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iTunes Europe Goes Live
Spad writes "The Register is reporting the launch of iTunes in the UK, France and Germany. "iTunes will carry 700,000 songs from the five major record labels and independents, and prices for the download service start at 79 pence or 99 euro cents per song." It's not ideal (99c is about 55p) but it's better pricing than expected. I for one will be signing up to use it."
I know there is a Windows client for I-Tunes, but this article made me wonder.
How many Apple users are there in Europe anyway?
(Not trying to belittle them in any way, I'm just curious)
This is the sig that says NI (again)
apple uk is down and i want to spend my money!
What about the rest of us!!!
Must we wallow forever in the sinful pleasures of bearshare and kazaa?
Save us oh Jobby one!
May the Maths Be with you!
What? Only UK, France and Germany?
Why not the whole of Europe? Did Apple also excluded one or more of the States of America?
Grmbl...
Well, kudos to them for not making us Britains pay 99p a track, like I'm sure some other companies would.
We still pay the highest price, but I'm getting used to being shafted out of every penny I own here anyway.
120 characters should be enough for anybody
What I want to know is when iTunes will be released for Windows 98? Something tells me its never going to happen but surely it wouldn't be that difficult for apple to release iTunes for win 98?
So I'm curious as to what sorts of predictions people have for when the market gets completely saturated with music services. Particularly with ones like OD2's which is a generic music store that they sell to lots of people which leads to a lot of the same stuff with different branding.
Will we start seeing buyouts? Which ones do you think will go out of business?
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
Well it's launched but there's not much on there at the moment and there's an awful lot of "Partial albums" consiting of just one song. Hopefully they'll be adding more tracks over the coming weeks....
Well i think we're getting a shitty deal in the UK when 0.99 euro converts to 65p and UK users have to pay 79p a track!
Akami appear to be having some DNS issues at the moment so it appears that apple.com, www.google.com, www.microsoft.com etc. are all down. If you have cached their ip addresses you should be able to reach them.
I can't use it with my Apple operating system, and I'm expected to pay nearly 50% more than Americans?
Seems like a huge own-goal to me, and I'm a Mac fanatic.
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
when you upgrade to Win 2000+ :)
...still not available for the 53rd state: Canada.
99 eurocents per song might seem expensive. But how many of you haven't bought a cd because you liked some songs, only to find out later you really don't like the rest of them? Then the option of legally owning the few songs you *do* like isn't so bad.
Btw, is it illegal to download the cdcover of the full cd if you bought only a couple of tracks?
Screw that. Try allofmp3.com. I pay 1 to 2 cents per meg, don't have to deal with annoying DRM, and choose whether I want files in mp3, ogg, wma, aac, whatever, even lossless FLAC, and the bitrate I want. I haven't used filesharing since I found it.
The 2Ghz G5 costs 2,799 GBP (Stupid slashcode won't support pound signs), which translates to over $5,500 USD! Meanwhile, I recently bought a 3Ghz machine for just 500! Apple is simply too expensive in europe. No one I know uses one, except for the lab of old imacs at college.
Apple users have been shown to be better educated, wealthier and more artistic creatures than PC users.
:)
In an unrelated note, WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF EUROPE?! Sweden and Ireland are where i live, and nothings here!
In other words, more European
It's not ideal (99c is about 55p) but it's better pricing than expected. I for one will be signing up to use it.
I can't understand why anybody would want to support price gouging. Unless a swift and painful message is delivered to them NOW, the price will not get any cheaper. And in 20 years time we will have another investigation into why our prices are so high compared to other places which will again (like CDs) do nothing about it.
Probably because it's a dupe?
Cheers,
Ian
I wonder to what extent Apple's business model anticipates a similar crackdown on this side of the pond?
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
Why choose iTunes/Sony/Rhapsody/Walmart over AllOfMp3?
Though AllOfMP3.com is a legally questionable operation, so are the tactics of the RIAA's, whom iTMS users are supporting with every cent they give to the store. You're screwing artists either way, whether it's through P2P or funding the RIAA through iTMS/Apple. If you really want to send your money to an artist, go to one of their shows, buy their merchandise, have one of your friends give'em a listen.
By choosing AllOfMP3.com over Apple's store, you can do the following:
-NOT support the RIAA or their questionable methods of operation
-NOT support a company that works with the RIAA to further their influence and funnel your money into the RIAA's coffers (for a list of other companies and people not to buy music from, please visit here)
-NOT support the use of the iTMS' proprietary DRM which not only limits what media player you want to play your music on (Most people prefer listening to their music on Winamp intead of being forced to use iTunes to listen to music they paid for), but what digital audio portable you want to use to listen to your music as well. AllofMP3.com and several other services (Audiolunchbox, Bleep, Magnatune) do not treat you like a criminal for buying their music, nor impose limits on how you wish to listen to it.
-CHOOSE what format you want your music encoded in, instead of being stuck with vanilla 128 AACs, with Apple's proprietary and limiting DRM tacked on.
iTunes Europe might not be as successful as in the US since not all people listen to music in English. Until iTunes finds a way to customize the selection based on geography, I for one would not be willing to navigate through the site searching for my music.
Also, many artists have their recordings in multiple languages (like Eros/Laura in italian/spanish/portugese etc). Would be interesting to see how they unify or resolve the cultural differences
. . . and so the great iTunes goodness spreads through out the land, preparing the world for the great Apple overlords coming . . .
Pretty Pictures!
So now are they singing, "Michael Hasselhof uber alles?"
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
When was this? Link required!
UH. apple's page doesnt' load for me in safari, mozzila or anything, though the muusic store seems to work okay. did something go horribly wrong in the launch of itms europe?
None of the independent labels are signing up for iTunes; and that means the vast bulk of their service will be made up by the commercial schlock the majors are trying to cram down peoples throats. (Unlike the US, non-major labels are a big chunk of the UK CD market).
No Franz Ferdinand? No White Stripes? No Dizzee Rascal?
No thanks, Steve.
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
Chjeers,
Ian
Really?
a) I don't see any other such story listed
b) When was the last time that bothered any of slashdot's editors?
If any of you follow financial news, companies are reporting additional gains from exchange rates, and some years report losses...
Prices are set in local markets based upon localized demand and competition (limited monopoly pricing power from brand, even in a relatively competitive market), etc.
Right now, it is cheaper for Germans to buy German cars sold in America and reimport them, because even with the cost of shipping the car from the states, the Euro is so strong on the dollar that it results in the importing the American made German car is cheaper.
Companies set prices (usually with local subsidiaries because of assinine international tax laws) in each country. Many companies will engage in "hedging" with the currency derivative market, because they aren't in the business of currency speculation (although if it should work out in the long run, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, then paying the commissions on those trades isn't economically intelligent, but it's important for hitting quarterly/annual numbers, joys of public accounting).
However, the price will be set in the European market based upon the prevailing price there. However, that is in part because of Apple's limited "monopoly" pricing power (note, this is NOT monopoly a la anti-trust, it's in a competitive market with highly similiar substitute goods, like CDs, pirated music, etc.), but only Apple sets the price for iTMS downloads.
One of the things that the Internet and digital transfers has the potential to do is destroy regionalized pricing, at least within the English (and then Spanish, etc.) speaking world. In that scenario, Apple could set prices in each store based upon local trends, but consumers could buy from whichever store TODAY's currency price makes most beneficial. That is great for consumers, but lousy for corporate profits (then they ALWAYS lose on the currency fluctuation, because the business goes to whatever is cheapest that day).
However, a Euro price that isn't identical to US pricing with TODAY'S rate of exchange makes sense. The Euro is up something like 30% on the Dollar in the past 12 months. If that trend reverses, and 1 $ = 1 E again, then a Euro price of 55 cents would devastate Apple. The Euro was established at a price level to make the nominal exchange of Euros to Dollars approx. 1:1, which would obviously fluctuate.
Consumers in general are more interested in pricing in their local currency then international pricing. Although the Internet has changed things SLIGHTLY, in general, most consumers don't engage in International trade, but rather buy from an organization that has imported the products for them. Hence Amazon has localized businesses, Apple set up local Apple AND now iTMS to price in the local currency. Cars are priced in each local market.
However, the free flow of information will reduce that ability over time, which is a good thing, but you shouldn't be shocked that it isn't instant.
Alex
I don't own a tinfoil hat, but maybe its time to get one. That's freaky. And its completely broken the site; if you try to change the viewing options or anything it directs you to a list of discussions, which have broken links from them.
The reason we pay more than the exchange rates imply is because of the import duties involved. Wait a minute...
Well i think we're getting a shitty deal in the UK when 0.99 euro converts to 65p and UK users have to pay 79p a track!
The pricing strategy is doubtless based on price point psychology rather than exchange rate parity.
Capitalism is like that. The product manager seeks to optimize revenue but his/her choices are constrained by a granularity imposed by price point psychology.
Of course, this phenomenon leads to an obvious argument in favor of common currency in geographically and commercially related regions. That is probably a whole other topic, but one which becomes increasingly relevant when considering sub 100 priced commodities.
When I was in Germany last month, CD prices were upwards of 20 Euro each. Now, you might argue that you're getting gouged on CD prices too but the per-song pricing seems to be in line with what you're already paying for CDs.
Peace
How can they dare to demand us to pay that much for this service:
;)
- No physical support delivered (By definition)
- We have to do all the work for them
- They are killing intermediate
- More expensive than a full album in Promotion...
For such a price the only reason to use this service is the fear of the trial (for downloading on a P2P network)... even in europe...
Sorry for my Swiss-frenchy-european english
I thought that the EU was dead against people being able to price people differently based on country. In other words, if you go to a site, that site can't give you a different price based on your country of origin. But, that having a UK site and a French site with different prices is OK.
Remember that it has taken time for independent labels in the States to sign up. Just because they haven't done so yet doesn't mean that they won't; You can bet that the indies have a high proportion of iPod-toting staff who'd be keen on iTMS and the bosses won't want to pass up the opportunity to make even more money. Patience!
Now here is a good example of using big words in titles that are not at all covering for the real thing. "iTunes Europe goes Live". I didn't know that Europe was only UK, France and Germany. This is the same thing as to say that USA is California and Florida.
That independent music will become the primary market, and that the consumption will increase greatly. People will explore. But, in order for this to happen, the downward pressure on prices will increase. Artists will never get 50% of the cut, but they will increase their percentage. Better tracking of usage, occuring in many markets, will allow for a better understanding of music/resource usage, and where value is actually added. Labels have value. Musician unions, and licensing groups do also. The service which can increase independent music consumption will win.
iTunes is in good shape, but there is a lot of music sitting around out there.
...going to be before Apple becomes a media company who just happens to sell software and computers? Right now, there are definitely a hardware company that sells software. But with the iPod, and whatever next Big Thing that will follow, I have to wonder how much of the bottom line is going to be based on media content?
Don't be a looter...and yes, I know that it's spelled with an "A" instead of an "E".
Check out Magnatune.com - no DRM, just music and 50% goes to the musicians.
amazon can sell music cd's across europe, why can't apple sell music files across europe?
I suspect the difference is that Amazon.com just ships around pre-made physical goods, whereas iTunes Music Store offers digital downloading. It's essentially a completely new form of commerce.
Apple needs to convince the labels that they want to offer their product through iTMS, hence the need to negotiate deals. Apple has also said the labels make the actual music files, not Apple. So again, Apple has to convince the labels to put effort into encoding their products for iTMS.
Oh, the same tired tale. You know, if you want to get the record companies to stop promoting shitty bands, maybe you should first get people to stop buying shitty albums. It is a tragedy that Britney Spears has sold ten times as many records as Tom Waits with a quarter of the talent...but them's the breaks.
I mean, it's not like independent labels don't exist, don't sign bands and don't release albums to the mass market INCLUDING over iTunes. In fact, iTunes has more independent labels than any other online music store. You don't think SONY Connect is gonna court Asian Man Records, do you?
I've actually been quite surprised by the number of GOOD artists who get above-the-fold promotion on iTunes. Even the ones who don't are displayed RIGHT NEXT to their corporate shilling brethern. And the selection beats the crap out of the most ecclectic brick & mortars I've seen. I mean, iTunes has the friggin' Kind Geedorah record. I had to literally threaten violence at my local Newbury Comics to get them to even ORDER that shit, and even then it cost me $20.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
An organisation that collects license fees for artists who will never see a dime of it and aren't even members...
Oh yeah. The RIAA!
I, for one, welcome our new Apple overlords.
Those who complain about affect & effect on
Well what a relief. I've been looking forward to getting iTunes in the UK since I bought my PowerBook 7 months a go. I thought today was going to be expensive but as the store is pretty much empty Apple are going to save me some cash - wait is that the reality distortion field at work again.
Come on Apple. Sort it out and give us access to all the music!
Scared of flying, pointy things snce 1979!
I just bought Franz Ferdinand last night from iTunes and I know they have the White Stripes. I think what you're seeing is the same thing as we saw in the US, it took a few months for the library to grow and become more inclusive.
So, I wouldn't say the independent labels are not signing up, they're there, it's just an issue of providing the same library we get in the US to you guys across the pond.
2a. I buy one or two standard format CDs from the large range on display for a reasonable price that is identical (in my own local currency) no matter what part of the world I am in or
2b. I buy separate tracks in an open format like MP3 or OGG and burn them to a standard CD either in the record store or at home.
3. I play, rip, burn my songs in whatever format I like on whatever application I like on whatever OS I like.
A revolutionary idea, I agree, but I think it might just work...
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
You for one may decide to use it, but on the other hand, I for one will continue to purchase my CDs for 6.99 for CD-Wow (average of 11 tracks at 6.99 is 64pence a track) with the added bonuses of
a - Better sound quality
b - no restrictions on how many different devices I play it on
c - no restrictions on how many times I can rip it
d - the possibility of ripping it to the (superior) ogg format.
e - the artist getting a bigger cut of my money
f - casing, and cover art
So when you buy a CD, you get more for less. Hmmmmm so tell em again, exactly why is iTunes such a great deal?
Sunday you're Thinking Different, Monday you're a huge tool, paying too much and waiting to think like everyone else.
Warp Records Reject DRM, Go Bleep
Good MP3 quality, no DRM.
Don't answer me. Moderate. Slashdot is about moderation, not discussion.
True believers DO have Mac OS X!
they also said the talks with the indies had just begun. same thing happened in the USA. i think it was mostly because of the legal issues. they need the big labels onboard to make the store look valid. the indies were offered "the same deal as the majors" and can choose if they want to sign on. it might also have had a little to do with keeping it under wraps till it was really ready. with so many indies, it would have been easy for info to leak out and we know how Apple hates that.
You lazy turd.
Where's this evidence then, since you keep posting this garbage in every sodding story?
the reason why companies have to offer two different online store fronts for two different parts of the world. Can people in the US not buy music from companies in Europe, or vice-versa? What was it that prevented Europeans from going to Apple's website and downloading the iTunes music software, but prevented them from getting music?
Thanks.
(Except, of course, that the number of counties varies a lot depending on whether you're talking about traditional divisions, administrative areas, postal districts -- and when...)
Ceterum censeo subscriptionem esse delendam.
How about this then:
This site is both illegal and immoral for users in the rest of the world. Just because it's convenient and you can go unpunished for now doesn't make it right.
Is low. I couldn't find many artists I wanted, and the songs available for the others were quite limited.
You should look at British Airways
A return flight from LHR to JFK
is 40% more than
A return flight from JFK to LHR
Same day, same airline
WTF !!??!!
Big business has been arguing (quite rightly) the case for a free flow of goods and services as a means of creating more efficient markets and thus lowering their production cost. Unfortunately, at the same time they appear very hesitant in extending these benefits to the consumer.
...
Region encoding on DVDs was only the most blatant example where markets were kept artifically separate, but it extends to many other areas, particularly cars (VW has been convicted under EU law for trying to stop Germans buying VWs abroad where they sell them cheaper), fashion (companies prosecuting anyone who dares to "re-import" produce that was to be sold cheaper abroad), CDs (CD-wow was prosecuted for importing CDs to the UK and selling them for US-prices)
It's a world of free trade, so if I want to source my products from the cheapest source I should be allowed to. I can see that some companies warrenties might not be valid abroad, or that I'd have to pay additional shipping, but creating artifically separated markets can only be bad for the consumer!
I'm particularly annoyed in the case of downloadable music. There are *no* shipping costs, yet i-tunes US won't sell music to a UK customer, presumably because they figured out they can extract more money from them...
This is even more galling when it happens internally in the EU where there are supposed to be *no* trade-barriers, yet i-tunes germany also won't sell to the UK.
Companies should not get away with having their cake and eating it. If they want globalisation they also have to face global competition for customers and can't be allowed to create artificial niches. If the Brits are prepared to pay a few pennies more in return for a more British service and not having to convert currencies, that's fine, but if I want to buy from the US (or Europe) I should definitely be allowed to do so!
Personally, I agree that it's not a good deal for purchasing an entire album, for the reasons you listed. Where it is a really good deal, is purchasing individual tracks. For example, there are all sorts of tracks by my favorite artists available only on compilation albums. I don't want any of the other tracks on the compilation album, just the one. So it's great that I can pay 99 cents and get the song I want, rather than $18.99 in a store for the entire album, which I wouldn't listen to. The same goes for many reissued albums--Sonic Youth have put out a "deluxe" version of "Dirty". I already own the cd, but would like to have some of the new extra tracks without repurchasing the whole thing.
....and as a bit of A Jazz fan, found the selections available quite good.
After a few clicks, I located some old Nina Simone stuff, that I've only seen on more expensive compilations.
One strange thing is that some of the albums are shown as "partial" on the UK Site, but "Full" on the US one? I have the ability to selct the US site, but haven't tried ordering from there?
Anyone know if that would work? It used to be that the iTunes Store Page wouldn't display at all,, but now it does, and I can select UK, France, Germany or the US sites - as has been noted previously, the prices are different, but 79 pence is less than originally mooted?
Personally, I don't think its too much per track - in the UK, everyone is used to "Rip-Off Britain" so 79 pence is cheap to us!
-- Seamus
That the majority of users are not using windows XP. The majority of windows users are still at the win 98 stage. Apple is instead trying to make it work well on the newest platform available. People who spend mor eto upgrade thier computer are more afluent and therefore are a better demographic to have running their software. Plus, it probely wouldn't look as "good" as it does on XP. Thats most likely the real reason.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
I'm in france, using a french keyboard (a sick invention) with english XP, download iTunes 4.6, I select france as the home country, click on a track and what do I get?
"This track is not available in your store" in french.
I been waiting for the EU version of iTunes for a year, what's the point if I still can't get the music I'm interested in?
P***** de m****!
People are saying the selection is low. How is Apple providing two different store fronts? Are they keying on the IP address? I live in Europe but use a US credit card to buy from iTMS. Will this change if iTMS is offered in my country?
Devon
Sorry about the RTFA comment earlier, I got my articles confused. You're right, the Register doesn't say so, but this article at Maccentral does.
Well put, parent poster.
Europe was supposed to be a single economic union, especially for circumstances like this.
Why are the inhabitants of the smaller EU countries being treated as second-rate citizens?
And what's with letting the UK go first, anyhow? They don't even want to be a member of the EU. They're not even part of the Eurozone!
Wouldn't it have been a lot more sensible for Apple to concentrate on all the Eurozone (single currency) countries first, and expanding to the non-eurozone EU members afterwards?
I'm pro-european, I believe we need to stand together in order to stand up to the US politically and stand on our own feet, but right now, with EUCD and software patents being rammed down our collective European throats on one hand and being discriminated against with the European iTunes-rollout on the other hand, I'm really getting the feeling like we're having to put up with the disadvantages of a united Europe whithout receiving the advantages.
Even if the record companies (and thus not Apple) are to blame, Apple should have filed a compliant to the European Authorities instead of conceding.
As a matter of fact, as I understood it, the entire reason why the European rollout took so long after the US launch was because Apple was trying hard to launch iTunes in the entire EU collectively from the start. Apparently, Apple gave up on that.
Oh well, for us Dutch it will just be another reason to root for our Orange boys when they battle the German mannschaft in tonight's Euro2004 soccer match.
"Oooh, does that mean we get to kick some puffy white mad zionist butt?"
There is no point in having national versions of a download service (only to protect monopolies and rip consumers off). Even less point in having EU country specific sites. Just like dvd zones, these barriers are (hope) doomed. As it is I will not spend a sinply cent in it.
1) October
2) see next answer
3) yes and licensing agreements with the labels
In the article text it says that for Britain it was 79 pence, which is somewhat better than 99, but still more expensive than if it had been paid for in euros.
ciao
Moreover, you would be suprised at how clear the 128kbps AAC is. Just for the sake of testing, I own a copy of a song (ATB - Don't Stop) on CD, and I bought another copy on ITMS and burned it onto a CD. I listened to both, and I honestly could not tell which was which.
"but them's the breaks"
Can someone translate that into english?
For the first time since it opened, I CANNOT access the iTunes Store. Anyone else experiencing this? Can European access be causing congestion?
Being a European, I've never looked at whether there is a workaround for Linux users, so I'll ask here...
I just got a new cash card through, and just in time it seems!
:-\ )
(Although there's no money in the account, making the point moot
By summer it was all gone...now shesmovedon. --
Simply too expensive. About 14 tracks make 1 album. That works out to slightly under 14 EUR for an album for which:
:-(
:-)
1. I have to provide the storage medium
2. Is of less quality than CD
3. Has no booklet/cover
4. Has DRM restrictions
5. Won't play on my iRiver H-120
I fail to see the good deal here
However, allofmp3.com never looked this good...
1. 0.01 or 0.02 USD per Mbyte (depending on encoding type)
2. Encode to your own preference (Ogg Vorbis q6 for me)
3. No DRM
4. Plays on whatever device you have
I'm sure someone will tell me the artist gets screwed this way. I see it like this:
iTunes: I get screwed big time.
allofmp3: The artist gets screwed.
I start buying at a 3.50 USD pricepoint for an album and I get:
1. choice of Ogg Vorbis
2. no DRM
3. no MacOS or Windows requirement
4. no device (e.g. iPod) requirement
That leaves about 2.00-2.50 USD to the artist per album when I subtract the allofmp3 costs. I think that's fair (and a helluvalot more than most artists are getting now)
I've used apple computers since '86 and Linux since '96. I've always Liked a lot of what Apple has done, but the constant delay an foot dragging to get the Apple Store into Canada and now the iTunes Store into Canada is just stupid. I don't get it. Canada should have been 2nd on the list or done at the same time the US was done. It took ages for the Apple Store to come to Canada, and now that it is, it's great.
:-(
Maybe I need to go to Cupertino and punch Jobs in the Face for his idiocy on these things. Brilliant when it comes to many things, but lacking in many ways at others
-- DuckWing
The US iTunes site says "The Best Digital Jukebox."
The UK site says "A digital jukebox beyond compare."
I think they got a bit of a fright from that "the PowerMac G5 is the world's fastest computer" debacle.
In the case of "American Pie", I believe the problem is the length of the song - no matter what the song is, if it's over eight minutes long (perhaps seven? I forget the exact number) you can only get the song with the album - that is iTunes doing, not the lables.
Not to say labels do not sometimes do exactly what you are saying (witness the Shrek 2 soundtrack with a few missing tracks) but it's not quite as many cases as you might think.
Also, publishers do have control of the per-album price so if they don't want people buying the whole CD for 9.99 then they can charge more. In those cases I either just download the few songs I like, or if I really like the whole thing but they are charging too much for the whole CD I buy a few songs and get the rest from P2P. That way I keep pricing eqilibrium at a point I am happy with, and the artist still gets some money.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
iTunes is windows/mac only and does not work in wine (although it is, I believe, being worked on).
Does this mean I can find some Euro releases of stuff from here in the US?
There are quite a few European bands that I really, really like, but I mostly end up waiting on a US release of their albums, or paying the exorbitant import fees at the record store.
Strangely, the new Beastie Boys album is $15 in iTunes, and $10 at BestBuy, Circuit City and Target. Why wouldn't I just buy the CD, then? ...if you somehow find a way to listen to that particular album before you buy it, i think you'll be able to come up with an answer to that question on your own...
... with certain Switch debit cards. They provide the option for new UK users to use a debit card (such as Switch or Solo) to sign up with, but some users (such as myself, but there are others) get a "declined" error when trying to enter their card details. I've also heard that there are problems when trying to enter London postcodes, apparently it doesn't recognise them.
..The English don't really consider themselves a part of Europe (As defined by the EU) anyway.
And here I am, waiting for iTunes Europa...
One of the reasons for the limited selection is that Apple refused to disclose the retail price to the independent labels in advance of the launch. Thus they could not know if the deal on offer was fair. Apple took the position of "we're the biggest you've got to deal with us" and got told to go away.
I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the independents follow WARP and go for a non-DRM solution. I know some are planning to launch stores using mp3, Ogg Vorbis and FLAC and several labels will lauch this within the next month. I'm sure they'll sell though iTunes as well but there will be a LOT more nonDRM stuff out there in a few months.
Airlines are screwy no matter where you fly. I'm flying from Seattle to Dallas for a wedding in july. The plane ticket was around $400. If I instead flew from Seattle to Oklahoma City, it was $230. The kicker is that the Seattle to Oklahoma City flight has a connection in Dallas. And the Seattle to Dallas connection is the SAME flight as the one I wanted to take. So basically American Airlines is paying me almost $200 to continue on to Oklahoma City and ride back to Dallas with some friends.
Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
The European Union isn't just a trade union;
European Union citizens can move freely within the EU the same way as you would it in the US or Canada.
There are EU laws. Remember the Microsoft case in the EU?
If you're European, you have the right to vote in the European polls.
There are some things to fix, though such as having one voice overseas regarding international issues, recognizing all the languages present in the EU member states but having English as the official one, and well, I think European kings should be kicked out of the EU.
Apple should have launched iTunes in the whole EU.
I am not sure how this works... but when you purchase something digital online. Where is the point of sale. Is it where you are at the time or where the server is. Techinically if we draw a parallel to goods.
Assuming it is where you are then I bet ALLofMP3 don't have the rights to sell in (US,EU etc)
OR if it is in Russia and we draw a parallel to goods, You would pay a importing duty when it is delivered in most countries so I guess at the very least I would expect you should declare it to the Tax man.
Yeah, but Tom Waits has no tits. Like it or not, appearance (image) matters in music. Look at the abundance of boysbands which mainly consist of pretty boys with musical talents as much as a pebble.
So its arrived over here finally...
;) - go check them out on iTMS
The selection seems to be a little limited at the moment - no Pearl Jam, no Bad Religion, no Pixies except the promo song
Ive still managed to buy 2 albums & a few assorted tracks already.
Bonus points to Apple for including Soul Coughing - ever heard of them? thought not
Who cares about health care or taxes, perhaps in the upcoming Canadian federal election I'll vote for whoever promises to do what it takes to bring iTMS to Canada quickly. =)
Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
(nom)
Anyone have any information about when iTMS might be available in Australia? Anyone from Apple listening? Thanks.
I'll just wait till they roll out iTunes Turkey, where you'll get songs for 0.99 Turkish Lire.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
I must have been thinking of some other song then, as the eight (or seven) minute rule has blocked me from a single song purchase a number of times (perhaps Pink Floyd?). The general point still applies (as does the original posters, which I was not refuting).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Actually, the US doesn't have VAT, per se; we apply sales tax "at the register," so prices always exclude any tax. There are exceptions (gas, liquor, cigarettes, and other "special" items).
The highest sales tax is about 8.75%, and the lowest is 0%, depending on state.
IIRC, iTunes doesn't charge sales tax in the US. If it did, it would be added to the $0.99.
From their legal info:
All the materials in the MediaServices projects are available for distribution through Internet according to license # LS-3-03-79 of the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society. Under the license terms, MediaServices pays license fees for all the materials subject to the Law of the Russian Federation "On Copyright and Related Rights".
Independent Label organisations AIM and IMPALA won't agree to the Apple deal as Apple refuse to pay them the same rate they pay major labels, even though indies were promised a level playing field when itunes launched.
You should start puking as the plane arrive into Dallas and get off. I'm sure they won't mind
Tahya al-Moqawama al-Iraqiya!
DEATH TO AMERICAN DOGS.
DEATH TO AMERICAN PIGS.
The Americans will soon learn what it is like to live in burning cities with their women and children dying around them! We will make their cities look like al-Fallujah; we will make 11 September seem like a pleasant memory to them! Our brothers in Iraq and our brothers in Palestine and our brothers already in America will see to it!
Tahya al-Moqawama al-Iraqiya!
Tahya al-Moqawama al-Iraqiya!
Tahya al-Moqawama al-Iraqiya!
DEATH TO AMERICAN PIGS.