Can I purchase from other country's iTunes store?

[chas_m]

M A V I C, Spock is making a point.

The point is that you are wrong. Sorry you didn't catch that.

It's not illegal to buy music from another iTunes Music Store. It's just not easy.

Because of the way royalty payments and distribution agreements are calculated, Apple agreed to honour the existing distribution agreements and limit sales to people who could pay with some form of money that originated in that country.

If you find a way around that, you've broken NO LAW. You've circumvented the system the licensees set up, and you may even have technically violated Apple's terms of service (though I doubt it), but you've broken exactly ZERO laws.

Once digital delivery of music becomes the de facto standard instead of just a fraction of "regular" sales, most of these sorts of restrictions will likely crumble and go. They're pretty senseless from a digital, www point of view, but exist primarily to appease governments and existing agreements.

[Spock]

[quote M A V I C][quote Spock][quote M A V I C][quote Spock][quote M A V I C]Can't do. It's illegal.
What law would that be breaking?
Depends on the country you buy it from. In general, it breaks copyright laws among others.
OK, purchasing from the UK iTunes store. Be specific, which laws.
I don't know the specific laws. You can probably find it via Google, or asking an attorney. I do know how music distribution works, and that's why I know it's illegal. In the UK, Apple only has agreements with labels to distribute music within the UK. It's how copyright law works in most countries.
Oh, the "I pull a guess out of my butt Act 2007". Thought so.

[M A V I C]

[quote Spock][quote M A V I C][quote Spock][quote M A V I C][quote Spock][quote M A V I C]Can't do. It's illegal.
What law would that be breaking?
Depends on the country you buy it from. In general, it breaks copyright laws among others.
OK, purchasing from the UK iTunes store. Be specific, which laws.
I don't know the specific laws. You can probably find it via Google, or asking an attorney. I do know how music distribution works, and that's why I know it's illegal. In the UK, Apple only has agreements with labels to distribute music within the UK. It's how copyright law works in most countries.
Oh, the "I pull a guess out of my butt Act 2007". Thought so.
What are you talking about? I didn't make up any act. I'm not going to do your busy work if you're going to be a jerk. I don't know the exact law, so what?

I just deal with companies who distribute content (some of it being music) to different countries so I'm very familiar with what legal and what's not. Legal experts - the people who know the exact laws - advise me on what I can and cannot do. Some of it has to do with contract law as well.

Knowing the exact laws isn't my area of expertise. I can send you the contact information for an attorney who would know.

[RAMd®d]

OK, I suppose you can somehow trick the system.

But that's one of the complaints against Apple right now, in Europe. Aside from not making the FairPlay DRM available to other manufacturers, Apple is getting heat for not letting people it one country buy songs from another country. Great Britain subjects want to buy from the US iTunes store, but can't.

Stevie told them that he can't open the store in one country to customers in another country, because of the agreements with the record companies.

I don't know if that means it's because of distribution agreements or copyright law. Some countries say he's breaking the law, and that's in addition to his heinous practice of restricting music sold on iTunes to iPods. (And one can get around that, too.)

So if he violates the agreement, he could incur a civil suit. Does that mean he broke a civil law? Or is it not a *law* because it's a civil matter? If he the songs in question were instead fully automatic firearms, would that mean it's illegal for him to sell them but not illegal for anyone to *buy* them? That would be cool.

But Apple will try *not* to sell you songs from a country outside of the US.

[Spock]

The OP asked "Can I purchase from other country's iTunes store?" The answer is YES.

[quote M A V I C]Can't do. It's illegal.
You may think its illegal or you may believe its illegal but you have not posted anything to back up your mere supposition. Try harder.

[Pat]

Well, it is a violation of the TOS for the iTunes store.

I'm sure the other stores have similar wording, but here it is for the US store:

iTunes Store

TERMS OF SALE

U.S. SALES ONLY

Purchases from the iTunes Store are available only in the United States and are not available in any other location. You agree not to use or attempt to use the service from outside of the available territory. Apple may use technologies to verify such compliance.

And also #7 in the TOS which deals with providing accurate information.

[M A V I C]

[quote Spock]The OP asked "Can I purchase from other country's iTunes store?" The answer is YES.

[quote M A V I C]Can't do. It's illegal.
You may think its illegal or you may believe its illegal but you have not posted anything to back up your mere supposition. Try harder.
I didn't realize I was on trial here. I have no need to prove anything to you.

[Spock]

[quote M A V I C][quote Spock]The OP asked "Can I purchase from other country's iTunes store?" The answer is YES.

[quote M A V I C]Can't do. It's illegal.
You may think its illegal or you may believe its illegal but you have not posted anything to back up your mere supposition. Try harder.
I didn't realize I was on trial here. I have no need to prove anything to you.
Posting definitive statements you can't back up makes you look like an ignorant jerk.