Source:iLounge

It's finally here! I have been waiting for this for ages. Seems like pretty good pricing for songs and albums aswell :thumbsup:

Too late... there was one song I wanted to buy from iTunes, they didn't have a store in Australia at the time so I broke the law.

Stupid iTunes. :P

A buck sixty-nine is too steep. Bigpond has songs at 0.99c. Come on Apple, I ain't gonna pay $1.69 for a song that I can get for free. Maybe I'd pay a dollar, but definately not $1.69.

17 bucks for a CD is also pretty steep, seeing as theres no artwork, no physical aspects to it...

Does someone care to explain to me what the point of an Australian based, online-worldwide music store is? It is the internet after all, counrty of origin is kind of redundant because of the whole instantaneous nature of the internet...

I was thinking the same thing. Why can't iPod users just download songs from any other iTunes music store? Why do we need an 'Australian' iTunes when location does not really exist with the Internet?

$1.69 is pretty high for a single song, especially with BigPond have songs @ 0.99c. As for albums prices, I also agree $17 is too high considering we are not getting artwork, booklet, lyrics, or any bonus content. On the same token, I also do not believe the extras (booklet, art etc) are worth an extra $13 that we pay for a hardcopy c.d.

It's because of the record companies. They sign an agreement for certain music to be distributed in one particular country, so it can't be distributed legally in other territories.

Also music can also be distributed by different companies in different regions, so it's hard to get all of the distributers to agree.

I don't think $1.70 is too much, especially if you just want one or two songs off an album. A CD single usually costs around the $6.00-$7.00 mark which usually has around 2-3 songs on it, so in comparison it's not that bad. However in saying that, I think the 99c mark is a lot more market friendly and should have been the price they set.

www.Allofmp3.com

Songs for 2 US cents. I win. :lol:

Where do you see songs for .99c ??? 1cent per song...

If you were refering to them being 99cents then, where are they, all the new releases I am looking at on Bigpond are $1.89, meaning that iTunes is better value for money per single song release.

Its good to finally have a store down here though, and another problem with buying from another countries store is that you need an address in that country, or someone who will let you use their address.

Edit: Found a few 99c songs, although you are comparing a select range of Bigpond songs against their whole catalogue average price.

I've heard that site doesn't provide quality rips, i.e. the different versions you download are mp3s that have converted to another mp3 bitrate, not too mention they are illegal, but the Russian law doesn't have rules against internet piracy / are unwilling to have the rules enforced.

Uh, how can it be illegal if there no law against what they're doing?

Besides you can get everything from Blade and Lame vbr MP3's to Flac and Wav formats. Very good.

Because it is illegal here to do so. You aren't a citizen of Russia and therefore their laws don't apply to you.

It's about importing thebigm, there is no law against importing music from other countries (including Russia), for an example you can buy and import CD's from Amazon.co.uk and save a few bucks. I'm no lawyer but because you are buying this legally in Russia and then importing to Australia, it is 100% legitimate.

Also the RIAA has launched no lawsuit against Allofmp3.com, in it's 5 or so years of service. They launched one agains PureTunes though (A spanish company that was reselling Allofmp3.com songs for a lower quality - maybe that's the service you were thinking of before?). The RIAA acknowledges that Allofmp3.com is a legal service, however grey the area might seem to be.

I'm not trying to flame iTunes or anything. It's just I don't like iTunes and the fact that you pay $1 for a DRM protected song. Why spend more and get less?

Good news that it is finally available but the price is a tad steep. It is also questionable whether the quality of each song is up with that found on cds.

Where do you buy those iTune's Music Cards? I'd prefer that to a credit card...

EDIT: I was in Myer and I bought a $20 iTune's credit card. The staff there were apparently only told about the iTunes system the day it was launched so it took them a while to find the cards and everything. So I wasted some time playing Ricky Ponting Cricket. That game shits all over Cricket 2004 and I'm assuming Cricket 2005.

EDIT 2: Either I'm browsing the store wrong or something is up. I search for Tool, I get nothing, I search for Franz Ferdinand and I get a Franz Ferdinand tribute band, but no Franz Ferdinand! WTF???

EDIT 3!!!: I think I broke the music store. Why is there no Pink Floyd, no Led Zeppelin. What am I doing wrong???

Wait. I worked it out. I'm still cool.

Nice work [m]av. :P

Still going to stick to my "three's a charm" rule:

* Download one song from band
* If first song is good, download two more
* If they too are good, proceed to buy the CD

Hasn't failed me yet.



Actually, Burning Brides wasn't that good. Shhh

Sounds very similar to my rule Dorepoll, unless I already love the band and will buy the new album regardless.

Whoa, I use practically the same system. Download three songs from an album in the one go, and if they rock my jocks, then I waltz on down to the local record store and make my purchase.

I'd also much rather fork out the extra cash to get the album with the artwork 'n all rather than save a few bucks by getting all of the songs in mp3 format.

Yeah, I'm not sure I'm the hugest fan of the store either. I downloaded the Go With The Flow music video by QOTSA, and the resolution is quite small. I mean, I paid $3.39 for a music video, I want full screen dammit.

Although, I will use the store for the iTunes originals and the weekly free download that you can only get if you're a member :P. This weeks download is awesome: Shadowland - Youth Group.

And, even though it isn't Apple's fault, I think the albums are still overpriced. I know the record companies want a huge slice of the take, but come on. $16.99 flat rate for every album is steep. For example, at my music store, I can buy Rooster's self titled debut for $20, which comes with artwork and a poster, or I can download it on the store for 17 bucks. Which one would you go for?

The store is a great idea, it just needs more ironing out. It needs to expand it's database alot and also try and focus on hard to find songs, because I'd use the store for that. It has real potential, it just hasn't been utilised yet.

Yeah, I saw a rack full of those cards today at work(Target).