iTunes Australia Music Store — Finally

Well by now most people know that I'm angry that Sony BMG aren't on board. This could be good news, from MacRumors/Sydney Morning Herald:

SMH.com.au reports that Sony-BMG and Apple may be coming to an agreement to supply Sony-BMG's music on the new Australian iTunes Music Store.

The iTunes Music Store for Australia was launched on Tuesday, October 25th. But notably absent was the music from Sony-BMG. According to previous reports, pricing disputes had led to the long delays in the launch of the Australian music store.

According to this new article, negotiations are coming to a close:
"There's a couple of points left to finalise, the negotiations are going really well and we hope that they will be all settled soon and we'll be on track too"

Pricing remains a contentious issue between Apple and the Music Industry. Previous reports have noted the ongoing difference of opinion. The music industry has been pushing for a tiered pricing system while Apple has insisted on a single price point for all songs. This will be an ongoing issue as Apple's current agreements with the US music labels ends in early 2006.
 
Of course, these good news stories are soured by pricing and comments like this:

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Bloody hell! Teeny boppers... what have they done? Some of the music that idol is churning out is fowl.


Also I know of a place which is legal, allows you to download internationally, supports AAC, and is about 75% cheaper than iTunes (10c - 27c per track). Not to mention there are millions of songs on there that you can't find in any music shop/store. Stuff that i liked when i was a teeny bopper including Sony BMG. It's not as good as iTunes but at least i can find stuff i want for now, while iTunes is still growing.


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This might seem like a stupid question, but what is the point of having all those prepaid iTunes cards available at Australia's biggest supermarkets, service stations and department stores ... if you still need to use a credit card to register an account?

It seems awfully redundant. I'm picturing lots of teenagers trying to convince parents to put their credit card details into a computer program on the promise that they'll never actually be charged for anything. All this when the customer has already paid up-front for their music.

Am I mistaken on this, or is this a case where Apple haven't thought through the process that the end-user follows?
 
The terms and conditions on the site say that you only need to register with a credit card if you exceed the value of the prepaid cards.
 
Okay, things in the iTMS Australian store have gone from bad to worse.

I've seen some albums now listed for $21.99, which is about.....a dollar cheaper than buying an album from a record store.

I know the iTMS American store has albums for $9.99 — how do these prices compare with the prices at record stores for albums?

I mean, 1 dollar difference is ridiculous. It's either download an entire album, or go out and buy the real thing.

At those prices, I'll do neither. Especially in teenagers, at these prices the iTMS isn't headed anywhere.
 
Are you one of those people that like all the songs on an album? Then you are very lucky. Usually most consumors only like 2 to 4 songs that an artist brings out on an album. this is why iTMS is so good, you can create your own greates hits compilations!

But $21.99 is just plain wrong! I think that it may have somthing to do with taxation and/or government fees, etc. Remember us Australians are one of, and 'probably' now the most heavily taxed nation/s in the world.


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Well it's interesting, if ya look at Madonna's new released album, there are two copies that say $20.99 and another two copies that say $16.99

The difference is, the $20.99 has the list of individual songs you can buy for $1.69 a song and includes the video if you buy the lot, which would make the video closer to an extra $4 aprox, but oh, you get the digital booklet too

The $16.99 is for entire album only
 
Quicksilver said:
Bloody hell! Teeny boppers... what have they done? Some of the music that idol is churning out is fowl.


Also I know of a place which is legal, allows you to download internationally, supports AAC, and is about 75% cheaper than iTunes (10c - 27c per track). Not to mention there are millions of songs on there that you can't find in any music shop/store. Stuff that i liked when i was a teeny bopper including Sony BMG. It's not as good as iTunes but at least i can find stuff i want for now, while iTunes is still growing.


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Click to expand...


What site? Not Bigpond? They have cheap unknown songs you can buy from a service station for the same price and then other songs are $1.84, only chosen songs are under $1, songs people don't want.... the navigation is terrible, ITMS is great in navigation then 1 click buy download direct to iTunes within (connection spped pending) a moment, even the video's are quite prompt in downloading
 
so everyone satisfied now? No feed back from my post

Hey Itunes MusicStore is the best thing ever that's hit my computer, I can't beleive how easy it is to choose a song and download it so instant. I think the prices are reasonable and when Sony actually sign up, the better.

Try and find a better deal, iTunes has to work to make the site up to date, so Apple is paying someone a wage to do that, they pay for the web space and bandwidth to make downloads quicker, so i guess $1.69 a song is great value, albums at $16,99, why complain?

You can't walk into Myers or Kmart and ask for one song that cheap, you get a single for $4 with rap versions as extra's, but if ya want that mix it through Garageband ya self LOL

So I put thumbs up to ITMS :D
 
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