Australian iTunes Store is Live

October 25, 2005 at 4:26 am | Posted in Mac, Music, PC, Podcasts | Leave a comment

Today’s official announcement by Apple finally made the reality of an Aussie iTunes Store after many months of frustration for Australian iPod owners.

The main details are that the standard iTunes DRM will be incorporated with all songs. Songs will cost $1.69 and albums will be $16.99 (with some slight variations), Pixar shorts/music videos will cost $3.39, Coles Myer will be stocking $20, $50 and $100 iTunes Music cards and Sony/BMG artists and TV are not yet available.

It also appears Apple resellers are not able to sell the iTunes Music cards till at least February 2006 which is a decision made between Apple and Coles but I am sure a lot of Apple resellers are disappointed with that.  There is already a bit of tension between these two recently and this may add to that tension.

Browsing the AppleTalk Australia forums it appears that some albums aren’t able to be bought but individual songs are for the same album.  This seems odd and possibly a bug but unsure at the moment.

I will probably sign up for an account when I get home but am unsure if I will download any music from the store as yet.  I mostly listen to podcasts nowadays but to have an account will be handy nonetheless. 

I will report my own experiences with the store later and let you all know what I think.