purchasing songs from iTunes: USA vs. Japan

Question

Level 1

8 points

purchasing songs from iTunes: USA vs. Japan

I live in California and was one of the people who purchased Japanese iTunes gift cards online in order to buy Japanese songs off of the Japanese version of iTunes.

I have not done this recently, but desired to do so again to get some more music for my new iPhone, only to be presented with a pop up announcing a new end user licensed agreement.

An excerpt..
"Japan sales only

Purchases from the iTunes Store are available to you only in Japan and are not available in any other location. You agree no to use or attempt to use service from outside of the available territory. iTunes may use technologies to verify such compliance."

That statement in the EULA is very straight forward and blunt, a stop sign right in your face.

But I still want clarification on it, I have not yet gone past the prompt, but does that apply to those who buy the Japanese iTunes gift cards with in the states?

I understand music licenses and such.. being a anime/jpop/jrock nut and often being frustrated when there is a particular show or music you want to acquire, and to acquire it legally, only to be stopped over and over again by "this is not yet licensed for sale in your country" and such..

I was hoping that iTunes would provide a legal venue for an American to browse and purchase Japanese media, songs that I already want and others that I have not yet experienced yet. Browsing all of those Japanese artists is really neat! Using the preview song feature is really great, you can listen to a bands song you have never heard of before! And some of those Japanese bands may never be licensed or sold in disc form inside the United States. 😟

Thanks for any clarification that any one could provide.
Pingchan1

ASUS Netbook, Windows XP Pro

Posted on Jul 10, 2009 2:37 PM

Reply

Answer 1

varjak paw

Level 10

182,656 points

Jul 10, 2009 2:45 PM in response to Pingchan1

does that apply to those who buy the Japanese iTunes gift cards with in the states?

I don't know how much more clear it could be but yes, the iTunes Store Terms of Service prohibit using any country's iTunes Store from outside that country, regardless of what purchasing method you might otherwise be able to use. Sad but true; you are not allowed to use the Japan iTunes Store from the US.

It's unfortunate that these restrictions are in place, but it's due, as you say, to the licensing issues and multiple ownership of the distribution rights in the various countries. Unless and until all the license holders get together and work out an arrangement, country restrictions will remain.

Reply

Answer 2

Pingchan1 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 10, 2009 3:29 PM in response to varjak paw

Thank you for the prompt reply, the EULA is indeed very clear, but I still was hoping that some how, it would allow me to use the iTunes Japan. 😟

If I stick to buying Japanese music CDs from sources other than iTunes.. I pretty much have to know ahead of time I want that CD. The iTunes format allows you to sample a music 'CD' ahead of time, allowing you to sample and buy something you did not listen to before hand...

Thank you for the help though.
Pingchan1

Reply

Answer 3

Jul 23, 2009 10:45 AM in response to Pingchan1

Honestly, things like this are one of the major reasons people no longer bother with legally obtaining anything and just go to the myriad pirate options out there. They try, find the final screen where it detects you are in the wrong region, and say, okay then, I'll just fire up certain other common pieces of software, if you get my drift.

That said, my current region restricting peeve has to do with an application, not songs. It's a collection of reference books which I already own in paper form, and already own on a separate electronic device, but it would be convenient to have them on my iPhone and not carry two devices around. Alas, there's that EULA agreement. The app in question is pretty much something only expats are likely to want, so odds are the company just doesn't BOTHER to put it in the US store.

I will, of course, investigate options.

Reply

Answer 4

Uaru

Level 1

0 points

Oct 6, 2009 8:24 PM in response to MaikoCovington

Exactly. This is not only a problem of iTunes, but the general internet distribution in general. More and more services are available in a geographically restricted way. Mostly, it is the problem of the rest of the world accessing the American resources, but as you can see, not only.

And as the electronic distribution of goods is going to expand, actually less and less culture is going to be available to the customers. The network, once full of promise to bring people all over the world together, for a couple of years has been becoming the obstacle.

It is not something to be treated lightly. This is something fundamental for the sense of justice.

And how can the copyright owners expect people to wait years until they put something in the legal sale in the country, beats me. But it could be, those people have no brains, as they keep proving.

Reply