[Diggory Laycock]

Hmm - http://www.apple.com/uk/support/itun.../policies.html

"The iTunes Music Store is provided by iTunes S.� r.l. (�iTunes�). "

I did a quick google on S.a.r.l. and it appears to be Luxembourg-related.

Wouldn't this mean that they do fall under the EU equal-pricing rules?

All sales on the iTunes Music Store are governed by English law.

If any of the terms in these Terms of Sale are not valid or legally enforceable, the other terms will not be affected.

About us: Our registered number is RCS Luxembourg B 101 120 and our registered office is at 10 rue Mathias Hardt BP 3023, L-1030 Luxembourg.

[Parky]

I also keep getting the country warning when I go to the home page of the Music Store, even though it then logs me in.

The front page has also changed, less on it now.

[Parky]

No free weekly tracks on the UK Store.

[fhoubi]

Originally posted by Powaqqatsi:
The home page of the French store is in English.

Click on the correct "country"-part of the image; to add confusion you can select the british, german and french itunes site!

[nbnz]

I can see what you're saying about the price inflation in the UK, but isn't this just market forces at work?
Are there are any cheaper online music stores in the UK? And aren't the iTMS UK prices cheaper than buying the CDs through a UK retailer (online or bricks & mortar)?
So yes it's more expensive than France or Germany, but it seems to be cheaper than anything previously available in the UK.

[Parky]

There seem to be problems with the store.

I am seeing errors in the items displayed.

For instance the 'New Releases' section on the home page, if I scroll right then only 2 more albums appear and I can't go back to the original 4 I could see either.

The free song is back, as though I'm looking at the US store, but I can't download it as it is 'being modified'

OH DEAR, problems!!

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by nbnz:
I can see what you're saying about the price inflation in the UK, but isn't this just market forces at work?
Are there are any cheaper online music stores in the UK? And aren't the iTMS UK prices cheaper than buying the CDs through a UK retailer (online or bricks & mortar)?
So yes it's more expensive than France or Germany, but it seems to be cheaper than anything previously available in the UK.

I went to my local music stores, HMV and Virgin at the weekend and looked for albums by Depeche Mode. 5 of them came in at �4.99. The other were 2 for �15.

The iTMS in the UK is NOT cheaper for the things I want if they are even on there...

[Diggory Laycock]

Hmmm,


No Underworld, only two Ash tracks.

Had a look in the Comedy section - mainly americans I'd never heard of , but a bit of Spike Milligan, Smith & Jones, Peter Sellers.

I hope they start putting more stuff that UK people are likely to buy soon.

[The Placid Casual]

The Stone Roses, Cery Matthews, stereophonics, the pogues etc are absent...

[The Placid Casual]

No manic street preachers, aphex twin...

Very little Robbie WIlliams.

Hmmm, not looking good so far

[Parky]

If you use the browse feature, you can find the artist you want like 'Steps', but there are no tracks by them available.

This looks like a poor or confused roll-out.

If you go to the New Releases section and choose the New Celine Dion album for instance, you are told it is not available. THEN WHY SHOW IT !!!!

Come on Apple, you say other online stores are rubbish, sort your own out first.

[Diggory Laycock]

Originally posted by nbnz:
I can see what you're saying about the price inflation in the UK, but isn't this just market forces at work?
Are there are any cheaper online music stores in the UK? And aren't the iTMS UK prices cheaper than buying the CDs through a UK retailer (online or bricks & mortar)?
So yes it's more expensive than France or Germany, but it seems to be cheaper than anything previously available in the UK.

No, that's not just market forces at work. In the EU consumers must not be barred from buying more cheaply from other EU countries - iTunes Music Store does this.

The Car industry recently got hammered by the EU Competition Commission for this.

[The Placid Casual]

Hardly any Blur or Pulp.

Not very UK centric if you ask me...

[Parky]

More problems !!

The only Robbie Williams album is listed twice.

The first one you can see has the same track on it twice (track 6)

If you go to the iMix area, there are non to be seen, yet they are available if you go to other pages, like the Robbie Williams area.

I think they are in a mess here !

[The Placid Casual]

NO Oasis!?

If they want to sell in the UK this is a joke!

[Developer]

We don't have a weekly free download. Thank you musik industrie!

The first time the front page was in German and pretty spartanic. Now it's in English again. Anyone knows how to switch language back? The artists pages that work are in German if they can be selected. But most can't be selected and give a "not available" error message.

[Parky]

With loads of the US stuff missing and very little UK content, I'd like them to prove the 700,000 tracks claim!

[The Placid Casual]

No albums by Ronan Keating, steps or Boyzone...

Thats is the teen girl market gone right there.

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by Parky:
With loads of the US stuff missing and very little UK content, I'd like them to prove the 700,000 tracks claim!

I agree, there are not 700,000 tracks on there of any consequence.

Even newer UK stuff like Sophie Ellis Bextor is missing.

Wow, well done Apple.

[frates]

Originally posted by Diggory Laycock:
Hmm - http://www.apple.com/uk/support/itun.../policies.html

I did a quick google on S.a.r.l. and it appears to be Luxembourg-related.

Wouldn't this mean that they do fall under the EU equal-pricing rules?

s.a.r.l. stands for "soci�t� � responsabilit� limit�e", it's a kind of business in french and luxembourgeoises laws (maybe in any latin laws countries, I'm not a expert in that particular domain), when you register your brand in front of trade regulation authorities.

[D'Espice]

YAY!!! 99ct per song, I stand corrected (am am quite amazed!)

[The Placid Casual]

Can anyone in the UK actually *access* anything on the front page?

[Parky]

Well I have had a dam good look around for some tracks I want, and could find only one.

There are loads on the US store that I want - and what makes it worse they are UK artists.

Looks like another Apple failure, just watch the sales figures.

I will stick to buying real CD's or taking copies from friends, I really wanted this to be good, but it's not.

When you can buy a real CD for �8.99 delivered to your door why bother paying �7.99 and have to go through pain to get it.

So far it's been a real pain :-

Loads of UK mainstream artists missing
Can't buy full albums, or can't buy single tracks for things I want
Expensive, some stuff is even more expensive that �7.99
Not got all the latest releases, that I can get delivered to the door the day they come out

So much for Steve's claim to be the best - sorry it's not.

A real come down after waiting for so long, this will not make a dent at all in the European online music sales - too little to late.

Ian

[Diggory Laycock]

Sigh - the more I look the less I see:

Squarepusher, Orbital, Adam Freeland, Basement Jaxx (1 remix), Elbow, Lemon Jelly, The Prodigy (only one single), Unkle.

All missing. I hope that like the US store - it will expand rapidly.

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by Parky:
Well I have had a dam good look around for some tracks I want, and could find only one.

There are loads on the US store that I want - and what makes it worse they are UK artists.

Looks like another Apple failure, just watch the sales figures.

I will stick to buying real CD's or taking copies from friends, I really wanted this to be good, but it's not.

When you can buy a real CD for �8.99 delivered to your door why bother paying �7.99 and have to go through pain to get it.

So far it's been a real pain :-

Loads of UK mainstream artists missing
Can't buy full albums, or can't buy single tracks for things I want
Expensive, some stuff is even more expensive that �7.99
Not got all the latest releases, that I can get delivered to the door the day they come out

So much for Steve's claim to be the best - sorry it's not.

A real come down after waiting for so long, this will not make a dent at all in the European online music sales - too little to late.

Ian

I agree 100%.

Too little, too late.

[Parky]

I still keep getting the Country Warning - not every time but sometimes.

I keep getting the US front page which means I can't buy everything I can see.

It's really rubbish.

[Powaqqatsi]

Originally posted by Mediaman_12:
Isn't there some French Law about this, I thought there was?

I don't know about any law, but I do know that the french aren't going to buy anything if half the site is in English because they "do not understand" English.

Anyway it seems to fixed now

[Powaqqatsi]

Originally posted by frates:
s.a.r.l. stands for "soci�t� � responsabilit� limit�e", it's a kind of business in french and luxembourgeoises laws (maybe in any latin laws countries, I'm not a expert in that particular domain), when you register your brand in front of trade regulation authorities.

Yep, it not only in Luxembourg they have SARLs, also in France. (Also in about every other European country, but they have other names for it).

[biscuit]

Interestingly, if you go into the browse mode and scroll through the artists, there are lots listed there with no actual content. For example Badly Drawn Boy, Bis, Death Cab for Cutie and so on (didn't get much further yet).

Are these artists on the US site but not UK? Or is this a sign that the independents really did pull out at the last moment?

biscuit

[Powaqqatsi]

Yeah, It's Official� iTMSEurope sucks. And I hope they get the European Commision on their heads.

[The Placid Casual]

Wow, so far I have found nothing that I would pay good money for... apart from ONE track!

My god.

[biscuit]

I think these must be the UK specific artists that didn't make it. Supergrass, The Stone Roses, The Thrills, Belle & Sabastian, Oasis are all there and a whole load more.

Maybe they'll change there minds and it'll all be there next Tuesday?

biscuit

[Parky]

Artist wise is this not poor :-

ABBA - 2 albums - 1 in Spanish
Erasure - nothing
Kate Bush - 1 Album (not the latest) a joke as the Biography talks about a different album
Blue - Voice of Reason album - no tracks in it at all
Will Young - No new album, been out since Feb
Steps - listed in the Browse window - no tracks listed
Kylie - latest 2 albums missing (Fever and Body Language)
Pet Shop Boys - 1 album listed twice and a few singles
Liberty X - nothing
David Gray - listed in Browse but no track listed
Daniel Beddingfield - nothing

The list goes on and on and on...............

[iCol]

Yup. Must say, I had a poke around the UK Store, and was dissapointed. Apple have obviously let Apple UK manage this themselves, it reaks of them.

Once again, Europeans are second class citizens in Apple's eyes.

I shan't be using the iTMS unless it improves remarkably.

Col

[typoon]

I'm not sure about how Pricing is in the EU and UK but so far it looks like Apple has once again one upped the competition. Napster is only in UK and so are a few of the other Online music stores. Apple opens up to many more countries.

Like normal Mac users we find something to complain about. First the complaints about how iTMS isn't in Europe and now it's about pricing and catalogue selection (which I'm sure will get much better).

Of course now that it is in Europe there is always something else to complain about Apple. 700,000 to start isn't a bad start if you ask me. Also remember many artists or labels may not allow/want there stuff sold online.

At least you folks across the pond finally have iTMS. Our neighbors to the north still don't.

[Diggory Laycock]

My First iMix:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/M...ylist?id=64030

There appear to be a *lot* of artists listed in the dance category who have no tracks up.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/15/itunes_launch/

[Gee4orce]

Originally posted by typoon:
700,000 to start isn't a bad start if you ask me.

True.

but there's nothing like 700,000 tracks on there. More like 700.

There is a big problem with the database at the moment. Hopefully it's just teething troubles. I can't belive the Euro store can be this far behind the US one - what's the point ?

Things have to improve, or this is dead in the water.

I wouldn't write it off just yet though - I'm pretty confident this is just a problem (it's only been a few hours). Check back in a day or two and I bet things will have improved.

[typoon]

Originally posted by Gee4orce:
True.

but there's nothing like 700,000 tracks on there. More like 700.

There is a big problem with the database at the moment. Hopefully it's just teething troubles. I can't belive the Euro store can be this far behind the US one - what's the point ?

Things have to improve, or this is dead in the water.

I wouldn't write it off just yet though - I'm pretty confident this is just a problem (it's only been a few hours). Check back in a day or two and I bet things will have improved.

I think this is just teething problems. I remember many people were havint problems with billing when the US store opened. I'm sure like the US store the selection will get better as time goes on. It's the first day for pete's sake. I'm sure with in a few weeks it'll be a decent store.

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by typoon:
I think this is just teething problems. I remember many people were havint problems with billing when the US store opened. I'm sure like the US store the selection will get better as time goes on. It's the first day for pete's sake. I'm sure with in a few weeks it'll be a decent store.

it is just too expensive in the UK.

�7.99-�8.99 for an album. I can buy the actual CD in the shops for less.

[Gee4orce]

Originally posted by The Placid Casual:
it is just too expensive in the UK.

�7.99-�8.99 for an album. I can buy the actual CD in the shops for less.

Um no you can't. Maybe if you're digging through the clearance section, or picking up the (limited) selection of CDs at you local supermarket. But not for the majority of stuff.

But most chart CDs in high street record shops are in the �11.99-�12.99 range, and �15.99 is not uncommon either.

...and last time I check they didn't deliver instantly to my house, and rip the CD for me (an no, I don't really care about the imperceptible differences in sound quality).

And besides, where can you buy a chart CD for �1 or �2 ? At the moment, I have to buy an entire CD to get just 1 or 2 tracks that I like.

[gorickey]

I'm disappointed they didn't go with Pesos...

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by Gee4orce:
Um no you can't. Maybe if you're digging through the clearance section, or picking up the (limited) selection of CDs at you local supermarket. But not for the majority of stuff.

But most chart CDs in high street record shops are in the �11.99-�12.99 range, and �15.99 is not uncommon either.

...and last time I check they didn't deliver instantly to my house, and rip the CD for me (an no, I don't really care about the imperceptible differences in sound quality).

And besides, where can you buy a chart CD for �1 or �2 ? At the moment, I have to buy an entire CD to get just 1 or 2 tracks that I like.

I was in Virgin and HMV in Chester lat week, and most of the CDs I looked at were under �10. Albeit they were not new releases, but they are cheaper at www.play.com at �8.99 delivered anyway.

I was browsing Depeche Mode, Van Morrison, The Oysterband, Lyle Lovett.

In the end I walked out with 6 CDs, the most I have bought for years.

I paid �4.99 each for 2 Depeche Mode CDs (Music for the Masses, Some Great Reward), �5.99 for the 3rd (Exciter), �7.99 for a Lyle Lovett offering and �9.99 each for the last 2.

All except 2 were cheaper than the iTMS, and you get a disk, inlay etc as well.

If you go onto www.tesco.com and look at their offering, you can see loads of current(ish) CDs for around the �7.99 mark.

If they had made the price �6.99 or �7.50 fine, but to me they have made it just the wrong side of reasonable.

When combined with the fact that there is next to nothing on there, it does not add up to a good deal in my eyes.

I just really hope that it improves quickly.

[as2]

I'm quite pleased with the price, so that's not a big issue. I was expecting it to be nearer 99p per song in the UK.

And as for hte limited amount of music on there at the moment, I think that will just come in time. I've been having a browse of the store, and in my opinion it's not that there won't be music from a lot of the artists, its just that it's not available yet.

It can't be easy to roll out something of this scale in three contries simultaneously. I think more songs will come over the next week or so, and people should just be a little patient.

Ok, we've waited long enough for iTunesMS to come to Europe, but another week isn't going to kill anyone.

I personally am also very pleased with the quality of the songs that I have purchased already.

[Mediaman_12]

Originally posted by Gee4orce:
But most chart CDs in high street record shops are in the �11.99-�12.99 range, and �15.99 is not uncommon either.

...and last time I check they didn't deliver instantly to my house, and rip the CD for me (an no, I don't really care about the imperceptible differences in sound quality).

And besides, where can you buy a chart CD for �1 or �2 ? At the moment, I have to buy an entire CD to get just 1 or 2 tracks that I like.

www.play.com 99% of the albums are �8.99 or less, including delivery, There is more selection and at the end of it you have a real CD as a backup.
This thing HAS to improve RAPIDLY or else it's dead in the water, a boched launch can easley finish something off, look at Cokes canned 'Dasani' (SP?) water launch in the UK.

[BasketofPuppies]

Originally posted by gorickey:
I'm disappointed they didn't go with Pesos...

Whose Peso? You know, a lot of Latin American nations call their currency the Peso.

[scottiB]

These sorts of server hiccups happened at the U.S. launch. Give it 24 hours.

[Powaqqatsi]

What I do not understand is the fact that they won't allow people from other European countries to buy stuff. I mean, I can get in my car drive to France or Germany or take a boat to the UK and buy a CD there. Nobody's going to stop me and it is perfectly legal. I do have a French Visa available with a French billing address but it's a bit stupid that I can't use my Belgian Visa. France, Germany and the UK ARE part of the EU Apple and so are all the other countries.

[typoon]

Also from what I understand there is a Global DNS issue that is affecting Micorsoft.com,google.com,yahoo.com and Apple.com. Possibly many others so that might also be the cause of some of the issues.

[Diggory Laycock]

Has anyone with a UK account tried buying from the French store?

(you can switch stores via a pop-up at the bottom of the store front page)

Gah! while we're talking about prices: a �15 audiobook that sells for �6 on amazon!


Interesting article on Airlines charging different prices depending on the country of purchaser:

http://www.luchtzak.be/article4544.html

[Diggory Laycock]

Originally posted by Powaqqatsi:
What I do not understand is the fact that they won't allow people from other European countries to buy stuff. I mean, I can get in my car drive to France or Germany or take a boat to the UK and buy a CD there. Nobody's going to stop me and it is perfectly legal. I do have a French Visa available with a French billing address but it's a bit stupid that I can't use my Belgian Visa. France, Germany and the UK ARE part of the EU Apple and so are all the other countries.

I've been thinking about this - I suppose the reason is that they do not have a licence to sell the tracks all over europe - they are working on this. So technically they aren't allowed to sell you a track in Belgium.

However - A physical CD will generally have been licensed for all of europe. Or if it's licensed just for one country then it's fine to sell it in that country to people who happen to be in it but don't live there.

It all depends on the licence. I should imagine that new licensing agreements for on-line systems are relevant to the location of the purchaser, rather than the vendor.

I suppose you could make an argument that you travel around Europe so much that you could be in any of the legally licensed countries at any particular point - so they should allow access to all the stores (which they do - not sure if you can actually purchase through all of the EU stores though.)