Buying songs from other countries listed in the iTunes Stores
I am trying to buy songs from the Japanese iTunes stores and it appears to me, as a Canadian I cannot buy anything outside of...North America?? Possibly due to silly licensing issue or..?
Unless you can show some form of residency you cannot buy from another country's store. The question on cross store purchasing is asked frequently so I'll just quote the most complete answer (courtesy of Dave Sawyer) from the many given:
In order to buy from any given country's iTunes Music Store, you must have either:
a) a credit card with a billing address in that country, or
b) a mailing address in that country
and a gift certificate or a prepaid card that was bought in that country.
If you cannot fulfill one of these two sets of conditions, you will not be able to purchase from any given country's iTMS.
.......this is due to restrictions placed on Apple by the record companies and other rights holders (who are often completely different from country to country and so all require their own individual negotiations and contracts), not by Apple's choice. And this also applies to all the legal download stores that carry major-label content,
not just the iTMS.
Unless you can show some form of residency you cannot buy from another country's store. The question on cross store purchasing is asked frequently so I'll just quote the most complete answer (courtesy of Dave Sawyer) from the many given:
In order to buy from any given country's iTunes Music Store, you must have either:
a) a credit card with a billing address in that country, or
b) a mailing address in that country
and a gift certificate or a prepaid card that was bought in that country.
If you cannot fulfill one of these two sets of conditions, you will not be able to purchase from any given country's iTMS.
.......this is due to restrictions placed on Apple by the record companies and other rights holders (who are often completely different from country to country and so all require their own individual negotiations and contracts), not by Apple's choice. And this also applies to all the legal download stores that carry major-label content,
not just the iTMS.
Thank you for replying (as well as thank you to Chris).
I have a chance to go to Japan for a visit early Jan 2007. Is it fair to guess that if I buy a iTune gift card from a local Japanese store and later on, buy their songs... Sounds like the gift card code are "regionalized" as well.
Is it fair to guess that if I buy a iTune gift card from a local Japanese store and later on, buy their songs... Sounds like the gift card code are "regionalized" as well. Yes. To use this, you will also have to create a new iTunes account with an address in Japan.
Click on the store icon and when it opens scroll to the bottom of the main pane where you'll find the "My Store" drop down menu. Click on the flag icon and choose your own flag from the window that appears, this will return you to the US store.
what if something is free? I have an iTMS account legible for the greek store. However I found out a free audiobook which I cannot download. It is not that it is already available to greek customers as an audiobook or as a traditional book. The restrictions apply.
Sorry to bark at the wrong tree again but I wanted to confirm this type of transaction:
1. US Resident with US address and account created in the US
2. Has credit on US store (gift cards etc)
3. Going to Australia for a period of time
4. Logged on to itunes: can I use the US store? and if so, can I FOR SURE - use my USD to buy 99cents songs from the US store while in Australia?
In other words, can I log into the US store from anywhere in the world and redeem credits off my account?
Logged on to itunes: can I use the US store? and if so, can I FOR SURE - use my USD to buy 99cents songs from the US store while in Australia? Yes.
Just mak sure you are in the US store at the bottom of the main iTMS page.
I can't picture anyone in the music industry, especially the artist, being supportive of restrictions on buying music based on where you live. Copyright & licensing laws are very different between countries.
Who's laws would rule? Where it's sold or where the artist is from?
For example, Saudi Arabia has very lax copyright laws.
The artist is not gonna get paid for any (or very little)of his work "sold" there.
Also, some companies cannot sell in one country because another country may hold the licensing rights to that music in that country.
I can understand the issue with licensing restrictions but surely it's not to hard to allow countries with comparable laws to cross purchase. Maybe even with a small surcharge to cover the extra cost.
I can ring up japan/us and order a cd to be sent to me in Australia so really not much different.
