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ITunes Music Store launches in 4 More Countries

Posted by timothy on from the cupertino-money-funnel dept.

Paal Unanue-Zahl writes "I've just published the news in our blog, iTunes Music Store has opened in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland. As for Australia, no dice. It seems that a record company is holding up the launch for the Aussies. We are waiting for official confirmation from Apple later on Tuesday, but purchases are possible with credit cards from Norway and the country icon shows up in the 'Select country' page. Finally."

45 comments

  1. who could this possibly be? by spir0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Are Sony releasing a competing product?

    --
    The reason girls and Windows users don't understand UNIX is because all the documentation is in Man files.
    1. Re:who could this possibly be? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "only works with IE 5.5"

      BLECH!

    2. Re:who could this possibly be? by TCQuad · · Score: 1

      We appreciate your interest in the Connect music store, but our store currently only works with computers running Windows 98 Second Edition or higher. You don't seem to be using that particular operating system at the moment, so, unfortunately, we'll have to part ways until we support the operating system you're currently using, or you make the switch to an OS that is compatible with the Connect music store.

      Ah, a test of wills. Let's see who breaks first.

    3. Re:who could this possibly be? by lfrandom · · Score: 0

      Sony and Microsoft sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g....
      We appreciate your interest in the Connect music store, but our store currently only works with Internet Explorer 5.5 and above. You don't seem to be using that particular browser at the moment, so, unfortunately, we'll have to part ways until we support the browser you're currently using or you upgrade to the latest version of Internet Explorer. Please click the Download link below if you'd like to upgrade now.
      Thank your for your interest in the Connect music store!

    4. Re:who could this possibly be? by pv2b · · Score: 1

      And people accuse Apple for vendor lock-in and being a monopoly.

      Pot. Kettle. Black.

    5. Re:who could this possibly be? by spir0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I tire of having to spell out every little thing in my replies - but for the person who marked my post as off-topic:

      Sony are starting a new online music store called Connect which is direct competition with Apple's iTunes store.

      There is an unnamed record label who are hampering Apple's progress in Australia (and potentially New Zealand).

      Sony owns a record label.

      Thus: Sony are probably the company who are slowing down Apple's progress.

      sigh.

      My maths may be wrong and I may be mistaken in my assumption, but please don't mod if you don't understand the topic you're moderating.

      --
      The reason girls and Windows users don't understand UNIX is because all the documentation is in Man files.
    6. Re:who could this possibly be? by pv2b · · Score: 1

      Explicit is good. :-)

      I didn't understand that you were trying to make that point when I read your first post. I thought you were just saying "oh look, Sony has a music store too".

      Thanks for clarifying.

    7. Re:who could this possibly be? by spir0 · · Score: 1

      I'll keep that in mind :)

      --
      The reason girls and Windows users don't understand UNIX is because all the documentation is in Man files.
    8. Re:who could this possibly be? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Smart poster. I can verify it is Sony-BMG who are holding up the iTMS Australia.

    9. Re:who could this possibly be? by pv2b · · Score: 1

      Source?

    10. Re:who could this possibly be? by frankmu · · Score: 3, Funny

      but the sony guy showed up at Mac World this year! how can sony be for Apple, and against Apple?

      --
      Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
    11. Re:who could this possibly be? by michaelnz · · Score: 1

      Speaking of New Zealand and our need for iTunes or, really, any type of competition.

      A new CD in New Zealand currently runs around NZ$30, which was fine when our currency was valued around .5 to the american dollar. But now that we're at nearly .72 why hasn't the price of CDs followed? Why is it that CDs are the one commodity that inflation has no effect on?

      New Zealand has an active home grown music scene and if Apple could come in and help this market then they would also have a good opportunity for other Apple products to gain market here.

    12. Re:who could this possibly be? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Could it possibly be that exchange rates are based on speculation, and the ammount that your Kiwi money actually buys hasn't changed that much?

      Don't feel bad. A lot of Canadians seem to make the same mistake every time the "Loony" (as they like to call it) narrows the market gap with US dollars a little bit.

    13. Re:who could this possibly be? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not on your life. I want to remain employed.

    14. Re:who could this possibly be? by spir0 · · Score: 1

      and my personal favourite.. prices of blank CDs have come down from $30 to about 50c. surely the cost of pressed CDs has also come down accordingly.

      --
      The reason girls and Windows users don't understand UNIX is because all the documentation is in Man files.
    15. Re:who could this possibly be? by pv2b · · Score: 1
      and my personal favourite.. prices of blank CDs have come down from $30 to about 50c. surely the cost of pressed CDs has also come down accordingly.
      Uhhh... no. The cost of actually pressing a CD has always been, and still is, neglible. High volume and all.
    16. Re:who could this possibly be? by spir0 · · Score: 1

      Uhhh... no. The cost of actually pressing a CD has always been, and still is, neglible. High volume and all.

      granted, but when you think of how the retail market for CDs has depreciated, the negligible cost 15 years ago for pressed CDs compared to the negligible cost now for pressed CDs is probably considerably more profitable than 15 years ago.

      man, that's the longest sentence I've written in a while. hopefully it makes sense - my head hurts too much to revise it.

      --
      The reason girls and Windows users don't understand UNIX is because all the documentation is in Man files.
    17. Re:who could this possibly be? by pv2b · · Score: 1

      The sentence may have been long. Doesn't mean it's coherent. How can a cost be profitable?

      At the risk of putting words into your mouth I'm assuming you meant that even though the cost of pressing CD:s is and has always negligible, it's still lower than 15 years ago.

      I think you need to look up what the word negligible means.

      The fact that a negligible cost has lowered will have a negligible effect on the price of the final product. Which is entirely in line with what has happened. :-)

      Of course, this is irrelevant. The music industry isn't in the business of manufacturing shiny discs. They're in the business of financing music production and profiting on music distribution. And because they, because of copyright restrictions, have their own little mini-monopoly on every CD they publish. (There can't be several competing music publishers selling the latest and greatest one hit wonder.) So they can charge whatever the market can bear -- and not what it costs.

    18. Re:who could this possibly be? by spir0 · · Score: 1

      all true. and it also ignores another factor -- value for money. the price of one CD is 2 movies tickets (3 hours of entertainment), or the average DVD (1.5 hours entertainment, but can be watched again and again).

      however, even though I've watched some of my DVDs 3 or 4 times, most of my CDs have been listened to 80,000 times.

      but that doesn't stop me wanting to pay less for CDs. I seem to have amassed hundreds when I was younger, but now life gets in the way and I'd be lucky if I bought 1 or 2 CDs a year.

      --
      The reason girls and Windows users don't understand UNIX is because all the documentation is in Man files.
  2. About time... by pv2b · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's about time this service came to Sweden. Providing legal ways to conveniently download music while compensating artists is good news for consumers and artists (and record companies ;-) alike.

    Most people I know (including myself) download pirate copies off the Internet because of sheer convenience. I'm simply too lazy to go to the store and buy something (which might not even be in stock, but on order only), when I can just download a copy off the Internet and get it instantly.

    Now if the industry could just get a similar model going for movies and TV shows instead of suing file sharers...

    Can the media industry take note... I don't pirate because I want your stuff for free, but because it's more convenient. You can't compete effectively against electronic delivery with outdated models based on shipping optical discs to people!

    Unfortunately though, the iTunes music store doesn't seem to accept my credit card information. (No, I will not post the information so you can check out what's wrong ;-) But I don't think I should expect it to work fully. It's not even officially launched or anything!

    1. Re:About time... by martingunnarsson · · Score: 1

      At the moment, the swedish store only accepts Amex. It also seems to be kind of messed up, several artists with no songs, incorrectly priced albums (at least one album is set at 9.99 kr, which should be around $1.50) etc.
      These things will probably be sorted out soon. The only thing really bothering me is that the music selection i pretty bad. I wanna shop in the american store :-(

      --
      Martin
    2. Re:About time... by Carthag · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I saw that in the Danish store too (Kristofer Åström & Hidden Truck albums are currently 9.99DKK but impossible to buy as they're "being modified"). I assume that it'll be up & running in the next couple of days.

    3. Re:About time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unfortunately though, the iTunes music store doesn't seem to accept my credit card information.

      It also requires that I install either Windows or MacOS and use their iTunes software, and it only offers lossy-compressed music in some weird-ass Apple format. How pointless.

      Sell me lossless-compressed music (FLAC, thanks) without any special software requirements. Lossy (Ogg Vorbis or even MP3) could be OK if it were MUCH cheaper.

    4. Re:About time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But that requires that you own a computer.

      They should sell you the live band. Of course, that requires you have money. They should *loan* you the live band, whenever you want, for free. That solves all the compression problems, and it's a open-air format.

  3. Ob. Quote by earthbound+kid · · Score: 5, Funny

    I for one welcome our new ABBA overlords...

    And dammit, now I have "Dancing Queen" in my head.

    1. Re:Ob. Quote by Krisbee · · Score: 1

      ITMS here in Sweden lists 150 songs under the artist ABBA, including 15 in spanish, and only two in Swedish :-(

      However, many of these are duplicates as they come from different albums.

  4. Is there a Japanese iTunes? by Quattro+Vezina · · Score: 1

    I'm just curious--how many countries is iTunes available in? I especially want to know if there's an iTunes in Japan, and if so, how can an American sign up there?

    I have no interest in most American music, so the American version of iTunes is pretty useless to me, but I would be very interested in buying songs from iTunes if there was a Japanese version.

    --
    I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
    1. Re:Is there a Japanese iTunes? by pv2b · · Score: 1

      Iie, Nihon ni iTunes Music Store wa nai. (No unicode support? Pfft.)

      (There's no Japanese ITMS. To change your music store country, click on "Choose store" on the left side of the main page.)

    2. Re:Is there a Japanese iTunes? by Quattro+Vezina · · Score: 1

      Iie, Nihon ni iTunes Music Store wa nai.

      Shimatta.

      (Dammit...oh well, thanks anyway.)

      --
      I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
    3. Re:Is there a Japanese iTunes? by spooje · · Score: 1
      You can buy from the American version if you have an Apple Account that uses a US address and a credit card with a billing address in the US.

      Works for me. I've been in Tokyo about 2 years and it's never been a problem for me.

      --
      Tea and kung-fu. Life is good. Rising Phoenix
    4. Re:Is there a Japanese iTunes? by capmilk · · Score: 1

      Shimatta Is "shit" a short form of this word?

    5. Re:Is there a Japanese iTunes? by Quattro+Vezina · · Score: 3, Informative

      Nope. Shimatta is a Japanese expression equivalent to "dammit". The Japanese word for "shit" is kuso.

      Ah, I've taught someone how to swear in another language...my day is now complete.

      --
      I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
    6. Re:Is there a Japanese iTunes? by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 1

      Most recording companies only license the songs to iTunes or other resellers on a per-country basis. If Apple opens a Japan store and offers songs and you buy them, it is still probably illegal for you to download them to the U.S. since the license to make a copy in the U.S. is quite probably owned by a completely different company. P.S. the intellectual property business is a mess.

  5. Slightly offtopic, but.. by kagaku · · Score: 1

    ..is there any way for someone in America using a US credit card to buy songs from a foreign iTunes store? I haven't really looked into it myself (mainly because I'm too lazy to install iTunes and take a look :P).

    --
    everyday is another shooter.
    1. Re:Slightly offtopic, but.. by pv2b · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I don't know about US buyers buying from overseas ITMS:es, but I know that Apple didn't let non-US:ians in non-ITMS-countries use a non-local store.

      I seem to remembering this having caused quite a ruckus with the European Union when UK citizens were not allowed to use non-UK iTunes Music Stores. The reason UK citizens would want to do that, is that the ITMS is significantly more expensive in the UK. Because of the pound and all.

    2. Re:Slightly offtopic, but.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not unless its already in the US store. You need a billing address in the country of the store you want to buy stuff in.

    3. Re:Slightly offtopic, but.. by kimba · · Score: 3, Informative

      Not unless its already in the US store. You need a billing address in the country of the store you want to buy stuff in.

      Worse than that, the credit card needs to be issued in the country where you want an account.

      I live in Belgium, have a credit card, but the card is not issued in Belgium - therefore Apple rejects my attempts to sign up to iTMS.

    4. Re:Slightly offtopic, but.. by ickoonite · · Score: 1

      Because of the pound and all.

      ...In spite of the [strength of the] pound, shurely?

      (I know what you actually mean of course - the inexplicably higher prices the British always pay, the take-off-the-dollar-sign-and-stick-on-a-pound-sign price conversions, but that's something which happens in spite of the pound's strength, and is instead directly attributable to British weather and the mustn't-grumble mantra.)

      iqu :P

    5. Re:Slightly offtopic, but.. by kagaku · · Score: 1

      Is there any way around this? Perhaps using an iTunes gift certifigate purchased by someone in the country that you're wishing to buy songs from?

      I've got a few friends who might be willing to do that for me, once a Japanese iTunes comes along.

      --
      everyday is another shooter.
    6. Re:Slightly offtopic, but.. by jquirke · · Score: 1

      Isn't this in violation of Visa/Mastercard "no-issuer-discrimination" rules?

  6. More karma whoring... by pv2b · · Score: 2, Informative

    To answer your other question, ITMS is currently available in 19 countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and the good old U S of A. (I'd make this a nice bullet point list, but slashcode won't let me, it'd be too few characters per line.) Note the conspicious absense of *any* Asian countries on that list. And here's some lameness to get rid of the lameness filter. (Ironic isn't it?)

  7. About time by Handbrewer · · Score: 1

    About time it opened in the Scandinavian countries (hi Switzerland btw). We have been consistently ranked among the most net savyy since, well, forever. These are obvious demographics to try out direct online retailing like this.

    Also -- i bought an ipod a year ago in anticipation it would be "right around the corner" for the European iTMS.. Well finally :)

  8. Cool, about time by theolein · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Switzerland has one of the highest percentages of Mac users worldwide, and it's about time that the bloody itms showed up here.