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ITunes Australia Goes Live
daria42 writes "ITunes Australia has finally gone live, after more than a year of waiting. Apple is holding a press conference in Sydney this morning to officially launch the service to the media, but the store has already opened. Like the Japanese ITunes store, it looks like Sony-BMG is not participating."
You know what the sad thing is? This idiot editor ScuttleMonkey picked from an obviously massive number of iTunes Australia submissions the one that doesn't write iTunes correctly.
GG SCUTTLEMONKEY! Want a free Ipod?
nice url
Modding down the only people who TRY to RTFA?
The URL is WRONG
If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison
I'm sure there are numerous world branches of just about every major record label out there. What's stopping Apple from running a global iTunes Music Store?
That's great, but I just hope it doesn't scratch easily.
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
I tried it, but the songs were upside down.
I had trouble with the link but this seems to do the trick: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/iTunes_M usic_Store_comes_to_Australia/0,2000061733,3921879 8,00.htm
--- I've completed diagnosis of your problem and can classify it as a YOYO...You're On Your Own
Australia has no "Fair Use Policy" laws, so far there has been no test case. This is the reason TiVO has not been introduced to Australia. It is illegal to record any TV show that is not being broadcast live to air. It is also illegal to rip cds to MP3. Apple have finally taken the chance, which is good to see. Hopefully none of the recording labels will launch a lawsuit.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/iTunes_M usic_Store_comes_to_Australia/0,2000061733,3921879 8,00.htm
Need I remark, as no doubt hordes of others will, that the URL is wrong, not to mention that for some odd reason windows users can't understand that the 'i' in Apple products is lower case; iMac, iPod, iMovie, and, in this case, iTunes. I get so damned fed-up of seeing Itunes, ITunes, itunes. Get it right. It's not hard. Mind you, neither is checking an URL.
The truth shall always be free: Boris Floricic is Tron.
The article comes up here just fine. Also, another interesting article: Apple: Our biggest competitor is P2P.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/iTunes_M usic_Store_comes_to_Australia/0,2000061733,3921879 8,00.htm
I have a friend in India who says that he would use iTunes store if it were available, but because it isn't he simply uses peer-to-peer.
As the iTunes store becomes available across the world it will help legitimize the online music industry. I think there are a lot of people in the world who don't have the option to go and buy the music they want to listen to. If they could, they would.
Of course there are a lot of people who will jump at the opportunity to get something for free if they can, but no one is stopping these now, so it's not really the point. But if you give everyone the opportunity to pay for the music, many will. I think this is a good thing.
Speaking of online music sales, I'm really looking forward to another price war. Come on guys, we need a legit iTunes competitor to drive down the prices!
Looks like it's not variable pricing as I thought it might have been. Thus, I hereby retract my "Crikey!"
This lack of participation is a Very Bad Thing for anyone who likes to buy digital music easily online. As a consumer in Japan, I have been much-thwarted in my attempts to buy songs I hear on the radio or wherever. Though iTunes is very convenient, I haven't spent any money on iTunes Japan because it's so crippled. Obviously, I don't think this is good for either Apple or Sony-BMG, and hopefully they work something out eventually.
Although the moon is smaller than the earth, it is farther away.
A spokeswoman from Warner, Maverick's parent company, declined to comment.
Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
how about Itunes service that includes NZ too?
http://www.fanboy.co.nz/adblock/
That's right, Jim. We leave that up to Sony.
Badda-ching!! I got more, I got more...
Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
Until now, an iPod was an expensive paperweight unless you were prepared to infringe copyright, which meant that it was a copyright infringement tool, which meant that it had the same legal status as a X-Box or PS-2 mod chip.
Didn't stop them selling them though.
You have to remember that in Australia there are no fair use rights. You do not have the right to make copies of content for personal use or even backups. People do, and they are unlikely to be prosecuted, but it is illegal.
Attempts to get this law changed have met with howls of protest from the likes of ARIA, and it probably won't happen until Digital Restrictions Mandating becomes universal so you won't be able to do it anyway.
If my call is important, why am I talking to a recording?
Cause we won't be able to download the lastest Australian Idol releases...wait did I say shame?
We're having a party here at Taylor's Sq Apple Store to celebrate and it's spilled out onto the street (as it does 'round here). There is much rejoicing in the streets! (so to speak) :D
So Sony won't allow Apple to sell their tunes library, (about a quarter of the big five's recorded music), in Japan and now Australia/New Zeland. interesting. And ABC (Disney) is the only TV network willing to sell their TV Shows, Pixar only willing to debut a few (very cool) shorts.
This is very important everyone. the content providers are VERY SCARED. First they were scared the medium wouldn't be popular enough to thwart file sharing, now they are scared it is SO POPULAR it will thwart their very role in distribution!
I for one welcome the medium - The quality of "Lost" is totally acceptable for the price and download time, actual movies should only be provided in a hgher quality though.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
The pricing is just ridiculous. $1.69 per track for lossy recordings that, in Australia at least, you cannot necessarily legally burn to a CD or otherwise duplicate is simply outrageous.
The record companies (I don't think this is Apple's fault) need to realise that they are competing with FREE on the Internet, not with each other. They also need to realise that when they have ZERO manufacturing costs they are going to need to reduce their prices accordingly.
This is a perfect example of what a sheltered and monopoly/oligopoly dominated market Australia is. Other examples are air travel (two airlines), print media (one and a half newspaper conglomerates, most major cities have no media competition) and telecommunications (one major telco). The record company execs have obvious sat down and decided that they think Australia is sheltered enough that they can continue to screw us, iTunes or no iTunes.
Send them a message: do not use this service. Buy a physical CD instead - it'll work out about the same price if you shop somewhere decent anyway (10-12 tracks = $17-$21 on iTunes, which is crazy). Alternatively, if you have a UK or US bank account, use the services in those countries to encourage Apple to put more pressure on the record companies in Australia.
Read Pynchon.
link works fine for me
Incredible news. Will people ever realize that iTunes sucks?
I'd rather pay for 8 tracks before iTunes 128 bkpb.
New Zealanders who feel left out are apparently lying to Apple and getting songs anyway...
TRHOnline - Staggering Towards Brilliance
When they release Lost episodes, will they be same eps from the US? or delayed?
I agree with most of the rest of your post but if you really want to send them a message, stop buying music all together and send in letters declaring your boycott. Buying CD's is not going to send them any sort of message other than you like their current business practices in general.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
As recording artist "Tool" noted
I love "Tool." He's hot.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
And here I thought that US$1.00 was more like AU$1.33.
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
Can we get episodes of Lost through this? Are they crappy Ipod Video resolution or hdtv or what? (yeah i'm on thepiratebay but they deserve a few bucks)
the dude from Tool also wrote
"i sold my sole to make a record"
"then you brought one"
Yes true fans don't ripe off the band.
Which is why true fans support CDBaby, iTunes, and the little independant Record store so the next gen of Artists can be free of the crude we know today.
Some Day down the track we will have the market driven by the culture not a culture driven by marketing like we have now.
That day will come, the record compaines will disappear. The fans don't need them anymore, the artists don't need them anymore.
The only ones left are the techinical support people but i'm sure they will learn how to break free soon enough.
"Call us when the New age is old enough to drink" Beck
$1.69* 0.7482 (exchange rate) = 1.2645 (4dp) we pay 26% more than what Americans do for each song.
Most shareholder meetings in Japan are traditionally held at the same time (late June), so as to dilute the power of the shareholders who shares in multpile companies. Of course, I don't have the resources to buy the amount of stock it would take to make Sony responsive to my concerns. While corporations here are not responsive to shareholders, in comparison to America, anyway, they do often respond well to consumer pressure. Though the music industry has been an exception, I have faith they will come around someday.
Although the moon is smaller than the earth, it is farther away.
I've been waiting a LONG time for this. I want to download some songs from some Oz artists (that I can currently only buy from overseas online) but not all of them are available in the iTunes US and I can't buy them from iTunes Australia. Acts in and around Oz like Little Birdy, Youth Group, Scribe, Clare Bowditch, Eskimo Joe, Gyroscope, Grinspoon, and more aren't available to the US yet. Granted, I think they may still be adding songs, which means they probably just haven't added them to the US store. But I wish they'd upload the damn things before they tell us about them...
Yes, it is, but you've got to add tax (GST = 10%) too which brings it to about $1.45.
I think $1.50 per song would have been a nicer price point, but I suppose they are hedging in case the Aussie dollar tanks again if/when the economy takes a hit from rising inflation - it's harder to go up once the price is set.
There's also the overhead of running a high bandwidth store in a backward country (whose "leading" technology company, Telstra can't even manage a shareholder meeting webcast without screwing up).
Still, I bought 20 songs this morning. Though I'm pissed I can't buy Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell as a single song only. Grumble...
the dude from Tool also wrote "i sold my sole to make a record" "then you brought one"
"Young man, when I was a boy, we had to sell off the bottoms of our shoes to make records, goddammit! And now they're letting any old idiot do it for the price of their soul!"
To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
Knowing that iTunes Australia was launching, I did an interview with AppleTalk Australia that tells a little bit more behind-the-scenes stuff, in case you're interested.
I'm glad this is finally up-and-running. Australia has a great independent music scene (as I spoke more about in previous Slashdot comment).
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/iTunes_M usic_Store_comes_to_Australia/0,2000061733,3921879 8,00.htm
Now mod me the fuck up.
Which country is likely to be next? South Korea, perhaps?
I wouldn't be surprised if Apple were to launch an "iTMS Mauritius" or some other unexpected country, tho.
My other account has mod points.
Ok, point taken about the licensing, but nevertheless it is somewhat restrictive and there are parts of the Copyright Act that cannot be waived by license (e.g. anti-circumvention technology provisions). And fair use, of course, is not a feature.
Irrespective my main issue is with the pricing of what amounts to a small amount of data. Their costs now amount to the cost of recording and the cost of transferring 3-5MB per song, plus some costs for marketing, yet the price is arguably higher than ever.
Read Pynchon.
No Elvis, no Beatles, no Clash (a lot of people might not care about that last one, but last time I checked there were a lot of fans of the first two).
It's Sony's loss. iTunes is a popular proven distrobution method, it seems Sony misses that or this is their way of whining about songs being "only" $0.99. They're already getting 100% of the profits from iTunes, Apple is getting a few cents for the operating costs of hosting and transfering the files. Oh, that's right, they want their 100% profit to be higher, maybe songs for $2.49
How about why is a 3-4min song 99c while 44min of audio and video only $1.99?
yes, I know the tv episode was origionally aired with commercials. If 44min of audio and video is $2 then a song 1/11 as long and no video should be at most 1/22 of that.
F7 doesn't work, ignore spelling and grammar
- I Want to Know What Love Is: Foreigner
- Nights In White Satin: The Moody Blues
- Reckless (Don't Be So...): Australian Crawl
- Original Sin: INXS
- Nature Boy: Nat King Cole
- If: Bread
- Exodus: Ferrante and Teicher
- Day-O (The Banana Boat Song): Harry Belafonte
- With a Little Help from My Friends: Joe Cocker
- Memory: Debbie Byrne
for $A16.90 the lot? To me that's a lot better value that I could otherwise get without leaving my chair, albeit with maybe a 50% hit rate amongst the tracks I went looking for and plenty left on my priority list to spend a similar amount on in future months.(The prospect of iTMS was the only reason I relented and got a credit card a couple of years ago, so I could even make an argument that it has cost me over $A1,000 per track in the interim, but that is another story.)
I'm certainly glad its finally here and can only hope the back catalogue improves further with time.
And maybe the claim that iTMS Australia has been launched with "over a million tracks" should be taken with a grain of salt as there were two or more almost identical versions offered of most of the tracks I searched for, reflecting their repackaging in various collections. That most likely also reduces the value of any popularity stats iTMS might provide.
-- Our systemic servants do not good masters make.
The Aussie store currently doesn't have the Just For You feature, but if you go to the home page and switch to the US store using the popup menu at the bottom, it appears.
(You have to switch back if you want to buy a song later.)
Don't bother with ITMS.au, it's slower than molasses. In fact it's so slow it makes dial up look positively snappy. I think they have employees that read the incoming HTTP requests out, and someone writes it down, walks over to the library catalogue of songs they have... works out the search results, writes it down, hands it back to the data entry employee (there is just one, who is really busy) who then types up the results in HTML and sends it back out the 300 baud modem to me. It is faster to find and download a song over p2p than it is to see if ITMS even has the song.
And no PayPal, despite there being a PayPal.com.au site. *sigh*
I have been downloading from iTunes to Australia for well over a year, because I have a UK bank account as well as an Australian one. The choice from the UK store is probably better than the Australian offering at the moment anyway. Apple doesn't care where your IP address is from, they only check that your credit card is registered in the territory that the music store is located in. This seems to work around the regional disaster that is the record industry quite neatly. In fact, I'd say it makes a mockery of the whole regional distribution model, and really it's about time that the record industry realised that it needs to wake up and smell the coffee as far as globalisation is concerned. As for any tracks I still can't get legally? Well, there's always Acquisition...
If you're going to troll, at least get your acronyms straight.
I agree, it appears Sony has decided to opt out of the store from now on.
But as to the TV/movie providers, give it some time.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
There are a few different reasons behind the absence of TiVo in Australia. One is that if they can't make a profit in the UK, they're unlikely to here. Another is that the Australian courts have deemed raw TV guide data to be IP (Telstra vs Desktop Marketing), so you can't produce one without the networks' permission. There's no way in hell they'll give that to a PVR manufacturer, and without TV guide data, PVRs aren't so useful.
The same issue makes it a little harder to set up something like MythTV; you need to use slightly dodgy open/volunteer TV guide data or (technically) break the law with a Perl script that scrapes it from the networks' web sites.
I should buy some cement.
Not sure if that's the particular instance of rtbl'ing that the grandparent is referring to, but (s)he's almost certainly refering to the slashcod $rtbl flag.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.Read more of this story at Slashdot.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Thank you Australia!!!!
$114.99 AUD for "Harry Potter and the order of the pheonix"? I bought the big hardback version of the book for $24 AUD at K-Mart. Oh and only $434 AUD for the whole set! I understand that they are long files, and audiobook on cassette or cd is a big box of media, but WE have to pay for the bandwidth to download these big files, and in Australia we have small download limits because of our monopolised Communications Industry. Some plans here have .14c per MB downloads.
I predict that in 10 years or less, iTunes will achieve an almost total lock on digital content and we will all be bitching about Apple as opposed to Microsoft.
it will help legitimize the online music industry
It will help legitimize DRM! We don't need more extortion schemes, we need Freedom!
Do not support this. It's bad, even when Apple does it, mmkay? Slippery slopes and all that...
That's more interesting. How come otherwise sane and smart people suddenly swallows this crap just because it's packaged in a shiny box? It's a slippery slope here people, and if you accept this, then further restrictions will follow.
Freedom to use your legal music anyway you wish to is a must! Boycott DRM!
I see the error of my ways oh noble coyote.
Given that it is probably quickier to google the lyrics to cut and pasta, than to try and remember them correct spelling and all.
The thought for the moment as i read your reply.
"Wasting time is an important part of living."
"Call us when the New age is old enough to drink" Beck
"Wasting time is an important part of living."
Well, given that both our user ID's are in the 700000 range, they're not by any means the highest here, and not everyone registers, I'd say that point is well proven. Show me anyone that hasn't wasted a bit of time here or there and I'll show you someone that was stillborn.
I'm not a spelling nazi, and don't normally care, and really don't even here, but the thought of an older version of Maynard spitting out that line at an up-and-comer crossed my mind, and I just had to post it. No offense was intended, although you'd not be the first not to like my humor. Still, seeing one of my favorite Tool songs posted here and actually being on topic caught my attention.
To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
... otherwise I'd already have bought the entire collection of Nat King Cole.
But they lose. I'll be buying it on CD, if I can find someone who stocks it tomorrow. Otherwise my urge to buy his collection will dissipate in about three days...
That's about it.
So, I can buy some songs, as long as they are popular, but not too popular and recent and local and have the letter B in the title and {etc} and as long as I want to pay more than geting a real CD.
Yes.... definitely a LOL.
EMail: 0110001101100010010000000110001101110010 0110000101111010011011100110000101110010 0010111001100011011011110110
Hey I'm guilty as charged for time wasted here. ;-))
(although more of it should be used proof-reading
I thought your humour was good, much the same image came to mind.
Certainly no offence was taken for the novel correction.
It's one of Favourite songs. It comes to mind anytime there is discussion of record companies.
Been itching for and chance to use it as a quote.
"Call us when the New age is old enough to drink" Beck
Australia does not have Fair Use. What we have is Fair Dealing. Read the above link for all the details, but in summary, Fair Dealing sets out specific cases where copying is allowed:
How do any of the above allow you to burn a copy of a CD?
Crowded House - Recurring Dream - the Very Best Of
Is it my imagination, or is the music from the iTunes Store a little flat with poor channel separation?
Since I own an iRiver H340, I'm just going to keep buying cheap CD's from K-Mart, Target and Big-W then LAME them, given that I can't tell the difference between my LAME MP3's, my iRiver will play them and I will always have a raw backup to fall back on.
War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?