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iTunes Australia Arrives
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finally! i found CD's too expensive. One question... why do you need seperate stores for every country, there's no physical barrier making it impossible for us to download from the US store for example. Or is it some marketing strategy? or am i missing something?
InfiniteLoop1 said:
We have the separate stores because of different licensing laws in each country. Also, the barrier to downloading internationally is the credit card number, Australian cards use a different combination of numbers to US cards - same number of numbers but it's like a barcode, the 4 at the start designate country of origin. That way US cards won't work on our store and vice-versa.
I suspect that the licensing issue is more significant than the CC. We had to wait for individual country stores here in Europe, yet I can use my UK and Swiss credit and debit cards in online US stores.Chundles said:
Apple has had to negotiate with each label in each territory. Even then Sony Australia has held out, although Lord knows why there and not elsewhere. It all comes down to how the labels want to control access to their catalogues. If record label execs want to be arses, they will, and there's not a lot Apple can do about it.
wolfywolfbits said:Hey fellow NZers iTunes has stopped working for me now
Still works for me, I just spent $30.
I'm glad the ozzies finally have it! About time!
I wonder why the record labels were so against it in Australia: piracy is no bigger there than in the US or Europe, surely?
Prices seem a little steep though.
I wonder why the record labels were so against it in Australia: piracy is no bigger there than in the US or Europe, surely?
Prices seem a little steep though.
Are australian cards any different than the rest of the world,after all you can use credit cards in any country (so i thought)?Chundles said:
Renegate said:
No, all cards are the same, it's just that the pattern of numbers identifies each card as having a particular country of origin. You can use your credit card all over the world because everything that accepts the cards do not discriminate. The iTMS has to limit itself to certain cards for each store to prevent anybody breaking the licensing agreements Apple and the record labels have agreed to - which are only valid for residents of each specific country. I'd imagine there are less restrictions on EU countries (not sure though) but it was impossible for us to buy from the US store unless we had a US bank account and credit card with a US billing address.
johnnyjibbs said:
Money money.......MONEY!!
Yup, the record labels here are incredibly tight, you'd be amazed at how much they screw us over. SonyBMG is holding out for more cash, which, now with the launch of the store, they aren't going to get. I'd expect them to come onboard fairly soon. They better, there's some great artists on Sony BMG who'd I'd imagine are a bit peeved that their music isn't available to users of the most popular portable music player in the country.
Wondering why Apple doesn't create their own Music Label and signs up Sonys artists. I know they have that problem with the Beatles but they could just buy them or form a joint venture?Chundles said:
Well, I know almost nothing about Australia, but if it is so cool like we use to heard, man, this country is hot!!!
Congratulations for your iTunes music store!!!
Congratulations for your iTunes music store!!!
I heard that technically it's illegal to own an iPod in Australia. That was like last year or more though. Maybe they've changed the laws now.
Shattering Fast said:
The only thing stopping it being illegal was it's ability to load music that you yourself had created. Up until now this was the only legal music you could put on your iPod.
Although I believe the ARIA said they weren't going to pursue music listeners who ripped their CD's to their iPod.
It is nice to not be a thief anymore.
It's not illegal to own an iPod. However it's illegal to rip your CDs onto it (you only purchase the right to play the music off the cd), so unless you only used your iPod to store data files, or the only music on there was your own work, or someone's that you had explicit permission to use on your iPod, the law viewed you the same as if you had illegally downloaded the songs. With iTMS, obviously you are getting the right to play the songs on your ipod and computer, so we have a way to legally use iPods for whatever songs we like (provided they aren't Sony BMG artists).
YAY!!!!!
Better late then never I guess!
I think the pricing is just a tad too high in terms of exchange rates etc, $1.30-$1.50 would have been better but that's not going to stop me from using it.
Pity about the TV shows not being available, maybe one day....
I work at Coles so it will be interesting to see how the gift certs. are actually sold and how many people buy them. (Hmmm I wonder if my staff discount card will work on them hehe)
Again....YAY
Better late then never I guess!
I think the pricing is just a tad too high in terms of exchange rates etc, $1.30-$1.50 would have been better but that's not going to stop me from using it.
Pity about the TV shows not being available, maybe one day....
I work at Coles so it will be interesting to see how the gift certs. are actually sold and how many people buy them. (Hmmm I wonder if my staff discount card will work on them hehe)
Again....YAY
How about gift certificates?
If Apple is using the credit card to validate purchase in specific countries, how does the gift card work? I can send a gift card to somebody in a different country. Do they use the IP address then?
Chundles said:
If Apple is using the credit card to validate purchase in specific countries, how does the gift card work? I can send a gift card to somebody in a different country. Do they use the IP address then?
bommai said:
I'm not sure. I'm guessing they can then download from the store assigned to the country in which the gift card was bought. So if you buy someone a gift card from the US store using your US credit card, then I suppose they can redeem it from the US store. However I could not redeem online freebies (from signing onto a bank info site using my spam email address - the one I use when I know a spam bot's gonna send me spam) because I had to have an account linked to the US store.
I don't know how this works so if anybody who does know could pipe up and give us the correct info that would be great.
Those gift cards are going to make great presents for my sisters. Now they can get a whole album for $20 rather than having to buy a $30 voucher for each of them (birthdays are expensive for me as my sisters are twins therefore twice the price - hard for a student, now I can save $20 and each of them can get an album)
Yay, now you don't need to be a criminal to use your ipod! Although the thought of paying $1.69 for a song with limitations on it's use...