehend??
MW=leave; I think i’ll leave my brain at home to rest today!
I don’t know why this might be surprising – after all, Austrailia was colonized by the British as a Penal Colony – criminal activity is in their heritage ; )
The above is meant as a joke – but I don’t blame them for violating this law.
Hey!!! some of my best friends are criminals!!
allah is great ( but pavarotti is greater)
Right then. I gets me an iPod and rip me own CDs and winds up in the clink.
So, the govner is making tax dollars from me from a product I buy in which I commit a crime if I use it as intended, yet I’ms the one who goes to jail?
If this is absolutely true…
— no legal method exists for Australian iPod owners to fill their player with music. —
Then gee whizz Apple Centers, Myers, Dick Smith and all the other re sellers, and the purchases of ipods are in fact breaking the law, and undoubtedly should be thrown in amongst the rapists and murderers at our local correctional facility.
I think they’d have a much easier task on there hands if they just got out a copy of the law and bottle of white out/tippex and just make a few little changes.
Their legal system is upside down. Probably due to them being on the bottom side of the planet.
So can I fly to New Zealand and fill it there? Will i be allowed to bring it back into the country?
Actually I can see someone setting up business on an island somewhere loading iPods for a living. Not a bad life.
We don’t actually use our ipods because we all know they’re illegal to use. But we do like to look cool. They can’t take that away.
Now the music labels just need to fight to raise the price on iTunes so we can all go back to being criminals…
what a shame Australia has been dealt some very draconian laws.
Me I’m a Kiwi so i have great symathy for my Aussie friends.
It’s time their government got a life and did the decent thing by them.
I mean what a stupid law.. I cant copy my own CD..
prophet loss: You are a stupid SOB. Stop using a name for God in vain you idiot. Arab speaking Christians, Jews, and Muslims all use the word Allah for God. Have some respect. You are not funny or cute.
Well, at least the iPod nano is easy to hide (or flush down the toilet) when the law comes knocking at the door.
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ones patience is rewarded.
if i said GOD was this, that or the other would you have complained?
where is the lack of respect? why can one not mock the things one loves or respect? love is so often equivocal and ambiguous.
and yes i know its a generic term, thats the whole point: its generic but not in the minds of so many.
As to being a SOB well i am more QUIET WHIMPER in the privacy of my room.
allah is great ( but greater is the desire to use his name to hate)
l
I use my iPod to listen to Podcasts, so ppphhhhhhhhhhttttt!!!!
and the followers swallow.
iDon’t… I think uDo.
In Australia it is legal to buy/sell bongs in a tobacconist. However it is illegal to use the bong you just legaly purchased ???? It is for ornamental purposes only. Don’t tell anyone but, we use it anyway. And we don’t have to bore out the stem either, (as in an ornamental firearm) they come fully functional.
Nice One Rainy Day. People are gonna look pretty funny at airports with white earphones plugged into there ass (where they’ve stashed their nano).
I finally figured something out – When Monkeyboy accused iPod owners of being criminals, he wasn’t lying – he just forgot to mention that he was only talking about the Australians.