Buying songs from other countries listed in the iTunes Stores

Hello,

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.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=182994253&s=14344 1

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.

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.

So, why are international store displayed in itunes if we can't shop there? Seems silly to me to even lead us down that road.

Because some people are able to purchase songs from international stores. The other stores are displayed for them.

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?

Thanks

If the gift card is really the only solution does anyone know where I can purchase foreign Itunes cards in the US?

Could we set up an itunes group on ebay and people in other countries could run down to a store purchase a card and throw it in the mail?

I'm still a little puzzled about why mac can't get permission to sell a specific artist/song/album through all of its stores.

I can't picture anyone in the music industry, especially the artist, being supportive of restrictions on buying music based on where you live.

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.

hi I wanted to download the halo 3 trailer released on iTunes.
But i can't because it isnt on the australian itunes site... In fact there are no video game soundtracks on the australian itunes. will it be available anytime soon for us aussies?

What about TV Shows? Not a single show available for the Canadian store yet almost every American network is available up here. i.e. I received The Office season 2 DVD for Xmas yet can't download it from iTunes (not that I wanted to since I already have it on DVD, but I wanted to test it since Season 3 was unaccessible as well)

Can anyone explain this? Will it be available on the Canadian store anytime soon?

It's mind-boggling...



G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Can anyone explain this?
No.

Will it be available on the Canadian store anytime soon?
No idea. Steve Jobs said most stuff would be avalaible internationally sometime in 2007. That is all that has been said.

Apple should be able to sell foreign iTunes cards in the US, as there is a considerable amount of music available in the Australian and especially the UK iTunes stores that is NOT available on US iTunes, and considering the similar laws in force in all those countries it should not be a problem. Who is being hurt by someone in the US buying music from UK or Aussie iTunes, as the labels still get royalties?