iTMS Now Available in the UK, France & Germany

[MacRumors]

Announced in London today, an abridged version of the European iTunes Music Store is now available in the UK, France & Germany, with plans to open to the rest of Europe in October of this year. Using the already released iTunes 4.6 in localized versions for the UK, France and Germany users can download from the same 700,000+ song catalog available in the United States at prices of €0.99 and £0.79. Release of the iTMS in Europe was previously reported.

“The number one online music store in the world has finally come to the UK, France and Germany,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With a huge catalogue of over 700,000 songs, breakthrough prices of just €0.99 and £0.79 per song and seamless integration with Apple’s wildly popular iPod, we think this is the digital music store that Europe has been waiting for.”

More information is available in a press release from Apple. There is no word on a release date for a Canadian version.

[TBR]

79p a song.....Not bad at all.

Hope there is a blaze of publicity but I doubt it, there never is in the UK outside of London!

Oh found a spelling mistake, there's one audiobook by Tery Pratchett not Terry Prachett

[joeconvert]

Well, it's done. No need to keep asking when.

[lou tsee]

99 cents! that's great news!!

now waiting for switzerland to join :/

[jcshas]

One word - "FINALLY!"

[johnnyjibbs]

I've bought 5 songs already!

Glad we can access the whole store! And 79p a song is not bad. Nor's £7.99 an album, although I'll probably still use Play.com

I can see Canadians, and Europeans not in UK, France or Germany a little annoyed though. Oh and Australians.

[mattthemutt]

Aww man! I was so excited that iTunes was gonna be in Canada. I hope Apple and that music board thing get their asses in gear!

[~Shard~]

Excellent news, glad to see it's finally a reality! I am plesantly surprised by the price point as well, I think many people will find this reasonable, especially compared to the 1.29 Euro price rumor that was being thrown around earlier.

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Why do the rest of us here in Europe have to wait until October...??? [whining]That's just not fair...[/whining]...

[mattthemutt]

Originally Posted by ~Shard~

Excellent news, glad to see it's finally a reality! I am plesantly surprised by the price point as well, I think many people will find this reasonable, especially compared to the 1.29 Euro price rumor that was being thrown around earlier.

Aren't you upset that its not in Canada?

[freddiecable]

hm...still waiting...ah well - who gives a rats a** about sweden?

[Stella]

At last, the iTMS goes international...

There are several things that are worrying me about iTMS however:

Other stores seem, particularly, Napster seem to be aggressively getting bulk customers, particularly, universities, NTL in the UK (which have broadbrand services) as others. What are apple doing? Nothing, or very little - it seems! BWM - a small market, and HP with iPod.

I can see Napster getting ahead due to this, and because its compatible with more players.. If iPod wasn't so successful then iTunes wouldn't be as success I'd suspect. Say if Napster do get ahead and iTMS start dropping market share significantly then Apple may choose to license out fairplay to give other stores iPod compatibility, but this will be too little, to late. They should do it now. After all, wasn't iTMS just to boost sales of iPod? What are Apple losing by licensing fairplay and making iPods compatibility with other stores?

Anyway, having got a UK switchcard, I've bought some music and I'm really impressed with iTMS, its so easy to browse ( which I've done before, of course) and to buy the music. Absolutely no hassles whatsoever. However, I'm going to have to be careful, the UK <-> CAN exchange rate isn't so good!! It'll be expensive.

BUT WTF - No Steps!!!???

Please Canada next!

[Skiniftz]

All I can say is, ABOUT ****ING TIME!!!!!!111eleven

Stupid record labels making us wait.

[the silver fox]

Now all they need to do is a healthy level of advertising in the UK and they may actually get somewhere!

Well done Apple on getting round the legal.

[danieluk]

[nitro]

79p is a lot better than most people were expecting but Has anyone noticed that France and Germany (and the rest of europe when they get it) will only be paying 66p

[Stella]

Its been said a few times on this board - some one from the music board posts here -sorry, I've forgotten his name. Anyway, He says all the negogations for the artists have concluded... its Apple dragging their heals.

Originally Posted by mattthemutt

Aww man! I was so excited that iTunes was gonna be in Canada. I hope Apple and that music board thing get their asses in gear!

[trigger]

Yeah, so that's Apple's so-called Europe? I'm not even surprised considering that they can't even get their non-English characters right in their operating system... but they do alot of other things well so I guess we have to forgive them....

One angry non-iTMS customer from Iceland...

[Skiniftz]

Originally Posted by nitro

79p is a lot better than most people were expecting but Has anyone noticed that France and Germany (and the rest of europe when they get it) will only be paying 66p

Hey it's not known as "rip off Britain" for nothing you know.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by Mitthrawnuruodo

Why do the rest of us here in Europe have to wait until October...??? [whining]That's just not fair...[/whining]...

that probably means no mini ipods before october? well, i can hope having one for christmas i'm kind of sad now because the itms europe wasn't an euro launch but only pathetic three-big store.

how about itms US that is available only to california and florida? wouldn't be good. there are americans in texas also oh well...

this might not be apple's fault, but still, i expected being able to buy some songs today. didn't happen.

[littlejim]

Originally Posted by the silver fox

Now all they need to do is a healthy level of advertising in the UK and they may actually get somewhere!

Well done Apple on getting round the legal.

I think I read on Macworld.co.uk that billboards were across London as from this morning.

And iTMS UK has just had a good few minutes exposure on the BBC one o'clock news - complete with loads of shots of iPods, footage of Steve J. and a good quota of interviews with dumb teenagers!

[iGav]

Originally Posted by nitro

79p is a lot better than most people were expecting but Has anyone noticed that France and Germany (and the rest of europe when they get it) will only be paying 66p

it's down to taxes, blame the government for that...

[AmigoMac]

I wanted to buy some of the songs I saw before the european iTMS (1 month ago) and they are not there anymore ... Just wanted to buy some latin/tropical music and a lot of artist frames are just EMPTY!!!

if I browse (Shakira is listed 2 times) and some other people up to 3 times ... and all of them EMPTY... What's going on with the music from 1 month ago...?

But good, I bought already 5 and counting

[iChan]

Originally Posted by johnnyjibbs

I've bought 5 songs already!

Glad we can access the whole store! And 79p a song is not bad. Nor's £7.99 an album, although I'll probably still use Play.com

I can see Canadians, and Europeans not in UK, France or Germany a little annoyed though. Oh and Australians.

irish and japanese are pretty annoyed too!!!! (me!)

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by nitro

79p is a lot better than most people were expecting but Has anyone noticed that France and Germany (and the rest of europe when they get it) will only be paying 66p

maybe you stupid english people should finally begin using euro

(can you take a joke?)