iTMS Now Available in the UK, France & Germany

[brap]

oh, and has anyone seen the new wild postings ad on tv yet?

Yeah, it's about time Apple got a bit of mainstream media coverage in ol' Blighty.

Does this work with iTunes 4.5?

Yes indeed.

I hope more's being added because currently nearly everything I look for isn't there or the selection is woeful.

See attached image. It's a joke! Ladytron, Skinny Puppy, sure, they can be considered 'indie', but to not carry Kraftwerk in a European music store is outrageous!

 

[DaBuzz]

Or an Australian version.
Or a New Zealand version.
Or a Japanese version...

Perhaps you guys have forgotten that there are more countries in the world than just the US, Britain, France, Germany and Canada (when you remember Canada which is rare)...

Well, aside from Japan, they've got the 4 biggest economic powers in the world covered (5 if you include California... )

I love how people think Apple just has to flip a switch and makes things like iTMS work. I work in IT, and I can only imagine the huge logistics, not to mention political hurdles Apple has had to go through to make this available in the U.S. alone, much less in regulation-happy Europe.

 

[autrefois]

I must say though, the selection of actual French music in the iTMS-FR is abysmal.
No Mylène Farmer, no Francis Cabrel and even the newer popular pop music like Lorie and Alizée weren't available.

They need to improve selection, you're right. The press release for example mentions by name Eddy Mitchell. He's pictured on the Apple iTunes site as one of the ads in the store.

Guess what—there's only ONE Eddy Mitchell track in the entire store.

There's One Nuttea track. One Lorie track. One Axelle Red track (and a two-song single she did with Renaud). No Gainsbourg. No Bruel. Different styles, different time periods, same small or non-existent selection.

Some artists do have some albums (lots of Piaf, some Brel, some Souchon). But it doesn't seem like there's many, if any, artists where you can get all of their material, or even a worthwhile portion of it.

I have 1400+ French songs from CDs I bought while I was there. That's probably more than iTunes has right now! /

I'm very happy iTunes has launched, but to compete against other services and illegal downloads, I hope they improve the selection soon. Which means I hope French labels realize the potential iTunes has.

 

[hob]

Does anyone know if there's a streaming video of Sir Jobs doing his thing - like there always is for WWDC's keynotes etc. I'd really like to see it!!

Also, someone wanted Radiohead? They're not even on the US store mister!

Hob

 

[DaBuzz]

Will UK residents be allowed to purchace from the german or french stores?

I've been at work all day, so i've not tried this, anybody else had a go at this?

Question to any lawyers out there:
Is there any legal reason why a UK resident should not be able to buy from the French or german stores?
Doesn't this violate the free movement of goods and services idea?

Doesn't the store have the same selection, regardless of which localized version you access? "Localized" version doesn't mean music specific to that country, from what I understand.

 

[heywhynots]

Worm Troubles To Blame?

Here at the university I attend our email has been hit hard since yesterday by the W32.Erkez.B@mm worm. Email messages were getting delayed in delivering for hours in some cases up to a day. It has been resolved. Would this worm slowed the internet in general? You add that ontop of the increased traffic to the iTunes/Apple server due to the opening of iTMS Europe might expalin the troubles people were having earlier in the day.

 

[voodoofish]

No, you can't buy abroad, unless you have a credit card of a bank in that country. The credit card number is checked when you try to sign up (I tried it).

In principle it is against the EU rule of free movement of goods and services indeed, but goods or services holding intellectual property rights (such as copyright) are exempt, so then it is legal.

I know, the EU is so bizzario, how are they ever gonna make it one common market if there are different music distibuting deals that force something like a non-EU wide iTMS launch to happen? It's just so random how some things are unified but others aren't.

 

[jholzner]

They need to improve selection, you're right. The press release for example mentions by name Eddy Mitchell. He's pictured on the Apple iTunes site as one of the ads in the store.

Guess what—there's only ONE Eddy Mitchell track in the entire store.

There's One Nuttea track. One Lorie track. One Axelle Red track (and a two-song single she did with Renaud). No Gainsbourg. No Bruel. Different styles, different time periods, same small or non-existent selection.

Some artists do have some albums (lots of Piaf, some Brel, some Souchon). But it doesn't seem like there's many, if any, artists where you can get all of their material, or even a worthwhile portion of it.

I have 1400+ French songs from CDs I bought while I was there. That's probably more than iTunes has right now! /

I'm very happy iTunes has launched, but to compete against other services and illegal downloads, I hope they improve the selection soon. Which means I hope French labels realize the potential iTunes has.

You should continue to keep checking. Some previous posts are saying that things that weren't availabe earlier today are not availabe. Looks like things are still coming online.

 

[skunk]

There are so many gaping holes in the collection. No Beatles (we know why...), no Stones, only 2 crap Van Morrison albums, no Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks, Nashville Skyline, etc, etc, and no Joss Stone, even though she's English and her album is available in the US. Not NEARLY comprehensive enough. It's like half the shelves are empty.

And I was really looking forward to this.

 

[rvernout]

I know, the EU is so bizzario, how are they ever gonna make it one common market if there are different music distibuting deals that force something like a non-EU wide iTMS launch to happen? It's just so random how some things are unified but others aren't.

It has nothing to do with the EU. It is even possible to divide the market within a country. So theoretically (if the record companies would have negotiated such) there could have been for instance an iTMS South of France, and the people in the north of France would not be able to buy from it.

The problem of course it that record companies have indeed different strategies and price levels in different countries.

 

[inkswamp]

International download charts

I'm hoping Apple will give iTunes Music Store users the ability to view the list of most popular downloads from other countries at some point in the near-future. One thing I find completely useless is the top downloads list on the store now. Yeah, I could probably guess what's going to be on 90% of the list in the U.S., but I'd love to be able to view what's popular in the UK or France or whatnot. If you've ever viewed a top 20 list of music from another country, you know that those lists are usually similar, but there are always some oddball songs and artists that show up in foreign lists that are worth looking at. Those songs and artists typically have no promotion in the US for whatever reason so they are unknown here.

Hmm... would Apple ever try to subvert the music industry's promotional machinery like that...? Heh-heh...

 

[iChan]

i want to know if apple has localised (geographically) teams working on each individual localised store thrashing out licensing deals. I think if they are all working from the same place, or from one large team, then some countries will get neglected more than others.

 

[greg75]

I know, the EU is so bizzario, how are they ever gonna make it one common market if there are different music distibuting deals that force something like a non-EU wide iTMS launch to happen? It's just so random how some things are unified but others aren't.

I don't consider non-communist to be bizzario.

 

[Jack White]

i was just surfing the uk site, then i went to the us, then back to the uk store to buy a song, and it's telling me 'you must update to the newest version to use the store' ...i have 4.6, isn't that the newest??

 

[iChan]

and NO TOLKIEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
sacrilege!

anyone checked if the Beatles are on there?

if you havne't heard, apple are in the middle of a legal battle with the beatles label company... also called apple!

so the prospects of the beatles' catalogue getting added to the iTMS are very slima nd tehre is even talk that the Beatles are looking to strike a year-long exclusivity deal with the MSN music store.


I wish (our) Apple would just end this once and for all and but out apple records... then we have permanent exclusive access to the beatles' music.

Apple could license the music to other store or just let it run with it's current management.

Apple would gain bragging rights if they had exclusive access to the beatles' music and would further engrain the iTMS into the public's conciousness as the ONLY place to buy music online.!!!

 

[steadyeddie]

i was just surfing the uk site, then i went to the us, then back to the uk store to buy a song, and it's telling me 'you must update to the newest version to use the store' ...i have 4.6, isn't that the newest??

I get the same. Hopefully it's just a temporary glitch!

 

[rvernout]

Work around the country limits

It would be possible to set up a company in let's say Germany, that buys songs on request from the iTMS there, and distributes it to clients in the other EU countries. Perfectly legal, because goods, once sold, cannot be barred from transfer to other EU countries under EU law, even if it's a commercial activity. Hmmm, 5 cents additional costs per song would be OK....

Opening next week: the iTM EU Distribution Store.... (could be easily done by using Gift Certificates)

 

[Jack White]

I get the same. Hopefully it's just a temporary glitch!

thats good

 

[Zaid]

Doesn't the store have the same selection, regardless of which localized version you access? "Localized" version doesn't mean music specific to that country, from what I understand.

no, they're not all carrying the same selection. (which is a great pity)

 

[steadyeddie]

thats good

The browse button on the top right still works, even though the front page complains about the iTunes version.

 

[diego]

It's fun that Apple used Wati Larke's icons for the homepages. Check them out at http://xicons.com/search.php?keywords=flags

Edit: Corrected some typos.

 

[spook]

if you havne't heard, apple are in the middle of a legal battle with the beatles label company... also called apple!

so the prospects of the beatles' catalogue getting added to the iTMS are very slima nd tehre is even talk that the Beatles are looking to strike a year-long exclusivity deal with the MSN music store.


I wish (our) Apple would just end this once and for all and but out apple records... then we have permanent exclusive access to the beatles' music.

Apple could license the music to other store or just let it run with it's current management.

Apple would gain bragging rights if they had exclusive access to the beatles' music and would further engrain the iTMS into the public's conciousness as the ONLY place to buy music online.!!!

Yep I had heard, thats why I asked!

 

[appleguy]

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

at least you are getting it..
Us the most important people of the world "THE KIWI's" (New Zealanders)
dont have it yet.. no time frame

 

[heywhynots]

if you havne't heard, apple are in the middle of a legal battle with the beatles label company... also called apple!

so the prospects of the beatles' catalogue getting added to the iTMS are very slima nd tehre is even talk that the Beatles are looking to strike a year-long exclusivity deal with the MSN music store.


I wish (our) Apple would just end this once and for all and but out apple records... then we have permanent exclusive access to the beatles' music.

Apple could license the music to other store or just let it run with it's current management.

Apple would gain bragging rights if they had exclusive access to the beatles' music and would further engrain the iTMS into the public's conciousness as the ONLY place to buy music online.!!!

Would buying Apple by Apple solve the problem? The publishing rights to many of the most popular songs are owned by Michael Jackson and Sony (MJ bought ATV's publishing rights and then later sold 50% to Sony, so MJ still own 50%). Sony/ATV would get a cut if I am not mistaken though that is subject to debate. EMI through its ownership of Capital Records controls the rights to the Beatles sound recordings in North America and has final say on who can use the sound recordings in North America. Wouldn't Apple Computers then still have to deal with Capital Records and Sony/MJ if they bought AppleCorp?

 

[rhoughton]

I'm hoping Apple will give iTunes Music Store users the ability to view the list of most popular downloads from other countries at some point in the near-future. One thing I find completely useless is the top downloads list on the store now. Yeah, I could probably guess what's going to be on 90% of the list in the U.S., but I'd love to be able to view what's popular in the UK or France or whatnot.

You can do this already - just change store (in the drop-down at the bottom of the iTMS window).