Apple today launched its iTunes Music Store in Japan, giving music fans the same innovative features, pricing, seamless integration with iPod and groundbreaking personal use rights that have made iTunes the number one online music service in the world. With one million songs priced at just ¥150 and ¥200 per song, plus Apple’s legendary ease of use and pioneering features such as built-in support for Podcasting, the iTunes Music Store in Japan is the best way for Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music online. The iTunes Music Store is the number one online music store with over 500 million songs purchased and downloaded worldwide, and works seamlessly with iPod, the world’s most popular digital music player with over 21 million sold.
“iTunes and iPod are leading the digital music revolution,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO in the press release. “We are thrilled to be bringing the iTunes Music Store to Japan, and hope music fans here love it as much as others around the world do.”
The iTunes Music Store in Japan debuts with local favorites including iTunes Originals from globe and Ulfuls, exclusives from Def Tech, Crazy Ken Band, Chara, Little Creatures, Chie Ayado and The Complete B’z digital box set. Other iTunes exclusives released today include music from international artists such as U2, Jack Johnson and Björk, and over 10,000 audiobooks are available, including works by Japanese authors.
With iTunes 4.9, listeners have everything they need to discover, subscribe, manage and listen to Podcasts built right in. The iTunes Music Store in Japan is launching with a wide variety of Japanese-language Podcasts, such as InterFM, Sotokoto and Radio Nikkei.
In celebration of the iTunes Music Store launch in Japan, Apple is hosting live music performances throughout August at all four retail locations in Japan, including the new Apple Store Shibuya which opens August 6.
Apple today also announced the worldwide availability of early Abkco catalog titles from classic artists such as Sam Cooke and The Animals, as well as the Rolling Stones, making the iTunes Music Store the only online music service in the world to feature the complete digital music catalog of the Rolling Stones. iTunes is offering music fans worldwide the opportunity to pre-order a special version of the new Rolling Stones album “A Bigger Bang” with an exclusive bonus video.
iTunes for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Music Store and is available as a free download immediately from: http://www.apple.com/jp/itunes
Purchase and download of songs from the iTunes Music Store for Mac or Windows requires a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of purchase. Music fans in Japan have the option to use iTunes Music Cards for cash purchases on the iTunes Music Store. iTunes Music Cards are available at Sofmap, Yamada, BIC Camera, Amazon Japan, Kojima, Yodobashi Camera as well as through the Apple Store and Apple’s retail stores.
Sony can’t be happy about this…
Related articles:
Apple’s Japan iTunes Music Store debut more bad news for Sony – August 04, 2005
Report: Apple CEO Steve Jobs to debut iTunes Music Store Japan ‘in a matter of hours’ – August 03, 2005
iTunes Music Store Japan? Apple to hold ‘special music event’ in Tokyo on August 4 – July 26, 2005
Apple to launch iTunes Music Store in Japan this August – July 15, 2005
Sony grabs Japan flash-based music player lead from Apple ahead of Japanese iTunes Music Store – July 14, 2005
Reports: Apple to launch Japanese iTunes Music Store in ‘near future’ – April 13, 2005
Awesome! Sianara Sony!!!
“.. requires a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of purchase ..”
Actually, that’s not quite enough. The card itself has to be issued from within the country of purchase. I’m in Canada. My billing address is in Canada. My card was issued from the States. The iTMS won’t take it for the reason stated.
Before Thankgiving we will have Apple countdown to 1 Billion songs sold, IMHO
MW former, as is Sony was the “former” leader in Japan.
はい
so .. am I gonna have to go get a Japanese download of the iTunes application just to be able to view the iTMS in Japan? I don’t see it yet.
:sigh:
ooops. There it is in the indexes after I restarted iTunes. Phew!
Would be nice if you could get songs from another country’s store. Perhaps with different pricing like “import” albums have on Amazon or in a store. I know that it is almost impossible to get legal copies of most, if not all, of popular Japanese albums, outside of the country. Those that are available are priced ridiculously high.
GWM, all Apple applications (and most Mac applications in general) are multilingual. The “Japanese” iTunes program is identical to the “English” program, the only difference is what language you choose in the “International” control panel. The same is true of OS X itself. For fun, try restarting your whole system in Dutch some day. I mention this because it’s just one more thing that makes Windows users gawk in awe, so feel free to demonstrate liberally to your less-enlightened friends.
“Before Thankgiving we will have Apple countdown to 1 Billion songs sold, IMHO”
Actually, based on the sales data that have been released and extrapolating brings it closer to the 3 yr opening date of the iTMS around May 2k6. after all at last statement they said approx 500mil/year. at this point it may be at 500mil/9-10months
“making the iTunes Music Store the only online music service in the world to feature the complete digital music catalog of the Rolling Stones”
So does that mean a box set like the U2 set but for the rolling stones? or just all the tracks, but at reg prices?
Keith in Tokyo:
Hiya. The apps may well be the same internationally, but Apple does indeed deliver varying content at varying times (might be a glitch .. or some Apple testing, perhaps). My Mac OS is in english, but sometimes I get the Music Store in French. It’s happened to me three times during the past week.
I only made the previous posting because the Japanese iTMS hadn’t yet showed up in my iTunes. It’s there now, but I still can’t access the store. Regardless, Apple is right on top of their iTMS Charts for Japan, I’m happy to report. Got an aggregator? Here’s one of the feeds: (this one shows the current top ten songs in the iTMS Japan) http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wpa/MRSS/newreleases/sf=143462/limit=10/rss.xml
wheres the .au and .nz store 🙁
ok .. now I’m in. I managed to access the Japan iTMS by selecting items in the iTMS Charts RSS feed. Go ahead, tell me you guys are all breezing right in through the front door. Just my luck, prolly. lol.
GWM — I used to have similar problems from time to time, and I think it was just a corrupt preferences file.
I also tried a long time to get access to the Japan music store, but I think it was just really really busy. I’ve already subscribed to three Japanese-language podcasts! Gotta get to the Apple Store in Ginza to get me a one of them iTunes cards so I can start loading up on music, though. I wonder whether they’ll have free tunes like the US music store?
The Japanese Store is Beautiful! The Music is Beautiful! I’m in love. Damn. I wanna buy …..
Yes. I’ve been checking the Japanese Podcasts too, Keith. Can’t understand a word, but who cares. This is VERY exciting. yum.
Hey, I’ve got a brilliant idea! Why doesn’t Apple put the *actual* release dates of the albums on iTMS instead of the completely useless and confusing dates they list now. Who would have thought that almost all the Rolling Stones albums were released in 1994?
Aussie Aussie Aussie…
We must be getting close, we’re part of the asia pacific region.
If they release a music store in Antarctica next, I’ll be pissed.
Question…
All these music stores in different countries, Is it possible say, for someone in the one country to access music (or at least browse and listen to samples) from another country. Someone above mentioned the Japanesse music is beautiful which I’m sure it is. But to I have to travel to Japan to listen to some of it ?
I’m just saying, in the mainstream we often don’t get to listen to a lot of foreign music and the iTunes Music Stores that will eventually pop up all over the world would be a good way of experiencing music from everywhere. Instead of the usual english speaking stuff we normaly get. That is if you’re from the US, UK or OZ.
I wonder how much faster this will get Apple to the 1 Billion mark…
It sounds like Australian and Mexican stores are in order next…
MW=Progress…
Wow, this is the first time they have not had uniform pricing. I guess a lot of compromises had to be made to finally get it out the door. The 200 yen price sucks and I will do my best to boycott those songs to put the pressure on to have the all be 150 yen (which, tho a little high, is much more in the acceptable range).
Since I have a US Credit card I will continue to mostly buy for the states tho and only pick up some local talent once in a while at the Japan ITMS.
I want to support it but it really sucks that they got their screw-over-the-Japanese-consumer pricing pushed through. That happens all too often over here.
All that said, I think this will really help out Apple in Japan and that is all good.
Sorry for all the typos. You guys know what I meant.
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Garry. You can access and listen to samples from any ITMS anywhere in the world. Just click choose store at the upper left and select the store you want. Enjoy!
There went Sony’s so-called lead in flash-based MP3 player sales.
Oh, and by the time Napster debuts in Japan “in a year’s time,” Apple will have a complete stranglehold on the market there. Napster and Tower Records might as well hang it up on based on this announcement.
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> Would be nice if you could get songs from another country’s store.
This will eventually happen in the European stores, since Apple’s current practice of stopping someone in one EU country from buying from another EU country’s store is illegal (doesn’t matter if the labels insist upon it, that clause itself wouldn’t be valid and Apple would win if they took the labels to court over it).
It’s really a shame that the record companies are so short sighted when it comes to allowing buyers from other country’s. I’d really love to be able to order from other country’s stores, not necessarily for price reasons, but simply because some of the music i like can’t be purchased in the UK store.
Anyone know the deal with these ITunes Music Cards? Could i, say, purchase a Japanese card from Apple online using a UK credit card and then use the Music card to purchase from the Japanese iTMS?
I can no longer remain silent.
WHAT ABOUT THE OZ STORE.
Someone name the Label that has held up the opening of Australia’s ITMS!
From MacRumors:
> Price Waterhouse have released a report “PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2005-2009”
It says
> Protracted negotiations are preventing launch and costing the music industry in Oz dearly
> SonyBMG has kept iTMS out of the Australian market
> ITMS (good legal downloads) help reduce piracy…and so SonyBMG are hence partly responsible for the increase in piracy
> SonyBMG wants Apple to increase the number of digital formats supported by the store. This includes WMA and Sony’s own ATRAC formats
> Stuff about radios taking market share but I dont think the author really has come to grips with podcasting – at least its not mentioned in the article.
To be honest, I don’t understand Apple’s approach to the iTunes Music Store. One version for each country just seems silly to me. It makes their lives very complicated, and severely restricts their market.
At the company I work for we have just one store which serves music globally. We deal with the problem of rights restrictions by not allowing people to buy material we don’t have rights to sell in their country. We launched in Japan the day we launched in the UK. A great deal of material on our site has no restrictions at all.
We also sell plain MP3s, usually at 256kbit, with no pesky DRM. Course that means that the 4 major labels don’t put stuff on our site, but we’ve still got over 3000 labels on board.
Having said all that the iTMS design is pretty good (much better than ours) and the integration with iTunes is handy, even if it does mean it’s Mac and Windows only. The fact that local stores also use the local language is also very nice, which we also don’t do at the moment.
Just in case you want to check us out go to http://www.karmadownload.com
> Anyone know the deal with these ITunes Music Cards? Could i, say,
> purchase a Japanese card from Apple online using a UK credit card and
> then use the Music card to purchase from the Japanese iTMS?
To answer my own question it seems that in order to purchase an iTunes Music Card you need to be registered at that country’s iTMS, and in order to register you need to either have a CC in that country or a Music Card. Catch-22.
Seems like the thing to do is form an international ring where there’s at least one member from each iTMS country who will accept payment from others and purchase the cards.
Stupid Apple and record companies.
Yes it is excellent news that there is now an iTMS in Japan, I am really happy about it
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As for Australia and New Zealand IMO you’re next, with OZ first followed closely by NZ. Just hang in there, Antarctica- well a store for just a few scientists to keep them happy, but yeah nice one, like it!
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After OZ and NZ I think that Mexico and South Africa are on the list. Since both these countries do have their own music talent as well as a decent enough economy for the income/expenditure ratio to make it worthwhile.
Other countries though not likely, but I would love to be proven wrong, are countries like Boliviar, Chile, Peru and Colombia. Brazil though to my mind has a good chance. Israel has good chance as does Turkey.
There is no point in opening a store where the majority of the population has less than one dollar a month income to spend.
Apple would love to have one single worldwide store, but the main powers that being the record companies won’t have that, yes in the EU and as I live in the EU I should and could buy goods from any member state.
This single EU iTMS store will only come to fruition once we here in the UK change to the Euro, if we ever do? I think it is that factor which is making it impossible for a single pan European store from opening.
Yes okay there is a possiblity of having a single EU iTMS + the UK store and if the record companies allow it any EU citizen can access both.
That’ll make other countries that have a store like the USA and Canada green with envy or red with anger as neither citizens can access the others store.
Another factor is down to pricing and exchange rates between the Euro € and GBP £ where one rate favours the other it will become unfair to the other resident that it does not favour. Same for US$ verses C$ rates. Complicated – very!
One or the other will end up paying more, though that is pretty much the case already as here in the UK we pay higher prices for goods and in most cases for no reason other than pure profiteering.
xan, talk to the record labels about it. I doubt Apple wants to have 11 different stores (Pan-EU store covers 9 countries). I think it would be great if we could have ONE HUGE STORE, with access to all of the music in all of the countries Apple is operating. Hopefully, Apple will be able to get the labels off of their a$$ and move forward to the future.
Macnut222, we do speak with the record labels about it. The problem is for popular artists the labels license out their material in other territories to other labels. They do this to help ensure that acts get promoted and they make more money – since the majority of sales are of CDs it helps to have a local label behind an act.
The major labels also aren’t quite the single units they appear to be, often with local operating companies, and that helps to complicate matters. They also license a lot of material from small independent labels. This often means that different licensing deals need to be signed with different labels.
The consequence of iTMS getting big is that labels will start thinking more about signing over distribution rights for different territories. We’re more likely to see only physical distribution rights getting sold in the future. Fingers crossed anyway!
Of course that does nothing for the back catalogue of material, or even existing signed-up acts putting out new material. The deals for that are done and fixed in stone, usually for many decades. Unfortunately this means that there can’t be a single EU iTMS.
The only possible way to allow access to all the music in all the stores is to secure licenses from all labels for all their material, and filter the store in each country to show only the label releases that hold the license for that country. It’s a bit gnarly, but very possible – we do it here every day.
My point was that the approach Apple has taken is not the only way. Our label deals let us sell material in every territory the label has the right to sell material in. Basically, no country gets left out in our store, although there is no single country where you can buy everything we sell. It is likely that Apple has similar label deals, and already has the rights to sell material in Australia and New Zealand, for example. It seems to me to be an artificial restriction to lock those consumers out.
The different stores for different countries thing is not even really the record lables fault at this point. It is the result of how intellectual property rights laws were written over the past 100 years, and as a result, how the record labels negotiated rights with artists.
You have to realize that the labels also have to respect the terms of the contract that they have with artists. If there is anything that is in a contract that poses a problem in terms of music sales outside a particular region (such as when different labels have rights in different places), those issues have to be resolved before anyone can do anythin, and that is the main reason for the delays in rolling out digital content delivery..
It’s hard to believe, but the only two Google News portals which are reporting this headline story as of this posting are Google News Canada and Google News Japan. The rest of the international Google News portals are still presenting headlines about Mighty Mouse, but not a peep about the big Apple launches in Japan. No headlines yet in the other Google News portals regarding The Stones distribution licensing by Apple, either. hmmmm ….
There’s no need for a single EU store (though it would be nice). I have no issue with there being separate stores for Germany, France, etc that add additional content that is focused more on that countries citizens.
The problem comes when Apple restrict someone elsewhere in the EU from buying from a store in a different EU member state. It’s illegal for Apple to do this no matter what their contract with the label says.
It would be like Apple entering into a distribution contract with Sony that required Steve Jobs to kill 10 babies and deliver their corpses to the Sony CEO, there’s no way such a clause would stand up in court as murder is illegal.
It’s up to Apple to stand up and challenge the illegal conditions in their distribution contracts, in court if necessary. And if Apple aren’t willing to do this, then it’s up to the citizens of the EU to force their hand themselves by taking legal action against Apple.
Bummer! I tried to download the free single off the Japan store and the system wouldn’t let me. U.S. store only for me. At least I was able to listen to the sample. I wonder if we will every be able to shop on ITMS outside our own countries? It’s frustrating to sample a song you’d like to buy but are not allowed to.
Yes in response to you macnut222 Apple would and did want one huge store in the first place, however in the early stages those record companies thought that since Apple’s market share was so small that the iTMS wouldn’t be as big as it has become and in the process gave Apple a good deal of power as well.
Where else can you legally buy a CD and ‘rip” it into iTunes, make 5 CD’s of your own. Even with tracks bought off iTMS or imported off a CD as well as copy those tracks to as many iPods as you like?
Some record companies are kicking themselves over the huge success the iPod has become. Remember that for record companies their power is to dictate when and where tracks get released, as timing is crucial.
Release dates/times is an important factor in the current way that iTMS is rolled out globally. The way it is done now makes it easier for new music talent/bands to get their music onto iTMS, locally and/or internationally.
With one big store, once again it’d be down to the record companies, especially the huge multinationals to dictate who when and where has their music made available to listeners.
I certainly don’t wish to see more ‘manufactured’ bands than there currently are, they’ll never go away, but at least you’ll have a wider choice than those alone as I think would be the case with one single global iTMS store.
If all tracks are priced in US$ for a global iTMS I for one will be very happy as currently the $ has been weak, so I’d save to begin with. This won’t always be the case and is not so for everyone and is bad news for both iTMS and the record companies.
As it turns out to me the current way iTMS is rolled out has become a better service for musicians to get their material ‘out there’.
Personally as filmmaker I can only hope that a movie download store will have the same effect and ‘open up’ an outlet to get productions seen. A very important factor in any creative industry.
The issue of Digital Right Management (DRM) as xan mentiones since the company he works for has a download service without DRM has meant no major label will touch their service, which is sad yes, though in my view sites like the one xan works for should allow for smaller bands to get something up there and get clout before submitting via a record company or themselves to their local iTMS. Although there are already new bands up there, initially as a free download, featured artist of the month etc.
Perhaps xan’s employer also have or should consider being an independent label as well?
So with a single global store it would make it that much harder again to get exposure for newcomers/artists.
Musicians have that with the current iTMS, ease of access. At first yes only the major labels, followed soon after by the independent labels.
Overall it is a better deal and no headaches of having to work out the actual cost of a track before buying.
Yes OSX has an excellent calculator utility for this, but I want to see the price right away, and not have to think twice about it and the effects that currency fluctuations are bound to have on the final price paid.
Don’t forget that the online download market is still young and small, but growing rapidly.
Bring on the 1 billionth track and the competiton to the run up to that figure! Good luck everyone and こんにちはJapa
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Just in case I have made an error is it as many CD’s you can burn or 5 computers that you can register for the iTMS store?
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Thanks, just really excited at yet another store opening I’ve forgotten the terms and conditions of the iTMS store, but I hope my point is clear as to where else can you do that?
I know that you can download your music onto as many iPods as you like including shuffles – which iTunes fills for you according to your own settings.
It’s as many CDs as you want and 5 computers that you can authorise to playback songs.
I just strip the DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) out of all my iTunes purchased files anyway.
Can someone in Australia please start an online petition calling for people to boycott SONY/BMG – the only reason we don’t have the iTunes Music Store in Australia is SONY/BMG who want WMA and ATRAC(?!!!) included as download choices – what a complete joke – like Apple is going to include Microsoft and Sony protocols?! … well F#ck you SONY/BMG – I’m not going to buy any of your products … You hear that SONY/BMG?! F#ck YOU!
Absolutely agree with you Pete. A big F#CK YOU to Sony/BMG!!!
Goddam, I’ve been wondering which record company had been holding out. Thanks Kath Day-Knight.
From Pickledmonkey: The problem comes when Apple restrict someone elsewhere in the EU from buying from a store in a different EU member state. It’s illegal for Apple to do this no matter what their contract with the label says.
Currently the case between Which?, formerly the Consumers Association, is ongoing with the EU court over alleged overcharging between the UK iTMS store and the others in the EU. I am confident that Apple will win as the court will see the evidence presented by Apple that it is the record companies that insisted upon this, the fact as I mentioned in a previous post that the UK is not part of the Euro.
For instance I can buy an iMac from Spain, pay their IVA (sales tax) and have it shipped to anywhere else within the EU, just pay the extra amount for shipping where necessary, though currently free anyhow.
Do you think that the court will order Apple or the record companies involved to lower UK prices on iTMS because of exchange rate differences between the € & £ or even order the UK government to adopt the Euro to make UK iTMS prices the same?
The new Japanese store has higher prices than anyone at $1.35 -$1.50 per track. Not really surprising as Japan is a very expensive country anyhow.
In my view it is just a contractual agreement between Apple and the record companies that only the record companies insisted upon. Also there is the issue of language across the EU, yes you can change the settings in iTunes and your Mac to pretty much any language you like, another excellent feature of the superior OS, but for other countries, especially France where there is a local law that insists upon broadcasters, which iTunes can also be seen as, to have local music aired as well, in this case French language music.
Yes I would like to see the UK iTMS price point be lowered, of course, but that the European court penalises the record companies for that and not Apple. I don’t think it is Apple at fault here as I have mentioned already Apple originally wanted one single global store, eventhough as it is has turned out the current system is better for the reasons given.
To go back to the issue of buying from EU member states. Since I had paid the local sales tax already I would not be charged my home sales tax equivalent, VAT or import duty either, being an EU member state. Same for any other EU citizen to do same.
Or since I plan on attending Apple Expo in Paris next month, I could buy there, pay the French equivalent sales tax and bring it home with me and not pay customs anything nor declare it. This is only for items bought within the EU, so if I bought a Mac in the USA upon arrival at the airport I will be required to declare it at the Red customs channel and with the receipt pay an extra 17.5% to the $ price, even if I paid the US sales tax and got a refund of that at the departure point.
Without the receipt the UK customs will hold me up, check the UK price of the item and charge me the difference between that price without the sales tax added. For any goods that are not sold in any part of the EU, I would be charged the tax and all duties due on top as well.
In buying from a member state I can save up to £200 on price difference and exchange rates when I did an online price comparison recently via the Apple Education store for a G5 Dual 2.0Ghz Tower to which I have access.
I may not even be stopped at customs coming off a flight originating in Paris or any other EU country. If I am it would be for security reasons and not anything else, especially after recent events, however if I am stopped and asked where I bought my Mac, firstly I’d be asked which flight had I just arrived and to show a boarding pass – a tip keep your passes with you, or the remains of your ticket, which in itself would clear me at that point. Any further enquiry would mean that this agent is either new or doesn’t know the law.
I know I have digressed at certain points, but this is only to emphasise the point.
Yes so do I to that one Pete, go grab yourself a tinny on me and for those that understand cricket, not going to explain now nor here, England are 375 for 9!
Oh and pickledmonkey at least you bought it off iTMS, I don’t care what you or anyone does with it afterwards so you go grab a tinny as well!
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UPDATE:
Having just spoken to Apple in fact you cannot buy from another country outside of your credit/debit card billing address due to credit card security issues. I mentioned the EU law and that had been waived due to that security issue by the credit card issuers involved.
Apple would love to allow multinational online purchases, then again you don’t have to go to Apple to buy Apple hardware.
So it’s actually the credit card/banks that set this rule, could even be the European Central Bank involved somewhere.
You can physically go to another country pay in cash for a Mac, though the OS on that would be in say French, not mentioned was the ability to set any language you wish after sales or if you have the family pack then you can re-install OS X off that DVD.
でも、日本の音楽は欲しいんだよ。でも、いつ外部の国に買えるんですか。アップ
ルはすごいかいしゃですね！
それはいいですね！
Macjammer: I’m aware of the Which? case, and while i do think we in the UK are charged more for an iTunes download Apple isn’t alone in this practice, every other company in the UK also charges us more than other EU countries.
But when you take into account exchange rates and the higher UK VAT the price difference isn’t that great. I think Apple will win their case, and in fact they’re probably be right to do so since it’s not illegal to charge different prices for the same product in different countries.
That said, if i see the same track on the French iTMS and decide to buy it from there i have every right to do so, and it is against the law for Apple to try and stop me. Purchasing from a foreign iTMS is importing, just as if i ordered a physical product.
The CC security story seems to be bull to me. Thousands of online businesses all over the world take millions of CC payments every day, why should Apple have more security problems than any of them?
Yes I agree with you there pickledmonkey and having just also spoken with two independent US based resellers they told me that in order to buy Apple hardware from them and have it shipped outside of the US I have provide copies of the front and back of my CC and one other reseller also wants written authorisation from me before proceeding as well as those copies of my CC.
According to them too this is a security issue imposed upon them by CC issuers, however American Express seems to work fine regardless of identity according to one reseller.
Both these can be done via email, however one reseller has a specific form to be completed and then any further purchases can be done without having to go through the process of authorisation each and everytime.
With Apple as both maker and seller it could be that reason why I cannot send in those same copies and then buy from Apple.
Seems that this is more down to those fraudsters than anything else ruining things for the rest.
Well with iTMS, that is caught up in all this and yes whatever the outcome of the court case, Apple are the innocent victims.
Yes we pay higher prices than almost anywhere else, rip off Britain, etc on goods, has been like that for years. I wrote to Which and told them that they’re better off pushing for better prices across the entire consumer market than just aim at Apple and iTMS shortly after Which announced their legal action.
How about instead of a booze cruise across the Channel, can’t call it a geek cruise as there is one aboard a cruise ship based out of the USA, so I’ll leave it to this thread to call it what you want. Go across to buy hardware physically yourselves.
To answer your point about online resellers like say Amazon, go and try and buy you’ll see just below the image and item description ‘this item cannot be shipped outside of the continental USA’.
Though what you can do is have that item shipped to a friend/family member living in the USA. Apple wouldn’t even do this at all though.
This is also true of certain software items including games. I bought Business Card Composer by BeLight Software, Inc recently and Amazon would not ship to the UK, so I had it shipped to my brother in California.
Amazon were cheaper than even BeLight, so I didn’t go for BeLight’s boxed or downloadable version, although that version had fewer templates than the boxed edition.
I too would love to buy a same track from iTMS France and save on the rates and as an import, but it isn’t going to happen anytime soon given that this issue is down to the CC issuers/banks.
So I am pretty much resigned to it as far as iTMS is concerned after all what is £0.79 per track anyhow. Yes anyone can set what price they like for their goods/services throughout the EU and differ from one member state to another.
For out of US Mac hardware sales the reseller that was far more flexible is Other World Computing, OWC.
> Yes I agree with you there pickledmonkey and having just also spoken
> with two independent US based resellers they told me that in order to
> buy Apple hardware from them and have it shipped outside of the US I
> have provide copies of the front and back of my CC and one other
> reseller also wants written authorisation from me before proceeding as
>well as those copies of my CC.
Yes, i’ve experienced this in the past. However at the time i believe this was because certain payment systems couldn’t verify the origin of the CC. BUT Apple doesn’t seem to have this problem since they are able to verify a UK card was issued in the UK, etc.
Since they accept payments from each of these countries, buying from other countries stores doesn’t pose any greater threat. Besides as i understand it all the European stores serve their tunes from the same server.
Yes as you say and I think I heard the same elsewhere that it is the same server that supplies music to all stores across Europe.
Hopefully as Apple does gain market share as a whole and not just within the portable mp3 player market that extra clout may make it possible to buy from Apple iTMS stores in other countries.
Pricing has little to do with it as access is an issue and should be the one being given widespread attention.
This issue is not going to go away so I’m content to leave it there and just be glad to have an iTMS store as I am sure it would be worse, unlikely given the level of talent, not to have a iTMS store at all and only the rest of Europe having one with no access to any downloads at all from here in the UK.