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› June 5, 2003
Using iTunes out of the US
Just having gotten myself a real computer, I wanted to try out one most of the renowned applications for it, and lo', it seems that the Music Store is only avalable for people with US billing addresses. Wouldn't it be pretty easy for Apple to connect a user account with a credit card using VISA, MasterCard, EuroCard, American Express, Maestro etc., so that world citizens could use it no matter their location?
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1. June 5, 2003 09:27 AM
2. June 5, 2003 10:04 AM
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Evan Posted…
And it's not only international licensing. Apple is amazingly thourough when it comes to charging the correct taxes to customers in their retail division, for example: if a customer wants to have a computer fixed by a Mac Genius, but wants Apple to send a box to their house to get the computer sent off, as opposed to dropping it off at an Apple store, that customer must provide their zip code, the name of the county in which they live, the closest city or town, and whether or not they live within those city or town limits. As you can see, this is complicated even when only dealing with US dollars, because they have to do this for iTunes music sales as well. Can you see how complicated it can become when you add in the always fluctuating price of world currencies that can end up having a major effect on what is already a razor thin margin, not to mention the international licensing? I'm just amazed that they're going to offer it at all, and wouldn't be suprised if support for the iTunes music store was, for a while, only limited to those countries where Apple has some sort of major presence.3. June 5, 2003 12:28 PM
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vis10n Posted…
And don't forget the difficulty of verifying non-US credit cards: to my knowledge, the schema used to link billing address to card number is currently only available in the US (and, in a buggier fashion, Canada). So at 99˘ a pop, Apple would be putting themselves at quite the disadvantage to absorbing the costs of fraudulently used cards (charge-back fees by issuing banks run in the US$20 range for every charge that is "returned").4. June 5, 2003 02:35 PM
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Chris Posted…
I read an article somewhere (sorry, I can't recall!) about how users outside the US can use the iTunes Music Store. Your credit card billing address must have a valid zip code. I believe the solution was to buy one of the "throw-away pre-paid mastercards" (available through mastercard.com?) and give it a US address. You'll get the card number online, and I believe it can be charged to another card. Sorry I can't rememer where I read it, but if that's not enough info, google should be able to help you out!5. October 3, 2004 07:37 PM
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Timo Posted…
It's not the credit card billing that's getting in the way of an international Music Store, it's the international licensing of the tracks from the major labels.