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iTunes Music Store Coming Soon to 10 New European Union Countries?

Sandstorm said:
Europeans travel a lot + hundreds of thousands (if not millions) live, work or study in different countries than their native ones. It should be easy to have a single store where you can select “region” of your interest, regardless of the physical location.

Actually, this should be possible world-wide. It’s the 21st century already, for crying out loud! There shouldn’t be ANY artificial borders for ANYTHING that’s online. :rolleyes:
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The music labels and the artists (all of which Apple is beholden to for content) disagrees with you. They like region based sales and they are going to force Apple to adhere to these models whether or not Apple wants to or not and regardless of what the EU says is legal or not.
 
acidfast7 said:
Licensing issues are a real hassle and in some countries there isn't so much disposable income. The average monthly wage in Romania is about $650 ... I just spent a month there ... so, there's not so much money for iTunes.

In Poland, it's a little better at 900/mo after tax.

At 1.40 USD/song ... that money doesn't go far, which explains why it's taken so long to open there.
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Actually, in Romania, the average net salary is about $480. This is not the problem, though, as most of the consumer products have almost the same prices as in any EU state, and if people afford a Cola, they should afford a song, if they really want to buy it. I think the main problem is piracy. That's why in Romania there's no Playstation Store, no XBox Live Store and so on. This is definitely hurting people like me, who want to buy stuff or access services and they can't, but I guess the profit comes first for the companies.

Although the rumor says 10 new EU countries, I am not quite sure it will be Romania or Bulgaria on this list... Let's hope I'm wrong. :)
 
PsykX said:
How badly uninformed am I… I thought Apple’s music store was in every developed country by now.
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Shame on you for not knowing EVERYTHING about Apple's products and services. :rolleyes:

That's why there should be a requirement that every new potential MR member pass an exam demonstrating comprehensive knowledge of the subjects discussed here. :rolleyes:;)
 
One solution for those without the iTunes store is to pop into a bank while on holiday in a country where the store is available (eg. UK), open an account, apply for a debit/credit card and voilá, you can get what you want from that country's iTunes store AND online Apple store.

(The Maltese way of going in through the window instead of through the door)
;)
 
Shrink said:
Shame on you for not knowing EVERYTHING about Apple's products and services. :rolleyes:

That's why there should be a requirement that every new potential MR member pass an exam demonstrating comprehensive knowledge of the subjects discussed here. :rolleyes:;)
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I thought it was pretty clear that my main point was not my ignorance. Try reading between the lines of my post then.
 
Slovak said:
How would the "geographic isolation" be relevant for an online store?
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That's a good point, but I guess it's a question of assessing which markets will bring the greatest return when dealing with finite resources. Yes, Apple may be richer than Scrooge McDuck after a particularly prudent year, however even they must look at Malta and think that, with a population of only approximately 400k, there are more sensible places to focus their resources.

I live in Malta, and I'm certain that, if introduced, the Music Store would be a great success. However, the market is so small and I wonder whether they'd have to jump through the same licensing hoops irrespective of the size of the population. I'm sure that the development work to create a new version of the Store would be the simplest task, though it must be said, Maltese is a complicated language. The whole target market here may speak English fluently, however they'd definitely still need to localise for PR purposes.

Still, good news for the states who do now have access! I can only presume that the reason Apple haven't opened up sales within the entire Economic Community is due to licensing restrictions. There is otherwise simply no economic justification for them to maintain a Store in each eurozone country.
 
ReubenZ said:
One solution for those without the iTunes store is to pop into a bank while on holiday in a country where the store is available (eg. UK), open an account, apply for a debit/credit card and voilá, you can get what you want from that country's iTunes store AND online Apple store.
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If only opening an bank account were that simple. You need a fixed residence in that country and evidence of income as a rule. Tourists tend not to fit that criteria.

Powerbooky said:
I use the iTunes Music Store a lot and like it very much, but one thing annoys me very much. The media moguls still enforce a limited choice of music in every country. Try for instance the album "Famous Blue Raincoat" from Jennifer Warnes. An old album and you can get it in every CD store throughout the EU. EXCEPT in the iTunes Store. Here it's limited to just a few EU countries. WTF??? Why???! And this goes for many other albums and tracks. A copyright thing? Come on, if the physical CD is in the stores worldwide, the digital download should be available too, worldwide. period.

:mad:
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It depends upon who owns the copyright for that particular recording in that particular country. The distribution rights may not be EU-wide and may vary enormously. A recording might be held by a major label signed up to Apple in one country and held by a minor one in another not signed up to Apple in the next. I have no idea why you find this baffling; it has always been thus.
Also, depending upon the contract signed, the artist has to give his consent to digital distribution. The Beatles held out for ages although Apple Records' parent company EMI had long signed up to iTunes in many countries.
 
It works. Thank you, Apple, although it's 8 years too late. iTunes Store Poland with music. I'm going shopping :)
(...what about movies and tv series?)
 
Shrink said:
Sorry - no offense meant. :eek:

Feeble attempt at humor (See smilies) :eek:

Obviously unsuccessful. :p
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Ahhh, sorry then :p
I wasn’t too sure if you were being sarcastic or just … well, you know it :eek:
 
Benjy91 said:
Because most European nations don't give a crap about each others taste. It'd be like iTunes USA wanting to filter and see what songs Mexico and Brazil are buying. We may be in some crappy union but we are wildly different.

Maybe I'm just biased against it because I'm English though :)
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Oh I couldn't disagree more. I love to expand my knowledge of music through listening to different "tastes". The same goes for world cinema, there's so little choice for films in languages other than English it's extremely disappointing. My wallet is ready as soon as Apple can find a way to bring it all together.
 
Slovak said:
How would the "geographic isolation" be relevant for an online store?
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i was just wondering that, can't they log onto like the US store, get itunes and buy that way?

Perhaps they mean native stores, which would include native support for their online stores.
 
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