[Annihialator]

*Yawn* - ooh look, a new version of iTunes.....UK support for the Music Store perhaps?

Whatever!!!

Is it me or are we getting a raw deal?

[iOliverC]

No, do you realize how hard it is to negotiate deals with ALL the popular records companys in the UK? And also add to the fact they are trying to cover Canada and the rest of Europe too.

[eevyl]

UK is part of Europe, btw.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by eevyl:
UK is part of Europe, btw.

That sort of depends on who you're talking to, given that the UK is actually a set of islands off of the coast of the European mainland. Some don't consider it part of Europe because of that, though generally it does get lumped in, yes.

As for UK members "getting screwed", blame the record companies. Apple would almost certainly support the UK and most other nations if it could -it's another market, after all, and one with very little barrier to entry- except for all the legal crap that has to be sorted out first. And yes, it really does take this long.

[Gul Banana]

Hey, don't forget Australia, Russia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Egypt, South Africa and close to a hundred other countries...

[iOliverC]

Originally posted by eevyl:
UK is part of Europe, btw.

I worded my sentence wrong I know the UK (where I live) is in Europe.

[Krypton]

It's not just the music store, Apple has a general disregard for all non US countries with maybe the exception of Japan where thy have a fanatical following.

For example, Kodak have written a Cocoa app to handle online prints in the UK - and Apple has still yet to accomplish anything in the same amount of time.

Yes, Apple have better things to be doing but it wouldn't hurt them once in a while to actually try.

[Spheric Harlot]

Oh God, not AGAIN.

ENOUGH WITH ALL THE "WE'RE SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO XXXX COMMERCIAL FEATURE YET!!!" THREADS!

This **** has been regurgitated to the point where everything related smells pre-digested.

iTunes Music Store WILL come - rumor has it in May '04. It is NOT up to Apple, and it is NOT their fault that this is taking so long.

-s*

[eevyl]

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:
iTunes Music Store WILL come - rumor has it in May '04. It is NOT up to Apple, and it is NOT their fault that this is taking so long.

It is not their fault? Really? Who is in charge of the iTunes Music Store then? I may have missed something

[JLL]

Originally posted by eevyl:
It is not their fault? Really? Who is in charge of the iTunes Music Store then? I may have missed something

Apple is in charge of the store - the record companies are in charge of the content, and if the Spanish EMI, Warner, Sony et al are slow to make an agreement with Apple, it's not Apple's fault.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by eevyl:
It is not their fault? Really? Who is in charge of the iTunes Music Store then? I may have missed something

Yes.

Yes, you have missed something, namely about FORTY ****IGN THREADS COVERING THIS SUBJECT EVER SINCE THE RELEASE OF ITMS!!!!

AGAIN, for those who missed it:

The problem is one of distribution agreements.

Every single album on the market has a label contract (which manages copyright and performance rights) and a distribution contract (which manages sales). These distribution contracts are set by individual countries, and differ from label to label, and in many cases, from album to album.

The US is a large and comparatively simple market.

Europe is a HUGE mess of distribution contracts that are sometimes negotiated per country, sometimes for the entire EU, sometimes for Europe excluding the UK, sometimes...etc.

Getting something as complex as an online music store running in Europe is a legal NIGHTMARE.

Additionally, the large labels, including BMG, have very little interest in Apple's platform as they've JUST LAUNCHED ONE OF THEIR OWN (i.e. owned by the labels). Why should they be totally cooperative?

It will be a miracle if Apple gets iTMS up in Europe by May.

Do everybody a favor and search this forum, the OS X forum, and the Lounge for "iTunes Music Store Europe" or some such like.

This has all been explained, argued, and discussed to death over and over and OVER AGAIN.

ENOUGH!!!

-s*

[Judge_Fire]

This thread should die, but:

Try asking your local big five EMI, Warner, Sony etc. music companies what they're doing to make the damn music store happen here.

Go to their site and send them a polite email, or two.

Tell them that you'll shop for your music online, and if it just happens to be from a different EU country, well, too bad for them.

As far as I understand, there should be no legal way of stopping a EU member citizen from shopping at any EU store. Free trade zone, mostly, it is.

I'm going to, after the holidays. Lets see what comes out of it.

J

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by Judge_Fire:
As far as I understand, there should be no legal way of stopping a EU member citizen from shopping at any EU store. Free trade zone, mostly, it is.

And THAT is part of the problem with distribution licenses.

-s*

[RooneyX]

You should still be able to buy. They should set it up that when UK customers buy tracks their credit cards are debited spending in US dollars. The dollar is so weak right now that UK customers will be getting a good deal. But perhaps that's why the companies don't want UK customers buying tracks at the moment.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by RooneyX:
You should still be able to buy. They should set it up that when UK customers buy tracks their credit cards are debited spending in US dollars. The dollar is so weak right now that UK customers will be getting a good deal. But perhaps that's why the companies don't want UK customers buying tracks at the moment.

READ my post on distribution licences.

Distribution means "sales".

These contracts are REGIONAL. Meaning an album that Apple gets a distribution license arrangement for in the United States MAY NOT be sold outside the US without explicit arrangement.

If Apple sold it anyway, without special distribution arrangement for each country, they would be in breach of contract, which would mean instant court injunction and possibly the immediate end of the iTunes Music Store.

It's NOT that difficult to comprehend.

-s*

[jasong]

Get used to it. YOU WILL NEVER GET THE iTUNES STORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The rumors are true. Apple doesn't give a s**t for you or your money.

Whine away you geographically challenged losers.

-- Jason

BTW I purchased some songs from the iTunes store just today . . . and it was awesome. I think I'll go buy some more now after reading this stupid thread.

[Tsilou B.]

I know that Apple is working to bring the Music Store to Europe. But nevertheless, people outside the U.S. definitely ARE "second-class citizens" to Apple.

In Austria (and Germany, too), iPhoto doesn't support ordering prints. Does anyone really think that EVERY SINGLE photo printing service here refuses to cooperate with Apple? Certainly not.

Apple offers NO Sherlock plugins for Austrian or German web services. No dictionaries, no news, no ebay.at, no phone book, etc.
WHY NOT??? It wouldn't be hard at all to develop them - freeware developers have developed such plugins without difficulties.

And there are already music download stores, e.g. popfile.de, which sells about 200.000 German and international hits for 99 Cents each in WMA format. You can copy them to WMA-enabled players and burn them to CD-R. How did THEY manage to get all the licences?

I don't know if people are right who think Apple doesn't work really hard at bringing the music store to Europe and doesn't look upon it as a priority, but it's surely not absurd to think so.

[voodoo]

Originally posted by Millennium:
That sort of depends on who you're talking to, given that the UK is actually a set of islands off of the coast of the European mainland. Some don't consider it part of Europe because of that, though generally it does get lumped in, yes.

As for UK members "getting screwed", blame the record companies. Apple would almost certainly support the UK and most other nations if it could -it's another market, after all, and one with very little barrier to entry- except for all the legal crap that has to be sorted out first. And yes, it really does take this long.

Culturally, geographically and historically the British Isles are an indivisible part of Europe.

On the Edge of Europe is Iceland. The UK is faaaaaaar withing the boundaries of Europe. Some insane olde british people may think otherwise but nobody listens to Thatcher any more..

[Developer]

Originally posted by voodoo:
Culturally, geographically and historically the British Isles are an indivisible part of Europe.

Especially with regard to photo printing I can not understand it. At the very least they could ship the photos/books from the US. But I'm sure Kodak has laboratories in Europe and Asia.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by Tsilou B.:
And there are already music download stores, e.g. popfile.de, which sells about 200.000 German and international hits for 99 Cents each in WMA format. You can copy them to WMA-enabled players and burn them to CD-R. How did THEY manage to get all the licences?

Popfile.de: � 2003 Universal_Marketing Group

Originally posted by me above:
Additionally, the large labels, including BMG, have very little interest in Apple's platform as they've JUST LAUNCHED ONE OF THEIR OWN (i.e. owned by the labels). Why should they be totally cooperative?

Okay, I was wrong. It's not *one* of their own, it's *several*.

I'm sure that makes the situation a lot easier for Apple.



-s*

[voodoo]

Originally posted by Developer:
Especially with regard to photo printing I can not understand it. At the very least they could ship the photos/books from the US. But I'm sure Kodak has laboratories in Europe and Asia.

I heard that Kodak had implemented the same online/postorder service here in Europe only early this year. Even so I think enough time has passed to make the iPhoto service available in Europe too!

Apple?

[Judge_Fire]

Originally posted by Tsilou B.:
In Austria (and Germany, too), iPhoto doesn't support ordering prints.

Thankfully, the free and great FotoWire is much nicer than a fixed deal with Kodak.

Just select the lab you want, drag your images directly into its window, set the settings and there you go.

J