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deanbo

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 6, 2003
228
0
Quite frankly, I would have expected to see iTMS NZ to be online at the same time as iTMS Australia. Reasons are as follows:

1. Apple NZ is pretty much Apple Australia. Where do you think Apple products are sourced from?

2. All the major music labels in this country are parented by the same company in Australia. Warners is one that I can think of. Sony is probably another. (Yes I know they haven't signed yet.)

In closing, I also know that you can (still can?) backdoor iTMS Australia. I want to know when iTMS NZ is going to be offical!!
 

.:*Robot Boy*:.

macrumors 6502
Jan 21, 2005
373
0
New Zealand
deanbo said:
2. All the major music labels in this country are parented by the same company in Australia. Warners is one that I can think of...

Have you got a source for that information? Festival Mushroom Records (parent label of Flying Nun, among others) have only just been acquired by Warner Music and I'm sure there has got to be other indie labels who don't have an Australian parent company.
 

pknz

macrumors 68020
Mar 22, 2005
2,478
1
NZ
From Apples point of view NZ is probably a too small market to be prioritised for an iTMS.

However from my point of view, yeah they should have done it with the Australia launch. And an actual Apple presence in NZ would be welcome. Maybe just one Apple Store?
 

Whyren

macrumors 6502a
pknz said:
From Apples point of view NZ is probably a too small market to be prioritised for an iTMS.

And Luxembourg is? (no offense to any Luxembourgians around here)

iTMS NZ will appear at some point...if they had such a hassle with labels in Australia, it may be the same issues. Just because the companies may be mostly the same, it's still a different country, thus entirely new issues.
 

zv470

macrumors 6502
Jul 4, 2004
441
157
Japan
Well...

I'm not going to buy anything from iTMS Australia :( anymore.

After what has happend :( :mad:

I bought an album... at which time you had to pay for each track individually. I clicked "Buy Song" for each track, the last track gave an error: "This track is no longer available. The price may have changed...".

A day later there is a "Buy Album" button and guess what... the last song is "Album only" :(

So.... I would have to pay $17.99 AU to buy the last song... when I've already paid $20.28 for the first 12 songs. Extortion!

I've filled out a support request 2 times and each time they don't deal with the issue at all.

The last email said: (note the absence of Australia in the list)

Apple iTMS Support said:
Dear <name>,

Thank you for contacting the iTunes Music Store.

To access the iTunes Music Store that matches your country of residence, please
click “Choose Store” from the left-hand column of the Music Store. You may
also scroll down to the bottom of the page, and choose the store from the
“Choose Store” pop-up menu.

We accept the following payment methods:
- Visa
- MasterCard
- American Express
- Discover (US only)
- PayPal (US only)
- Solo (UK only)
- Switch (UK only)

You can only purchase music from the iTunes Music Store that matches your
country of residence and your billing address. Each country supports credit
cards issued by banks in these countries. For example, a Visa card issued in the
United States can only be used at the U.S. iTunes Music Store and so on.

In accordance with the contracts between Apple, the artists, and the record
companies, the iTunes Music Store is available to customers who reside in the
following countries:

Austria
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Italy
Japan
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States

Sincerely,

The iTunes Music Store team
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/ww/
 

Alasta

macrumors regular
Jan 12, 2005
176
0
Wellington, New Zealand
The fact that Apple created a New Zealand storefront on iTunes suggests that they originally intended to launch the service in New Zealand at the same time as launching it in Australia. Unfortunately, the fact that this hasn't happened suggests that there is some extra red tape to go through before the service can be launched here and, because New Zealand is such a small market, I doubt that they could justify the cost of setting up shop here.

Considering how long it has taken to get the Australian store up and running, I predict that it will take at least a year or two before it will be launched here. I hate to admit it, but I'm trying to be realistic.
 

Chundles

macrumors G5
Jul 4, 2005
12,037
493
I was surprised to see that NZ weren't included in the iTMS roll out in Aus, I mean, you guys already get your Quicktime Pro and .mac stuff from here don't you? Most of the music labels are governed by the offices here and have the same rules and regs.

Ah well, it's a shame though. The store isn't too bad, suffers a bit from lack of content due to SonyBMG being their usual selves and thinking that they're better than everybody else and wanting mo' money.

Mind you, I've been pondering local TV content for ages and still can't think of anything that would be good to offer (remember we can't have the US TV shows because they have different distribution laws - it's like us buying from the US music store, we just can't do it) and nobody else can give me any suggestions. I guess we'll just have to stick with Pixar and music videos.
 

jap4n

macrumors member
Aug 10, 2003
90
0
wellington, nz
no iTMS NZ...

i think there will be no iTMSNZ...

but i think there will be a iTMS Pacific.. this is just a guess tho..

purely from looking at the iPod clock settings.. :) there is no New Zealand.. Just Pacific..
 

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,595
3,936
New Zealand
It'd be nice to have an NZ version, but it's not really a big deal since you can buy from Australia. Just remember to adjust the prices slightly for the exchange rate.
 
I bet there's a surprise after Christmas

Chundles said:
The store isn't too bad, suffers a bit from lack of content due to SonyBMG being their usual selves and thinking that they're better than everybody else and wanting mo' money.
I unfortunately found myself in a big department store yesterday and noticed a whole raft of Sony/BMG discs (brand new including the new Farnsey one) for $18.99!
That's a significant price drop. Has to be caused by the store.
My feeling is that Sony/BMG wanted just one more christmas period selling their wares in their own over priced, outdated high margin format. (That's even at $18.99)
They will then either release their catalogue for iTMS or use the sales data to try and fool their talent into thinking that the talent aren't missing out on that much by not being listed.
I can't believe the artists aren't leaving them in droves!
 
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