iTunes Store Available in Australia Very Soon

tintub writes "New Zealander Russell Crowe has probably infuriated Apple by revealing the launch date of the iTunes store in Australia. Apparently it will be open as early as tomorrow (Thursday), selling tracks for AU$1.80 each. Personally I think this is too much, but I'm glad it's finally available in Australia. Now, when's Amazon coming?"

Comments

Dear Apple

[CaptainZapp]

I read that you will also open an ITunes store in Scandinavia and in Switzerland as well this week; this is nice.

As long as you don't sell MP3 / Ogg files in 320kb - / very high quality however, I cordially invite you to go and bang yer heads; you won't sell me one damn song.

I can agree to not distribute downloaded material, but I'm hell bent not to buy anything that even faintly stinks of DRM.

Oh and while we're at it: 99c a song is acceptable, 9.99 per album is not, specifically for some crippled format, which may or may not play in three years. You cut out the middleman and a whole lot of manufacturing -, distribution and logistics in the process and I - as the consumer - want at least a part of that savings reflected on the price.

There is no need to thank me.

Re:Dear Apple

[0x461FAB0BD7D2]

Although they could lower their prices and therefore sell more songs, if you add it up, they wouldn't make more money this way.

That's assuming that demand is inelastic. But given the number of alternatives to iTunes, albeit crappy ones, this is not the case.

The main reason iPod is still the top dog is because of trend. There are iPod clones and killers out on the market now, but if Apple fails to continue innovation with the iPod, you can be sure that demand will be elastic, and they'd have to lower prices.

And without the music, people have no reason to get an iPod.

Re:Dear Apple

[CaptainZapp]

The quality of the sound though headphones is so bad

This is only true if you refer to the 99 cents ear killers, that they tuck in with portable audio devices. You are however free to toss them and get a set of Sennheiser, or Koss earphones. At least the more expensive models sound rather excellent to my ears.

Re:Dear Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

"In fact, 320kb seem inadequate to me personally. I would very much prefer and pay for flac. The reason is that I'm a sucker for uncompromised source material..."

You know whats funny about all of this -- its a very small portion of people that complain about this. Most of my friends outside of the university are musicians...one of them won a Grammy last year (or the year before...I can't keep track). Almost all record at 24bit 96khz+.

But each and every one I know has an iPod or something similar and I've never heard any of them complain about the quality of music. Heck, when they are trading their music back and forth, instead of sending real glass mastered cds or even burned discs, they send MP3s and nothing more. I don't know when the last time I've actually seen any of their real discs except when going to the store to buy one so I can get them to sign it as a gift to someone else.

The guys making the music just don't care about quality when they are listening to it. They care about the content...I guess thats the difference between the creative and the not so creative. One wants a pure perfect reproduction, while the other is happy to experience a version of it that might not be the original but is just as beautiful.

Apple is gladiating the RIAA!

[Dancin_Santa]

The whole anti-freedom effort on the part of the RIAA (A as in Australia) is really chafing. I'm glad someone out there is finally fighting for the rest of us, and it makes me happy that it is Apple, of all companies.

iTunes may not be the best solution, but as far as a halfway point between music slavery and music freedom, a for-pay music download site is a great step and a great way to give the finger to our rights usurpers. I'd love to have a system that didn't require any pay at all, but Apple's pioneering of this type of business method is absolutely wonderful.

And now, to have it spread to Australia, it is great to see freedom on the march. I hate to sing the praises of any company, but Apple deserves it this time.

Re:Apple is gladiating the RIAA!

[Artega VH]

In Australia the correct acronym is ARIA, as in Australia Recording Industry Association.

But they are pretty much the same thing.

The price is horrible though... the current exchange rate is 1 USD = 1.28923 AUD... so 1.80 AUD per track is outrageous.

Re:It's just sad...

[MrMickS]

The issue, as always, is the invasion of external legilation onto the web. The reason for no global launch is two fold; the rights holders and the local government.

In the early days of e-commerce it was simple for me to buy goods from the USA (I live in the UK) and electronically download them, or have them physically shipped, for less money than I paid locally. Now this is much harder. There are agreements in place that require overseas suppliers to charge me UK sales tax, or make it easy for the UK authorities to charge me it directly. This has made the world shrink again. I recently looked to buy something only available in the US but found that the company didn't ship to the UK, not because of shipping costs but because of the hassle of the form filling.

Re:It's just sad...

[BackInIraq]

I recently looked to buy something only available in the US but found that the company didn't ship to the UK, not because of shipping costs but because of the hassle of the form filling.

Welcome to off-topic land, but I just have to say something. I am a soldier deployed in Iraq, and have found that for some reason I cannot order software online and have it shipped here. I'm a US citizen on a US installation trying to buy something from a US store and have it delivered by the US mail system (even though the army handles part of it, they would still be a US entity), and for some reason I cannot do so. Even sillier because there is some computer software available at the post exchange here. And even sillier because I could legally have the Xbox version of the PC game I was trying to buy shipped here, no problem (from the same store, even).

So go figure.

Amazon happy with status quo

[Ezza]

Because when you buy from Amazon in Australia, you get charged shipping fees from North America, yet most of the time the book will actually come from their Hong Kong distribution centre (geographically around the corner compared to the US, plus cheaper labour to boot).

Just be happy that you can buy itunes music legit down under now, even if it's more expensive than as if you got it from the US.. (US$0.99 AU$1.80 by about AU$0.50).