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iPod touch $20 Upgrade without iTunes Store in EU

T

thesound

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 29, 2007
3
0
I have a problem regarding the $20 upgrade. It's not about the monies. I live in Romania, witch doesn't have a iTunes Store. Romania is also a member of the EU. The problem is that i cannot buy, from let's say, Germany's iTunes Store, because i don't have a credit card issued there. This is against EU law and free trade policies. As EU citizen, i'm FREE to buy from any merchand within the EU zone, without any questions regarding my living place, adress, hair colour and sex, and without paying any additional fees (import tax, etc.). It's a unfair business practise that, as iPod owner and as EU citizen, I simply CANNOT buy the software upgrade. Period. I called the local Apple distributor (IRIS S.A.), and they too cannot upgrade my iPod. Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria and any country without an iTunes Store from Europe is in the same situation.

What does Apple think about this? It removed an entire thread from his discussion group regarding this problem.
 
No iTunes Account!!!!!

Dam you apple...

I Have the same problem, except I live in South Africa, soo I cant open an iTunes account...
 
I have same problem in Slovak Republic (Slovakia)
:(

I'm really disappointed
- I have money
- I want to buy
- Apple doesn't want my money


:(
 
Why don't you sell your iPod on eBay and buy an EU approved product from the top EU owned mp3 player maker
 
Yes, this is really bad of Apple. Discrimination of customers.

I don't know how they plan to distribute applications developed from the coming SDK, but it is clear that all applications that will be sold on iTunes Store will be inaccessable to us. And since they refuse to allow us to manually visit an Apple Store/Reseller and update the iPod for us, we are left with no options.

I am really upset about this. I expect they will do something about it soon, otherwise why should I stay as an Apple customer? But yeah, I guess they don't care. They just want us to buy a new second iPod touch...
 
There is a link that I followed (will post it once I can find it), that explains how to set up a US account without a credit card, then all you have to do is find a seller on ebay that sells US gift cards (there are loads of them) they will send you the redemption code by email once you have paid. I did this yesterday and now I have all the apps. I know it is a bit of a pain, but now I can buy movies and TV shows if I can be bothered to purchase more gift cards.

:apple:
 
erkster said:
There is a link that I followed (will post it once I can find it), that explains how to set up a US account without a credit card, then all you have to do is find a seller on ebay that sells US gift cards (there are loads of them) they will send you the redemption code by email once you have paid. I did this yesterday and now I have all the apps. I know it is a bit of a pain, but now I can buy movies and TV shows if I can be bothered to purchase more gift cards.

:apple:
Click to expand...

Do you mean Itunes gift cards ? please post the link !!!!!!

You will do many Europeans very happy :D

Saludos from Spain
 
Here is the link which I used to set up my US account:

http://www.winandmac.com/tips/free-itunes-account-no-matter-where-you-live/

As for ebay, just find anyone that sells gift cards and sends the codes via email, there are plenty of them there, I use ones that do 'Buy it Now' mainly as itis easier and faster.

Hope that helps..no jailbreaking, no worries about a bricked phone and it's legal :)

One thing to note: You can only use gift cards that are from the country you set the account in, so US account = only US gift cards etc.
 
It's out of Apple's hands. Unfortunately, music does not come under the free trade between EU countries, it's still bound by territories. It's a problem with copyright and royalties.
 
technically software upgrade is nothing to do with music or trade between countries. for example, you can buy quicktime pro version through apple online store. why didn't apple set the same way? of course, anything through itunes sounds much easier. but it's only the story for countries which have itunes stores.

by the way if you bought ipod touch less than 15 days, you can return it for demanding new touch.
 
I think that considering they made the AppleTV a free update and that the iPod touch also helps their rental sales, they should make the touch update free too.
 
Hey guys! I have the solution to your problem. OK so i live in Chile where we dont have an itunes store, but my way around it was that i had a itunes store account in the u.s. and i have a friend in the u.s and i wire him money and he buys itunes store cards for me, so thats it get an itunes store card!
 
panto said:
Hey guys! I have the solution to your problem. OK so i live in Chile where we dont have an itunes store, but my way around it was that i had a itunes store account in the u.s. and i have a friend in the u.s and i wire him money and he buys itunes store cards for me, so thats it get an itunes store card!
Click to expand...

Yup, currently the only way it works. I have a few friends across the Ocean I do this with.
 
Ofcourse you can always buy iTunes Gift Certificates on eBay very easily... I did this and got my code in my inbox 10 mins later. And the 25$ card only cost me 23.99$ (Yay! hehe)

Just thinking though... Why reccomend jailbreaking now? The SDK is just around the corner (1 month)... I never jailbroke and probably never will.
 
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