Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

iTunes Australia to Launch Next Week

Posted by Zonk on from the cheap-tunes-for-our-friends-down-under dept.

daria42 writes "It looks extremely likely that the iTunes music store will launch (finally) in Australia next week. Apple confirmed that its vice president of iTunes Eddie Cue, and vice president of iPod product marketing Greg Joswiak will be flying down under for a press conference on Tuesday morning. Cue has been prominent in a number of launches around the globe of the online music store, which is now available in around 20 countries worldwide. Australians have been waiting for the launch for more than a year now. It is believed Sony's Australian division wanted to block the launch."

4 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Variable pricing? by The+Amazing+Fish+Boy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From the article:

    The iTunes Australia store is expected to provide largely the same offerings as its US and European stores, delivering access to almost one million songs at between AU$0.99 and AU$1.69 per song.

    Crikey!

    1. Re:Variable pricing? by cerebis · · Score: 3, Interesting
      At current exchange rates, thats $0.75 to $1.25 US. We didn't fair too badly after all. I know one of the debated points has always been the price of a song. The music industry wants to charge more.

      I have a feeling the disagreement was that the music moguls are stuck with the misperception that if the RRP is still $30AUD, then they simply have to divide that price by the averge number of songs to get the download price. This ignores the fact that most Aussie music stores are regularly pricing new CDs at $19.95 and older ones at as little as $10.

      It turns out that $10-$20 / [average number of songs per album] actually works out quite close to the publicized pricing, with space for an extra reduction at the top end since it is just an mp3 with real licensing limitations due to the copy protection.

  2. About bloody time by aussie_a · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So what was the hold up? They wanted to try to secure Sony's agreement to supply Australians with their music?

    The Seven Network has said it will start distributing popular television shows such as Dancing with the Stars to the Internet and portable devices by mid-2006.

    That's good to hear (not that particular show, but that australian shows will be uploaded), but do we get American shows, and if so, when do we get them? American shows are often delayed in Australia, with some episodes merely not shown at all (or shown out of order), while entire seasons can just not be shown at all (we never got Enterprise Season 4, the best bloody season of the lot and it wasn't aired). We also have to put up with sci-fi shows being stopped mid-season for rubbish like this.

    It's better for people to just wait for the season to be released on DVD half the time (although not only do we get those delayed, we get shafted with those as well compared with the American one.

    If Apple can offer American shows to Australians at the same time as they offer it to Americans, they'll find a market ready and primed for them. Heck, if it weren't for the small screen size I'd include myself in those who would readily leap at the chance to buy the shows from Apple. Unfortunately I can just see the government and/or television companies trying to stop Apple :(

  3. A Guilty Proposal... by jason_hutchens · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's frustrating to have to wait for the iTMS to be released down here, knowing that the songs I want to buy are one (illegal) click away. The same goes for TV series and DVDs. There's a whole heap of stuff out there that us non-pirates have to patiently wait for, even though there are perfect digital copies of that same stuff floating around, ready for the picking, for free.

    A colleague of mine suggested that I (illegally) download the stuff I want, then send a cheque for the RRP direct to the artist, along with a letter explaining my predicament and suggesting that the developer hands over whatever percentage the publisher would normally take from them. The artist would thereby be compensated for one "stolen" copy of their work, and it would be up to them to decide whether or not to compensate their publisher in turn. I realised that this model could be extended to other kinds of digital content (movies, TV series, music, software), and that a lot of people out there would be happy to pay off their "guilty conscience".

    This got me thinking. How about a website (guiltyconscience.com) that accepts anonymous donations (via credit card or paypal or whatever) to allow people to pay-off the guilt they have for illegally downloading music, movies, games and so on? The website would tally up the donations received and make regular "royalty" payments direct to the artist. A user could donate $10 and spread it over 100 songs, if 10 cents a song is enough to offset their guilt. Products could be identified via their Amazon ID or similar, to allow the artist to be easily tracked down. The result would be a perfect marketplace, in that each individual defines how much they're willing to pay for something they want without knowing what others are paying. The website wouldn't promote piracy (i.e. it wouldn't help people locate and download illegal content), but it would help to offset the damage it causes. After all, aren't we constantly being told that piracy is "ripping off the artist"?

    Imagine how things would change if a good proportion of those who pirate movies, music and software actually DID pay the artist for what they "stole".