iPhoto in Japan/Europe and iTunes Soon? [turned political]

[MacRumors]

At MacWorld Expo SF 2004, Steve Jobs finally announced that iPhoto Photo Books and Prints will become available in Japan later this month and Europe in March. This brings some long-awaited iPhoto Services to users outside the United States.

TimesOnline.co.uk (registration req) provides some hoping that iTunes will soon follow

Peter Jamieson, chairman of the British Phonographic Industry, said yesterday that he "hoped and prayed" that Europe's record and music publishing companies could reach an agreement to allow iTunes, which has sold more than 30 million 99 cent songs in America, to start trading in Europe by April.

While this offers no clear knowledge of the negotiations, May 2004 had been a rumored target date for the European iTunes service.

Indeed, with HP's recent announcement to ship iTunes-installed PCs starting June to their over 110,000 retailer outlets worldwide, there is speculation that iTunes Europe will be in place in this timeframe.

[DanUk2003]

I REALLY hope this is true.

iTunes Music Store can't come to the UK and the rest of Europe soon enough as far as I am concerned!

Here's hoping...

[j763]

...And if you live in Australia, don't get high hopes.

Those who work for Apple Australia are the biggest pack of wankers you'll ever find...

[curmi]

I'm not sure Apple Australia even know that the iTunes music store exists. There is little chance we'll ever see it unless Apple US can somehow do a deal so that we can use the US version of the store...

[Macmaniac]

Hopefully the Music service will be extended to our friends in the frozen north, there are millions of people out there, come on record companies, understand there is money to be made!

[adamsan]

Now that the corpulent old farts that run the record industry have finally realised they can make a few bucks from this internet thing they'll spend 2004 falling over themselves to get every territory on earth signed up. After all, the bloke from the BPI is 'hoping and praying' that the cashflow starts as early as possible.

[ITR 81]

Apple will probably open another music store up in next 2 months.

If they don't I would really be surprised.

[Stella]

iTunes to Europe would be excellent.

(I'd be able to use my UK Visa card to buy stuff!)

Hope Canada isn't far too far behind.

[kettle]

Stuff waiting for Europe and god knows how many layers of bureaucratic bu11***** and fat cat lawyers wasting everybodies time and money, lets just get the U.K. iTMS up and running.

[mod. edit - Don't circumvent the profanity filter.]

[pkradd]

I seriously doubt there will be an "iTunes Music Store - Europe". There will be, however, iTMS France, iTMS England, iTMS Italy, iTMS Germany, etc. Each version will have their own site. Remember, there are many different languages, artists and label affiliations in each country. It's much more complicated then people are willing or able to understand. Most of the delay in developing these other iTMS locations has to do with the artists and not "the old corpulent farts in the record business." Stupid comments by pimple-faced post puberty teenagers not withstanding!

[totally_fly]

As if the US's northern neighbors don't matter. We still don't have the iPhoto service, nor iTMS or anything else! C'mon Apple... Canada rules!

[kettle]

Originally posted by pkradd
Most of the delay in developing these other iTMS locations has to do with the artists and not "the old corpulent farts in the record business."

Please explain which part of this process will not involve the "legal industry" wasting as much of their highly profitable time as humanly possible?
oh and I think the well known phrase that eluded you was infact "post-pubescent"

[jero]

JAPAN! JAPAN! JAPAN!

[CrackedButter]

Am I the only one who is no longer excited about an iTunes music store?

Sorry to sound negative but I don't feel much for it, at first I thought it was cool. now i'd rather go to the shop and just buy the CD along with a genuine hard copy along with the cover art oh and the .WAV file so I can choose the bit rate in which to encode my music.

Since the itunes store was launched I gave it some thought as to how DRM would affect my life, I suppose it would be easier for us mac users because everything is compatible with all of Apples products, they own the whole system. I understand its better than the windows side of things. But there is even a very light flavour of DRM in DVD's i've thought its best to stay clear of the whole DRM totally and not buy digital copies or DVD's at all. That way I don't have to worry about jumping through hoops in order to watch or listen to various peices of media which I would own anyway.

So is it just me who thinks this?

[airbag]

Originally posted by pkradd
(...) Most of the delay in developing these other iTMS locations has to do with the artists and not "the old corpulent farts in the record business." Stupid comments by pimple-faced post puberty teenagers not withstanding!

Well that, too! But, has more to do with European copyright-enforcement and distribution-deals etc. Quite a complex and old system that now has to be re-written.

I'm the one who submitted the May 2004 hint, and I did it because of some quite believeable information from a trusted source. I hope they manage to keep the time-table, but nothing is for certain - we ARE talking about the record-industry here!

I'll keep you updated if I get any more info.

[fatfish]

Originally posted by CrackedButter
Am I the only one who is no longer excited about an iTunes music store?

Sorry to sound negative but I don't feel much for it, at first I thought it was cool. now i'd rather go to the shop and just buy the CD along with a genuine hard copy along with the cover art oh and the .WAV file so I can choose the bit rate in which to encode my music.

Since the itunes store was launched I gave it some thought as to how DRM would affect my life, I suppose it would be easier for us mac users because everything is compatible with all of Apples products, they own the whole system. I understand its better than the windows side of things. But there is even a very light flavour of DRM in DVD's i've thought its best to stay clear of the whole DRM totally and not buy digital copies or DVD's at all. That way I don't have to worry about jumping through hoops in order to watch or listen to various peices of media which I would own anyway.

So is it just me who thinks this?

I don't think your alone, just part of an extremely small minority.

[Macmaniac]

Originally posted by jero
JAPAN! JAPAN! JAPAN!

I think the Japanese ITMS is coming soon in the spring, I think I heard someone in Apple announce that.

[Mac]

This is wonderful news for us on the Eastern Hemisphere. The language and country issue is in my opinion not very real. Most Europeans that I know speak English fluently and almost all my European friends buy from US/UK net stores. The language or currency or other issues are non-existent.

In my opinion a European store would be wonderful. Look at www.play.com. They have a huge customerbase from ALL of the European countries. No problemos for them!

iTunes Europe great suggestion. Logistics wise it is also smart.

[jeffy.dee-lux]

...all tucked away down there."

i don't get why canada would be behind europe on this one. It just seems so much simpler. only one other language to set up, and uhh... probably other reasons, maybe... oh yeah, we're only one country so licensing the service and all that stuff should be easier, making deals with the canadian music industry and all that...
anyways, i don't even know why i care, i don't have a credit card and i like buying my music as complete cds anyways, since i don't have enough money for an ipod and use a diskman.
so i'm alright with just being able to hear previews, it makes it easier to find cds i wanna buy, hahaha.

oh wait no, i want ITMS to come to canada, not for me maybe, but so that:
1- more people will have a legal alternative to downloading illegally which i think lots of people up here will adopt, as i'm seeing more and more advertisement by artists and companies which seem to really get across to people about the immorality of stealing people's work.
2 - and also more people will get itunes and ipods, giving apple more business, which i seem to care about for some reason...

[djjon]

Originally posted by pkradd
I seriously doubt there will be an "iTunes Music Store - Europe". There will be, however, iTMS France, iTMS England, iTMS Italy, iTMS Germany, etc. Each version will have their own site. Remember, there are many different languages, artists and label affiliations in each country. It's much more complicated then people are willing or able to understand. Most of the delay in developing these other iTMS locations has to do with the artists and not "the old corpulent farts in the record business." Stupid comments by pimple-faced post puberty teenagers not withstanding!

iPhoto prints are currently available in Canada and are .49 US for a 4x6. I remembered reading that somewhere so I just checked and they are available.

[Stella]

Originally posted by CrackedButter
Am I the only one who is no longer excited about an iTunes music store?

You have a good point, especially for Canada...

...Downloading Music for free is legal in Canada..

[mproud]

What about Argentina? Brazil? Mexico? South Africa? Kenya? Nigeria? Egypt? India? Australia? New Zealand? Korea? Indonesia? Russia? China?

The list goes on and on. I wouldn't be surprised if there will be a worldwide announcement at some point. Maybe not this year, but there are just so many countries that aren't EU - and there are so many that make up the whole.

[mproud]

Originally posted by pkradd
I seriously doubt there will be an "iTunes Music Store - Europe". There will be, however, iTMS France, iTMS England, iTMS Italy, iTMS Germany, etc. Each version will have their own site. Remember, there are many different languages, artists and label affiliations in each country. It's much more complicated then people are willing or able to understand. Most of the delay in developing these other iTMS locations has to do with the artists and not "the old corpulent farts in the record business." Stupid comments by pimple-faced post puberty teenagers not withstanding!

The formation of the EU does make things easier. Just because in France they speak French and in Germany they speak German doesn't mean that they won't get a deal done.

Yes, each localization will have their own version. But I believe that Apple is negotiating with the entire EU as one entity. Non-participating countries (i.e. United Kingdom, Sweden...) will have to be done separately (and probably will come afterwards).

[diego]

I wish they launch an iTunes Music Store Mexico, iTunes and iPod are incredibly popular over here, most of my friends have even switched to mac.
Mexico and Latin America Store please

[moose.boy]

Err..... Britain is in the EU. It's just that we havn't gone and scrapped our own currency for that of the Euro.

We're waiting until dubya gives into president blairs pleeding and s***s him good and propper so that we can become the 53rd state.