I create an iTunes Store account for the first time ever (even though I have had an iPod for 4 years now), and this is how I am rewarded?

First of all, when I go to Store --> Create Account inside iTunes, it gives me all the legal mumbo jumbo in Arabic. I am like OK, I don't like this, but whatever.

Anyway, I create an account, and then proceed to search for a popular artist, but only get 3 results, and all 3 are iPhone apps. I am like WTF. So I browse, and I find very little stuff in the whole store. Realizing this is not the US version, I try to find where I could change it. Find the pull-down menu at the bottom, and sure enough, it is on Saudi Arabia. Go to the US store, and then search and try to download something which is for free. iTunes says I need to log in (I realize when I went to the US store it logged me out). So I log in, and then a window comes up saying I can only download stuff from the Saudi Arabian store.

WTF

Well iTunes never fucking asked me WHICH store I wanted to create an account in when I created the account. Sure, the credit card I entered was local, but so fucking what? Having country specific stores and forcing one to buy from the store of the country where one happens to be defeats the purpose of INTERNET SHOPPING

Jesus, with my local credit card I can buy a $50,000 watch online from a US website AND have it delivered to another continent, but I can't download a free bunch of electrons, let alone the bunches costing $0.99???

OK, I am not happy.

How do I undo this? Can I create an account with the US store with a non-US credit card? If so, how? If not, this is some bullshit right here. And if yes, what do I do with the current account... can I close the account? It is useless to me.

So about iTunes, the selection I am able to see on the Saudi store, is it a subset of the US store? Or is it different stuff? Is there an international store which includes ALL the stuff found on all the country specific stores? If not, why not? That's pretty stupid.

Thanks to anyone who can answer any of the questions, especially the ones which will help me solve my problem.

2/28/2009 9:26:06 PM

haha i guess now the freedoms you enjoyed in the US aren't looking so bad

do you still hate america?

2/28/2009 9:27:43 PM

is SA blocking content through an agreement with apple?

you could be screwed

2/28/2009 9:28:06 PM

that's my guess too... Seems like a repressive regime would do such a thing. I know that many other countries have similar setups with other online stores

Quote :

"Can I create an account with the US store with a non-US credit card? If so, how? If not, this is some bullshit right here."

Actually, you probably ought to watch what you say about the laws of SA... I'm not sure that open dissent is allowed over there either

[Edited on February 28, 2009 at 9:29 PM. Reason : s]

2/28/2009 9:28:53 PM

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=Saudi+itunes+store

2/28/2009 9:32:17 PM

Quote :

"Sure, the credit card I entered was local, but so fucking what? Having country specific stores and forcing one to buy from the store of the country where one happens to be defeats the purpose of INTERNET SHOPPING Jesus, with my local credit card I can buy a $50,000 watch online from a US website AND have it delivered to another continent, but I can't download a free bunch of electrons, let alone the bunches costing $0.99???"

Unlike watches, music, movies and other media are sold in various regions around the world via different distributors, each with their own specific contracts. In order for a reseller to sell music in one location, they have to negotiate a contract with the distributor or rights holder in that location, meaning for every country or region, a new contract has to be drawn up for the same artist or album each time. What this means for you is that in Saudi Arabia, the rights to distribute the music you are interested in through the iTunes music store have not been obtained for one reason or another. When you register an account with a credit card, the billing address for the card is considered to be the point of distribution, so in short:

Quote :

"Can I create an account with the US store with a non-US credit card? If so, how?"

No.

2/28/2009 9:32:24 PM

no it is got nothing to do with saudi blocking any content.

i mean, you people have computers, try it out. at the bottom of the store, go to the pulldown menu and try the korean store, and see what you get. or try the saudi store.

ok, i looked more into this, and seriously, i have never encountered such bullshit anywhere, with regards to internet shopping, esp one that DOESN'T INVOLVE EVEN A PHYSICAL PRODUCT.

i went to the US store, and THEN went to create account. it gave me all the terms and conditions for the US store. and here is what it says at the top:

Quote :

"TERMS OF SALE U.S. SALES ONLY Purchases or rentals (as applicable) from the iTunes Store are available to you only in the United States and are not available in any other location. You agree not to use or attempt to use the iTunes Store from outside of the available territory. Apple may use technologies to verify such compliance."

You can see it here: http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/terms.html

WTF??? WHY??? Why do they hate money and freedom???

And above that, it says:

Quote :

"If the billing address of your payment information is not in the US, click here"

So I click there and it takes me to "Choose your country" where it says:

Quote :

"You need a valid method of payment and billing address for a country in which iTunes is available. Please select a country from the list below. If a country is not listed, it means iTunes is not yet available in that country."

WTF? Not yet available in a country? I don't get this. There is no physical store, no physical product. Yeah, I can choose Saudi Arabia from that list, but I already created an account in that store as I said in my OP and that store is shit.

Is there some legal stuff involved here regarding selling the content across borders? Because that's the only thing that would explain the "not yet available in that country" and the fact that all the country stores are very different from each other.

(But still, it won't make sense. I don't see what the problem is... money is money, doesn't matter who is paying from which country)

Quote :

"Actually, you probably ought to watch what you say about the laws of SA... I'm not sure that open dissent is allowed over there either"

You threatening me you motherfucker? I have said NOTHING about the laws of Saudi Arabia.

GTFO you troll. Got any tech talk? If not, STFU.


OK, I guess that makes sense 1337 b4k4. Still bullshit if you ask me.

Anyway, I am gonna get my brother's card number (he is in the US) and use his card.




[Edited on February 28, 2009 at 9:46 PM. Reason : ]

2/28/2009 9:41:20 PM

How is it possible that even after being explicitly told by 3 different people that you're still blaming Apple instead of that shithole you call a country?

2/28/2009 9:46:10 PM

ummm... it took time to type that post

sorry your highness for not refreshing the page before posting

2/28/2009 9:48:49 PM

Oh, my bad. only 2 people had told you what the problem was before you replied.

That makes it so much better.

2/28/2009 9:50:08 PM

Quote :

"How is it possible that even after being explicitly told by 3 different people that you're still blaming Apple instead of that shithole you call a country?"

because it's not Saudi Arabia's fault, you fucking moron.


Go back and read 1337 b4k4's post.

I had this same problem earlier this month when a new album was released in Sweden that I wanted to buy. Available on Swedish iTunes, not available for purchase on the US iTunes due to lack of a distribution agreement.


Jesus christ.

2/28/2009 9:56:00 PM

^Which is Sweden's and America's fault.

All of this exists because governments want to protect their tax revenue. If you buy that swedish album on the swedish itunes, they will be getting the tax, US get fucked.

OEP buys some tunes on the US itunes site, no Saudi Taxes.

It also has to do with import/export trade agreements, which, like it or not, include digital goods.

2/28/2009 10:01:29 PM

^^oh you're totally right. It's not SA's fault. It's just because he lives there.

But Apple hates money and freedom.

Thanks for clearing everything up.

[Edited on February 28, 2009 at 10:02 PM. Reason : This dumbshit has the balls to call ME a moron. ]

2/28/2009 10:01:51 PM

I'm guessing Apple would be more than willing and happy to sell as much shit in as many countries as possible. I mean, really - what's the advantage for Apple of actively blocking its products from huge market segments?
If you have a beef, it should be with the distribution companies, the record labels, or the governments of other countries.

2/28/2009 10:30:01 PM

No. I don't think you understand.

Apple hates money.

And freedom.

Don't you see?

2/28/2009 10:41:45 PM

I called you a moron because you ARE a moron, dipshit.

You didn't present one reasonable answer at any point during the discussion. You obviously don't have anything valuable to contribute.

Roll your eyes all you please, you worthless motherfucker.

Quote :

"All of this exists because governments want to protect their tax revenue. If you buy that swedish album on the swedish itunes, they will be getting the tax, US get fucked. OEP buys some tunes on the US itunes site, no Saudi Taxes. It also has to do with import/export trade agreements, which, like it or not, include digital goods."

I disagree that this is any country's fault at all. The companies who do the distribution negotiations are the ones to blame - its probably not Apple - it might be EMI, or Columbia, or Blue Note, or whoever failed to negotiate with Apple to offer their product line in any given country's marketplace.

[Edited on February 28, 2009 at 10:57 PM. Reason : .]

2/28/2009 10:54:03 PM

itunes sucks. Pirate the music or maybe try amazon's mp3 service. Theres really no reason to ever have itunes installed.

2/28/2009 11:27:43 PM

Quote :

"You didn't present one reasonable answer at any point during the discussion. You obviously don't have anything valuable to contribute."

Oh go fuck yourself. Where's your reasonable answer? All you have is "it might be" this and "it's probably not" that. You just said It's probably not Apple, which was my exact point in the first place.

Bottom line is, directly or indirectly, his problem has nothing to do with Apple and everything to do with where he lives. So there's my valuable contribution to this thread: Spelling it out for your dumb ass.

2/28/2009 11:33:27 PM

And here's mine:


shove it up your fucking punk ass, bitch.

2/28/2009 11:55:40 PM

I've tried buying music from the German iTunes store and it wasn't possible without making a new account.


so in short...it works both ways.

3/1/2009 2:03:20 PM

Quote :

" try amazon's mp3 service."

Looked at it. Of course, same issue.

So, I am either gonna use my bro's US card or my wife's UK card.

3/1/2009 7:45:23 PM

[Edited on March 1, 2009 at 10:33 PM. Reason : ,]

3/1/2009 10:33:07 PM

Same shizzle in Australia. But they had most of the same content, they just charged a heck of a lot more for it.

3/2/2009 12:07:19 AM

Quote :

"WTF??? WHY??? Why do they hate money and freedom???"

Because the studios require them to do so as part of the agreement to let them sell their songs. The studios agree to give them the rights to sell their music on a per-region basis and forbid them to sell their music in regions they have not explicitly given them the rights to do so in. They require such compliance on threat of retracting the right to sell their music at all.

It's kind of like how people overseas generally can't watch Hulu or how people in the US can't access a lot of the stuff on the BBC iPlayer- because those systems do not own the rights for the respective regions. Also, they can tell by means other than your credit card. Your IP address indicates, for the most part, what region you are in and they might have their service set to filter IP addresses by region as well. I know Hulu and the BBC streaming services do.

[Edited on March 2, 2009 at 6:28 AM. Reason : ]

3/2/2009 6:26:18 AM

Quote :

"No. I don't think you understand. Apple hates money. And freedom. Don't you see?"

After watching a friend of mine whom I consider to be a true patriot be forced to wait 30+ minutes in order to give them $500, I can say this statement is 100% correct.

3/2/2009 8:35:12 AM

I honestly can't tell if you're fighting sarcasm with sarcasm or just spectacularly retarded.

3/2/2009 9:05:14 AM

Quote :

"The studios agree to give them the rights to sell their music on a per-region basis and forbid them to sell their music in regions they have not explicitly given them the rights to do so in."

So it is not Apple that hates money, but the studios. I don't get it. If the studios allowed Appke to sell in more countries' stores, they would earn more money. It is simple math.

3/2/2009 11:38:29 AM

Welcome to international content distribution n00btar.

3/2/2009 12:20:12 PM

Seriously? Bobby, lock this so we can all just move on from this idiocy.

3/2/2009 12:23:20 PM

see what happens when you try to do things the legal way

3/2/2009 12:46:58 PM

^Haha yeah a lot of people turn to pirated sources after trying to buy or actually buying legal copies of things and finding they can't do what they need to/want to with it. I've downloaded a copy of a pc game after purchasing a direct2drive version and finding it barely/rarely worked. It was sad to have to steal what I had paid for in the first place.

3/3/2009 1:17:28 PM

http://images.google.com/images?q=piracy+is+not+theft

3/3/2009 3:18:36 PM

So I looked at the Saudi store in a bit of detail now, and there is NO music in it. Just apps for iPhone and the iTouch (what's that?).

So, fuck it.

I am listening to free radio through iTunes. DI.fm rocks.

3/6/2009 6:04:18 PM