daria42 writes "ITunes Australia has finally gone live, after more than a year of waiting. Apple is holding a press conference in Sydney this morning to officially launch the service to the media, but the store has already opened. Like the Japanese ITunes store, it looks like Sony-BMG is not participating."Ads_xl=0;Ads_yl=0;Ads_xp='';Ads_yp='';Ads_xp1='';Ads_yp1='';Ads_par='';Ads_cnturl='';Ads_prf='page=article';Ads_channels='RON_P6_IMU';Ads_wrd='media,internet';Ads_kid=0;Ads_bid=0;Ads_sec=0; ITunes Australia Goes Live Log in/Create an Account | Top | 136 comments | Search Discussion Display Options Threshold: -1: 136 comments 0: 134 comments 1: 102 comments 2: 70 comments 3: 23 comments 4: 13 comments 5: 5 comments Flat Nested No Comments Threaded Oldest First Newest First Highest Scores First Oldest First (Ignore Threads) Newest First (Ignore Threads) The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Frist P5ot (Score:4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24, @10:36PM (#13868671) You know what the sad thing is? This idiot editor ScuttleMonkey picked from an obviously massive number of iTunes Australia submissions the one that doesn't write iTunes correctly.GG SCUTTLEMONKEY! Want a free Ipod? [ Reply to ThisRe:Frist P5ot by michaeldot (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:58PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.1 reply beneath your current threshold. fp (Score:2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24, @10:36PM (#13868674) nice url [ Reply to This Mod up dumbasses (Score:4, Informative) by FullCircle (643323) on Monday October 24, @10:39PM (#13868681) Modding down the only people who TRY to RTFA?The URL is WRONG [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Mod up dumbasses by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Monday October 24, @10:40PM Global store? (Score:4, Insightful) by bugbeak (711163) on Monday October 24, @10:39PM (#13868682) I'm sure there are numerous world branches of just about every major record label out there. What's stopping Apple from running a global iTunes Music Store? [ Reply to ThisRe:Global store? by akac (Score:3) Monday October 24, @10:42PMRe:Global store? by strider44 (Score:2) Monday October 24, @10:44PMRe:Global store? by Phroggy (Score:2) Monday October 24, @10:59PMRe:Global store? by child_of_mercy (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:30PMRe:Global store? by Simon Garlick (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:34PM Re:Global store? (Score:5, Informative) by Phroggy (441) * <slashdot1.phroggy@com> on Monday October 24, @10:47PM (#13868735) (http://phroggy.com/) I'm sure there are numerous world branches of just about every major record label out there. What's stopping Apple from running a global iTunes Music Store?The record companies. The songs are licensed for sale in one country only. Apple would love to be able to offer their entire catalog to anybody anywhere, but the record companies won't allow that. They have to negotiate completely separate licensing agreements for each country. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Global store? by JWW (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:35PMRe:Global store? by patio11 (Score:2) Tuesday October 25, @12:14AMRe:Global store? by SJ (Score:2) Tuesday October 25, @12:30AMRe:Global store? by Phroggy (Score:2) Tuesday October 25, @12:52AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Global store? by slavemowgli (Score:2) Monday October 24, @10:58PMRe:Global store? by jcr (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:36PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Global store? by pookemon (Score:1) Tuesday October 25, @12:14AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Super (Score:1) by Concerned Onlooker (473481) on Monday October 24, @10:39PM (#13868687) (Last Journal: Sunday August 07, @02:30PM) That's great, but I just hope it doesn't scratch easily. [ Reply to ThisRe:Super by bach37 (Score:3) Monday October 24, @10:45PMRe:Super by Concerned Onlooker (Score:2) Monday October 24, @10:51PM I tried it (Score:5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24, @10:40PM (#13868688) I tried it, but the songs were upside down. [ Reply to ThisRe:I tried it by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Monday October 24, @11:01PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.2 replies beneath your current threshold. URL Correction? (Score:1) by draxbear (735156) on Monday October 24, @10:40PM (#13868694) I had trouble with the link but this seems to do the trick:http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/iTunes_M usic_Store_comes_to_Australia/0,2000061733,3921879 8,00.htm [zdnet.com.au] [ Reply to This No Fair Use (Score:5, Informative) by ozTravman (898206) on Monday October 24, @10:41PM (#13868698) Australia has no "Fair Use Policy" laws, so far there has been no test case. This is the reason TiVO has not been introduced to Australia. It is illegal to record any TV show that is not being broadcast live to air. It is also illegal to rip cds to MP3. Apple have finally taken the chance, which is good to see. Hopefully none of the recording labels will launch a lawsuit. [ Reply to ThisRe:No Fair Use by TeraCo (Score:2) Monday October 24, @10:46PMRe:No Fair Use by ozTravman (Score:1) Monday October 24, @10:58PMRe:No Fair Use by TeraCo (Score:2) Monday October 24, @10:59PMRe:No Fair Use by biryokumaru (Score:2) Tuesday October 25, @12:29AMRe:No Fair Use by shmlco (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:33PMRe:No Fair Use by Petrushka (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:56PMRe:No Fair Use by The Amazing Fish Boy (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:05PMRe:No Fair Use by GaryPatterson (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:12PMRe:No Fair Use by ozTravman (Score:1) Monday October 24, @11:19PMRe:No Fair Use by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Monday October 24, @11:21PMRe:No Fair Use by Jeff DeMaagd (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:45PM The correct URL is... (Score:4, Informative) by Osrin (599427) * on Monday October 24, @10:41PM (#13868700) (http://osrin.com/) http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/iTunes_M usic_Store_comes_to_Australia/0,2000061733,3921879 8,00.htm [zdnet.com.au] [ Reply to ThisRe:The correct URL is... by TheShadowHawk (Score:3) Monday October 24, @10:48PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Mistakes a plenty... (Score:1, Flamebait) by Wizard Drongo (712526) on Monday October 24, @10:42PM (#13868709) Need I remark, as no doubt hordes of others will, that the URL is wrong, not to mention that for some odd reason windows users can't understand that the 'i' in Apple products is lower case; iMac, iPod, iMovie, and, in this case, iTunes. I get so damned fed-up of seeing Itunes, ITunes, itunes. Get it right. It's not hard.Mind you, neither is checking an URL. [ Reply to ThisRe:Mistakes a plenty... by NineNine (Score:3) Tuesday October 25, @12:05AM3 replies beneath your current threshold. Mysterious future. (Score:4, Interesting) by Xenex (97062) * <xenex AT opinionstick DOT com> on Monday October 24, @10:43PM (#13868711) (http://www.opinionstick.com/ | Last Journal: Thursday May 09, @08:33AM) From: xenex@opinionstick.comSubject: [DP] ITunes Australia Goes LiveDate: 25 October 2005 12:32:57 PMTo: daddypants@slashdot .orgThe link is dead.http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/iTunes_M usic_Store_comes_to_Australia/0,2000061733,3921879 8,00.htm [zdnet.com.au] seems to work though. The article comes up here just fine [zdnet.com.au]. Also, another interesting article: Apple: Our biggest competitor is P2P [zdnet.com.au]. [ Reply to This Correct URL (Score:3, Informative) by Rick Zeman (15628) on Monday October 24, @10:43PM (#13868713) http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/iTunes_M usic_Store_comes_to_Australia/0,2000061733,3921879 8,00.htm [zdnet.com.au] [ Reply to This iTunes store is helping legitimize online music (Score:5, Insightful) by mattnuzum (839319) on Monday October 24, @10:44PM (#13868717) (http://bearfruit.org/) I have a friend in India who says that he would use iTunes store if it were available, but because it isn't he simply uses peer-to-peer.As the iTunes store becomes available across the world it will help legitimize the online music industry. I think there are a lot of people in the world who don't have the option to go and buy the music they want to listen to. If they could, they would.Of course there are a lot of people who will jump at the opportunity to get something for free if they can, but no one is stopping these now, so it's not really the point. But if you give everyone the opportunity to pay for the music, many will. I think this is a good thing.Speaking of online music sales, I'm really looking forward to another price war. Come on guys, we need a legit iTunes competitor to drive down the prices! [ Reply to ThisRe:iTunes store is helping legitimize online music by pintomp3 (Score:1) Monday October 24, @10:56PMRe:iTunes store is helping legitimize online music by Jeff DeMaagd (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:39PMRe:iTunes store is helping legitimize online music by pintomp3 (Score:1) Tuesday October 25, @12:45AMRe:iTunes store is helping legitimize online music by Dechah (Score:1) Tuesday October 25, @12:37AMRe:iTunes store is helping legitimize online music by Xaria (Score:1) Tuesday October 25, @12:56AM3 replies beneath your current threshold. MacRumors coverage & personal retraction (Score:5, Informative) by The Amazing Fish Boy (863897) on Monday October 24, @10:44PM (#13868721) (http://games.slashdo...Amazing%20Fish%20Boy | Last Journal: Friday July 01, @05:34PM) Well, the ZDNet story is down (-1 Redundant), but MacRumors.com has one up [macrumors.com]. Ahead of schedule [macrumors.com], iTunes now provides an Australia link in the iTunes Music Store.Songs are being offered for $1.69 and videos for $3.39 (AUS). Rumors for iTunes Australia [macrumors.com] have been long whispered. Cited reasons for the long delay have included resistance from music labels [macrumors.com]. According to the most recent reports, Sony BMG has not [macrumors.com] signed on to the iTunes Australia launch. Official launch is expected on October 25th [macrumors.com] at a media conference in Sydney.[Image of Australia Option in iTMS] [macrumors.com]Looks like it's not variable pricing [slashdot.org] as I thought it might have been. Thus, I hereby retract my "Crikey!" [ Reply to ThisRe:MacRumors coverage & personal retraction by edgr (Score:1) Monday October 24, @11:00PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. No Sony-BMG = No Good (Score:3, Interesting) by 246o1 (914193) on Monday October 24, @10:46PM (#13868727) This lack of participation is a Very Bad Thing for anyone who likes to buy digital music easily online. As a consumer in Japan, I have been much-thwarted in my attempts to buy songs I hear on the radio or wherever. Though iTunes is very convenient, I haven't spent any money on iTunes Japan because it's so crippled. Obviously, I don't think this is good for either Apple or Sony-BMG, and hopefully they work something out eventually. [ Reply to ThisRe:No Sony-BMG = No Good by jcr (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:47PMStock in Japan by 246o1 (Score:1) Tuesday October 25, @12:03AMRe:Stock in Japan by jcr (Score:2) Tuesday October 25, @12:19AMRe:Stock in Japan by BJH (Score:1) Tuesday October 25, @12:28AMRe:No Sony-BMG = No Good by edgr (Score:1) Tuesday October 25, @12:17AMRe:No Sony-BMG = No Good by iroll (Score:1) Tuesday October 25, @12:53AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. In other news, Madonna . . . (Score:4, Funny) by weighn (578357) <weighnNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Monday October 24, @10:51PM (#13868760) (http://localhost:5800/) . . . has begun buying all her tracks from iTunes in an effort to stop others from downloading them.A spokeswoman from Warner, Maverick's parent company, declined to comment. [ Reply to This Apple, how about NZ? (Score:2, Insightful) by mdew (651926) on Monday October 24, @10:55PM (#13868780) (http://www.fanboy.co.nz/adblock/) how about Itunes service that includes NZ too? [ Reply to ThisRe:Apple, how about NZ? by Phroggy (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:19PMRe:Apple, how about NZ? by Audent (Score:3) Monday October 24, @11:35PMRe:Apple, how about NZ? by jcr (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:45PM Now iPod usage is legal! (Score:2) by ross.w (87751) <rwonderley@g m a i l.com> on Monday October 24, @11:01PM (#13868815) (Last Journal: Tuesday March 16, @09:30PM) Until now, an iPod was an expensive paperweight unless you were prepared to infringe copyright, which meant that it was a copyright infringement tool, which meant that it had the same legal status as a X-Box or PS-2 mod chip.Didn't stop them selling them though.You have to remember that in Australia there are no fair use rights. You do not have the right to make copies of content for personal use or even backups. People do, and they are unlikely to be prosecuted, but it is illegal.Attempts to get this law changed have met with howls of protest from the likes of ARIA, and it probably won't happen until Digital Restrictions Mandating becomes universal so you won't be able to do it anyway. [ Reply to ThisRe:Now iPod usage is legal! by mattjb0010 (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:07PMRe:Now iPod usage is legal! by Yakman (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:08PMRe:Now iPod usage is legal! by Phroggy (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:10PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Now iPod usage is legal! by The Amazing Fish Boy (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:21PMRe:Now iPod usage is legal! by eosp (Score:1) Monday October 24, @11:33PMRe:Now iPod usage is legal! by stuttering stan (Score:1) Monday October 24, @11:24PMRe:Now iPod usage is legal! by Celsius 233 (Score:1) Monday October 24, @11:36PMRe:Now iPod usage is legal! by skingers6894 (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:47PM It's a shame there's no Sony (Score:3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24, @11:04PM (#13868830) Cause we won't be able to download the lastest Australian Idol releases...wait did I say shame? [ Reply to This Important positions being taken here (Score:4, Interesting) by amichalo (132545) on Monday October 24, @11:05PM (#13868834) So Sony won't allow Apple to sell their tunes library, (about a quarter of the big five's recorded music), in Japan and now Australia/New Zeland. interesting. And ABC (Disney) is the only TV network willing to sell their TV Shows, Pixar only willing to debut a few (very cool) shorts.This is very important everyone. the content providers are VERY SCARED. First they were scared the medium wouldn't be popular enough to thwart file sharing, now they are scared it is SO POPULAR it will thwart their very role in distribution!I for one welcome the medium - The quality of "Lost" is totally acceptable for the price and download time, actual movies should only be provided in a hgher quality though. [ Reply to This Suicidal pricing (Score:3, Insightful) by caitsith01 (606117) on Monday October 24, @11:07PM (#13868843) (Last Journal: Thursday March 11, @06:32AM) The pricing is just ridiculous. $1.69 per track for lossy recordings that, in Australia at least, you cannot necessarily legally burn to a CD or otherwise duplicate is simply outrageous.The record companies (I don't think this is Apple's fault) need to realise that they are competing with FREE on the Internet, not with each other. They also need to realise that when they have ZERO manufacturing costs they are going to need to reduce their prices accordingly.This is a perfect example of what a sheltered and monopoly/oligopoly dominated market Australia is. Other examples are air travel (two airlines), print media (one and a half newspaper conglomerates, most major cities have no media competition) and telecommunications (one major telco). The record company execs have obvious sat down and decided that they think Australia is sheltered enough that they can continue to screw us, iTunes or no iTunes.Send them a message: do not use this service. Buy a physical CD instead - it'll work out about the same price if you shop somewhere decent anyway (10-12 tracks = $17-$21 on iTunes, which is crazy). Alternatively, if you have a UK or US bank account, use the services in those countries to encourage Apple to put more pressure on the record companies in Australia. [ Reply to ThisRe:Suicidal pricing by njfuzzy (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:28PMRe:Suicidal pricing -Check the TOS by aristotle-dude (Score:3) Monday October 24, @11:30PMRe:Suicidal pricing by askegg (Score:1) Monday October 24, @11:38PMRe:Suicidal pricing by Thrudheim (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:43PMRe:Suicidal pricing by AussieVamp2 (Score:1) Monday October 24, @11:44PMRe:Suicidal pricing by caitsith01 (Score:2) Tuesday October 25, @12:58AMRe:Suicidal pricing by AussieVamp2 (Score:1) Monday October 24, @11:48PMRe:Suicidal pricing by skingers6894 (Score:2) Monday October 24, @11:53PMRe:Suicidal pricing by GaryPatterson (Score:2) Tuesday October 25, @12:58AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. New Zealanders Feel Left Out... (Score:1, Interesting) by Traegorn (856071) on Monday October 24, @11:15PM (#13868884) (http://www.trhonline.com/ | Last Journal: Thursday February 17, @06:18PM) New Zealanders who feel left out are apparently lying to Apple and getting songs anyway [computerworld.co.nz]... [ Reply to ThisRe:New Zealanders Feel Left Out... by martinX (Score:2) Tuesday October 25, @12:32AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Songs at AU$1.69? (Score:2) by Trejkaz (615352) on Monday October 24, @11:33PM (#13868979) (http://trypticon.org/) And here I thought that US$1.00 was more like AU$1.33. [ Reply to ThisRe:Songs at AU$1.69? by minorproblem (Score:1) Monday October 24, @11:44PMRe:Songs at AU$1.69? by Trejkaz (Score:2) Tuesday October 25, @12:04AMRe:Songs at AU$1.69? by dilby (Score:1) Monday October 24, @11:49PMRe:Songs at AU$1.69? by noisymime (Score:1) Tuesday October 25, @12:03AMAdd tax (10%) + Frenchs Forest staff BBQ margin by michaeldot (Score:2) Tuesday October 25, @12:07AMRe:Add tax (10%) + Frenchs Forest staff BBQ margin by AussieVamp2 (Score:1) Tuesday October 25, @12:43AM I want to DL Oz music! (Score:2) by somethinghollow (530478) on Tuesday October 25, @12:04AM (#13869129) (http://robertdot.org/ | Last Journal: Friday January 23, @07:02PM) I've been waiting a LONG time for this. I want to download some songs from some Oz artists (that I can currently only buy from overseas online) but not all of them are available in the iTunes US and I can't buy them from iTunes Australia. Acts in and around Oz like Little Birdy, Youth Group, Scribe, Clare Bowditch, Eskimo Joe, Gyroscope, Grinspoon, and more aren't available to the US yet. Granted, I think they may still be adding songs, which means they probably just haven't added them to the US store. But I wish they'd upload the damn things before they tell us about them... [ Reply to ThisRe:I want to DL Oz music! by AussieVamp2 (Score:1) Tuesday October 25, @12:20AMRe:I want to DL Oz music! by somethinghollow (Score:2) Tuesday October 25, @12:37AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. interview CD Baby behind-the-scenes iTunes AU (Score:2) by linuxbaby (124641) * on Tuesday October 25, @12:23AM (#13869219) (http://www.cdbaby.com/) My company is one of the main providers of music to iTunes worldwide.Knowing that iTunes Australia was launching, I did an interview with AppleTalk Australia [appletalk.com.au] that tells a little bit more behind-the-scenes stuff, in case you're interested.I'm glad this is finally up-and-running. Australia has a great independent music scene (as I spoke more about in previous Slashdot comment [slashdot.org]). [ Reply to This Re:True fans don't rip off their artists. (Score:4, Funny) by weighn (578357) <weighnNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Monday October 24, @10:57PM (#13868787) (http://localhost:5800/) True fans don't rip off their artists.That's right, Jim. We leave that up to Sony.Badda-ching!! I got more, I got more... [ Reply to This | Parent Re:True fans don't rip off their artists. (Score:1) by heinousjay (683506) on Monday October 24, @11:31PM (#13868970) (Last Journal: Tuesday October 18, @09:01PM) As recording artist "Tool" notedI love "Tool." He's hot. [ Reply to This | Parent Re:True fans don't rip off their artists. (Score:1) by Anarchitect_in_oz (771448) on Monday October 24, @11:54PM (#13869084) the dude from Tool also wrote"i sold my sole to make a record""then you brought one"Yes true fans don't ripe off the band.Which is why true fans support CDBaby, iTunes, and the little independant Record store so the next gen of Artists can be free of the crude we know today.Some Day down the track we will have the market driven by the culture not a culture driven by marketing like we have now.That day will come, the record compaines will disappear. The fans don't need them anymore, the artists don't need them anymore.The only ones left are the techinical support people but i'm sure they will learn how to break free soon enough. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:True fans don't rip off their artists. by laughingcoyote (Score:2) Tuesday October 25, @12:19AM Re:itunes video (Score:2)