Apple launches iTunes Music Store Australia

They've faked us out on this one a couple of times before already (supposedly because of one major record label's refusal to license its catalog), but Apple finally officially rolled out the Australian version of iTunes Music Store at a press conference in Sydney. Music downloads will set you back $1.69 AUD, or about $1.20 US, with videos costing $3.39 AUD and most albums selling for $16.99.


[Thanks to everyone who sent this one in]

[ipodman715 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

About time for those Aussies :P

[Peter @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

does it work in New Zealand? Still won't get me of www.allofmp3.com but would still be good :)

[jennifer kind @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

$1.20!! That's ridiculous!!

[Liam Wicks @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I'm Australian, with (god forbid) an iPod. I've been waiting for this release for a long time, but I haven't decided whether to actually buy anything or not...depending on the level of DRM crap. Ah, well, at least we have one now. It's not like no one down here has an iPod, they're exceedingly popular (obviously) so it's interesting that Apple has taken so very very long....

[Jared Keller @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Liam....Apple has nothing against Australia , they would have launched years ago if they could...why not make even more money....its the record labels that are scared of iTunes success that don't want to sign the contracts (even though they take in 70-80 percent of the sales). Blame greedy record companies, not Apple

[Guillermo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Apple, what about latin america? Did you forget we exist?

[Rob Syme @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I'm an Aussie, and was under the impression that our draconian copyright legislation prohibited us moving our content from, say, physical disk to mp3 (we seem own the disk, not how we play the music). I assumed it was still illegal the other way 'round, yet apple's site seems to openly advertise the burning features of iTunes. Any Australian copyright experts in the house?

[Alex G @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

My question is.. why are the aussie prices so much more then americas..... the CD costs over here have dropped to almost the same price as theres.. yet itunes prices are 20 percent higher... would someone elighten me ?

[jassorno @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Good question, Rob. I would like the answer to that, too.

[jassorno @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Good question, Rob. I would like the answer to that, too.

[Geek @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

What about us kiwis? New Zealand needs some iTunes love too!

[David B @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I'm not a copyright expert, but I am an practising Australian lawyer with a strong interest in IP.

The short answer to your question, Rob, is that when Apple sells you a DRM'd AAC this comes with a licence. This licence likely permits you to make the copies that Apple has been advertising.

Remember, the purpose of copyright legislation is to protect creators' rights. Here's an example. A recording artist (eg The Bee Gees) assigns the copright in their recording (eg the song 'Stayin' Alive') to FMR. FMR can then grant licences in respect of that copyright. So FMR can press a CD and sell it to you. You are entitled to use that CD however you see fit, provided you do not do those things reserved to FMR (unless FMR grants you a licence to do those things). The biggest reserved right is reproduction. So, unless licenced by FMR, you cannot legally reproduce that CD (I'm ignoring certain exceptions to this for now).

Of course, when FMR sold you the CD they could have licenced you to reproduce it, say, for a maximum of 5 times. Same deal with a sale from the Apple store - its just that this time your music data comes wrapped in other data which tries to technically enforce the terms of their licence to you.

Copyright legislation, at its simplest, says "you cant copy without the copyright holder's consent". Once you've got that consent, of course, you can copy.

Hope that helps.

David

*DISCLAIMER: this post does not consitute legal advice.

[Symo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

We're not allowed to move music content from CD to mp3? Since when?... I don't think this could possibly be the facts at all. If it were true there would be no market for mp3-players/iPods in Australia at all, as there would be no way for consumers to use said devices. Not to mention the fact that software that facilitates moving content from CD to mp3 is sold in Australia (which should clearly be illegal if said action was)... Maybe David B could shed a little light on this practice?

And i must say its about time it came out! though looking at the prices, i'm quite discouraged, $17 for an album, when you can find a physical copy for around $20-25 if you look around. What bit-rate do tracks come down off iTunes in? i didn't think it was ACC-Lossless, in which case i would rather a full quality physical CD...

[Craig @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

just out of curiosity, what�s keeping you from buying from the american store? ip address? billing address?

[alloneword @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

About time. But this only takes one item off my list of why I wont buy an iPod. The iPods are still up to $50USD more here than they are in USA. The 60GB iPod (5G) is $598 (AUD) when you convert that back to US, that is $448(USD), in US they are only $399.

I don't know why they sold ANY iPods here up until now, no music for them (iTunes) and the ridicules premium they charge here for their products. $50(USD) is a HUGE increase.

It will also be interesting to see what TV shows (if any) they sell here, as Aus TV is WAY behind US air dates (depending on the different shows of course), up to two or even three years in some cases.

[C. Russ @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I will not support Apple's itunes crap. They always have to be different. itunes suck. What is so good about iPods?? Just leave em all as plain old mp3s, none of this drm'd, stupid format business. Why should I pay money for an album that is 30 years old, has made its money for the record company (who never envisaged re-releasing it on cd, mp3 or whatever). Why should the record companies have two bites at the cherry?? I'll keep pirating my tunes thanks very much.

[Geek @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

"just out of curiosity, what�s keeping you from buying from the American store? ip address? billing address?"

You need to have a billing address in the country of the store you are using. I have some family in Aus so hopefully that means I can download via the Aus store???

[Tack @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Hey Symo - yep it IS true - we don't have the same "fair use" (or whatever it's called) provisions in Australia! :-(
So, I am SURE we are ALL putting copyright free music etc. on our MP3 Players - right?? WHEN is the law gonna catch up to reality??
Craig - you need a US credit card to buy from the US store - trust em I tried before today :-)
Geek:- re New Zealand - too many sheep? :-)

[Costas @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Great!

So the Aussies now have tons of music content to download!

Shame their broadband service is still metered by the megabyte (I've come across adverts for broadband with a 70 or 200mb monthly download limit!?!) and 512kb connections there cost as much as the 2mbit ones in Europe... with 128kb upload!! Wow!

If ludicrous Australian copyright laws were 50% of the reason why Apple didn't launch there for all this time, the sclerotic corporate interests that are keeping Australia's information industry in the dark ages due to the ridiculous broadband speeds and ludicrous costs definitely accounted for the rest of the 50% of that reason!

If only these companies knew how much damage they are doing to a country that could otherwise have had a chance at being an emerging information technology hub for the southern hemisphere...

Shame that the shortsightedness of corporate Australia couldn't see past earning a few extra bucks while they can still get away with it!

[kaius @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

costas, maybe the fact that the population of Australia is only 20 mil + we're so far away from the rest of the world & the Government owned Telco is the owner of our infrastructure...
download limits are a rarity nowadays have a look at the average from the Gov Telco "Telstra Bigpond" http://www.bigpond.com/internet-plans/broadband/adsl/unlimited/default.asp
broadband uptake & upgrades have been quite fast as of late

[Liam Wicks @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Ah, well, couldn't they have just released it with out the support of one major company, and then got that support later? Or something...yeah, sure, we've all got empty iPods because there's no legal music...*cough*. And Australian broadband prices are ridiculous. And the really cheap unlimited ones, like TPG, aren't available in Tasmania (where I am.) So I have to pay AU $49.95 a month for 256k/64k with no limit. That's ridiculous. What do you overseas people pay?

[alloneword @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Kaius, is right, there are only 20 mil+ of us. BUT ... we live on an island that is almost the size of mainland USA. The key here is density. It is NOT cost effective for telcos to roll out infrastructure everywhere.

For example, Melbourne, Australias 2nd largest city. It has population of just over 3 mil (give or take), but it has a RADIUS of OVER 50KM. It costs a lot to cover this area with broadband, and there are a limited number of users in this area.

Saying this, I really wish they would get rid of capping after you hit 10GB in a month, really annoys me :-P

iTunes has really missed a boat here. Bigpond, the biggest, (currently) government run telco. has opened its own market store. They charge 99c. (AUS) for some music, the rest is $1.89 a track, and albums are $18.50.

But the big selling point here where bandwidth is expensive is, if you are a bigpond user, stuff downloaded from bigpond music does NOT count towards your monthly usage.

Ohhh, and I have never bought any music from any of these services :-P

[Samuel Febres @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Is paypal available in Austrailia? you can use paypal to pay for itunes, so maybe that's a way around the whole US address/credit card thing.

Just wondering if someone has tried it before.

[Timothy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

"does it work in New Zealand? Still won't get me of www.allofmp3.com but would still be good"

Yes it does. See: http://www.maccrazy.net/news.php?ID=2450

[Costas @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I'm sorry but the "20 million population" and the "too far away from the rest of the world" excuses are old and don't reflect the reality...

Sweden has less than half the population of Australi and is a vast country in size too with plenty of sparsely populated areas (more than half the country is home to only a fraction of their population)...

...and yet, thy've been at the forefront of broadband rollout every single time, with 10mbit home connections when the rest of Europe was jut learning about ADSL.

Australia is NOT limiting bandwidth and charging exorbitant rates due to its distance from the rest of the world.

There are several fat pipes (and I mean, really fat!) with extremely large amounts of available bandwidth that are deliberately not given out to the public so that they can milk every cent out of them before people finally start complaining...

I could understand broadband development lacking in areas in the middle of the outback but come on, are you trying to say that Sydney and Melbourne are vast and sparsely populated areas of desert where wiring homes is a task of major cost? The big cities o have every bit of infrastructure that can allow fast broadband development already.

It's simply the greedy telcos that keep placing a hold on things on purpose to mak extortionate amounts of money from the people...

...and in the absence of a serious independent regulatory commitee and consumer protection agencies (not to mention the blessing of a government that is run by two businessmen) Australians will take a while to enjoy broadband as a commodity instead of the item of ultimate online luxury as it is marketed to them right now...

[michaelb @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

> Is paypal available in Austrailia?

Yes, PayPal operates in Australia, but no, the Australian iTMS currently doesn't accept it as a payment option.

The do have it in the support topics (next to Gift Certificates, etc) at: http://www.apple.com/au/support/itunes/musicstore/ but clicking the PayPal link goes to a broken page.

Like many people, I get money into my PayPal account from eBay auctions and being able to use it on the iTMS would be good. I've emailed support asking them to clarify whether it will ever be available. It's probably in the "too hard" basket at the moment.

[CeeBraxton @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Is there anyone here that will buy me a song from he Aus. store. It's only one song but they will not let the US fans buy the song. I will send you the money, shit, actually I will buy you any album you want and FED- EX the next day....

[PeeBee @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

^^ CeeBraxton.

Just download it on P2P ... sometimes there is no other feasible option.

[melbournian @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Alright will everbody outside australia stop trying to tell us how our country works.

It is a combination of factors that cause our broadband prices to be so high. Lets gets one thing straight for a start you can get unlimited downloads if you pay for it. Now in the world there is a little thing called supply and demand. Most australians at this point still dont think they want or need unlimited downloads, and they shouldn't have to pay for something they are not going to use, and they don't. Because we have a smaller population then most countries the demand is not there, if it was cheaper the demand would still not be there, the demand will increase over the next five years to what we would like to see it as now, australia has always been like this right through 14k 28k 34k 56k adsl weve always been about two to three years behind america in terms of our demand catching up with the technology available. On top of that there is still a large proportion of the population which dont think they want or need broadband and are still on dial up.
Now there are two issues in terms of our size we have iam sure the most sparcly populated capital cities in the world. Part of the australian dream is to own your own big massive at least 3 bedroom house with 3 bathrooms 4 living areas triple car garage and most importantly a huge front and back yard. No australian wants to live in a dingey apartment with hundreds of other people in the same building and no yard at all. Our capital and bigger cities are massive in land size compared to the population that lives in them so it costs more to roll out in these areas then it would in most big cities in the world. On top of this Telstra gets some funding to roll this out in capital sities and in big cities and in the country towns and out to all the huge stations in the more remote areas as farmers are increasingly relying on adsl for all sorts of things. Now the government cant give telstra enough money to do this, so those of us who use Bigpond and other services pay to a certain extent the rest of what is required to roll this out, as more cable is rolled out, the price should decrease but it may not as our maintenence is also higher per head using the service per the amount of cable and equipment out there.

The simplest way to think about this is in terms of America, as america is the only nation in the world with a comparable land mass to australia. America has a much much higher population than australia, Americas small cities are the size of australias capital cities, virtually all americas cities are more densely populated then their equivelents in australia. Smaller country towns and stations im am assuming are pretty similar from what ive seen. Yet they have more Capital cites and heaps more big cities and heaps more country towns and stations. Our infrastructure has always cost more for this reason be it roads rail telephone lines high speed data lines, even down to laying of electricity cables and gas lines water pipes and the postal freight and courier services ect this is a fact which has been happening since our ancestors came to this country all those years ago, how do you get a message from sydney to mebourne in 1900 not a an easy task for a number of reasons. we have been dealing with these problems as australians for generations so please dont try and tell us we don't know how our country works!

[Doreen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Hoorah for the release of ITunes in Aust. However, I'm finding it ages to even download songs, if I can, as there's no instructions anywhere (maybe I'm not that computer savvy). If anyone there has instructions for the "technologically challenged" such as myself, that would be a great help. I find that it takes ages to load etc

[Timothy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

"as there's no instructions anywhere"

What do you need help with? You just need to search for the song you want and click buy. It will be downloaded and saved into your music library automatically...

[Freddy Fender @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Melbournian , lets end all the justifications.. the basic fact is Australian's are RIPPED OFF......fully...... by telcos and ISPs and it's all TELSTRA's and Mr. Howards fault. We are in the internet dark ages thanks to them, we pay through the nose so some big fat CEO can take his children to Europe for xmas.

We are all being ripped off blind for broadband that isn't "unlimited" and plans that hide catches, like download limits and 6-12 month contracts. It really sucks to be an internet user here.

Also if infrastructure is the real reason for cost, why are Australians paying 25 cents an SMS message when most other countries pay less that 5 cents.

Welcome to Australia - open your wallet please.