An Open Letter to Apple and iTunes

Please let me share with you the exchanges I've been having with your support organization within your iTunes line of business.

First I emailed (and I'll paraphrase here for brevity):
"Hey, how come I can see the Japanese iTunes store but I get an error every time I try to make a music purchase?"

The answer I got back from support employee #1 was this:

Dear Carolyn,

Thank you for contacting the iTunes Music Store.

You can only purchase music from the iTunes Music Store that matches your country of residence and your billing address. Each country supports credit cards issued by banks in these countries. For example, a Visa card issued in the United States can only be used at the U.S. iTunes Music Store and so on.

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Uh. Yeah. That's a load of crap.

But I tactfully responded like this instead:

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Hi {name of support personnel here}

Thanks for your response - but my Visa card works just fine all over Japan and Germany. This can't be the reason why iTunes doesn't allow users to buy music from other stores. Moreover, the currency conversion is automated by bank cards - so even if the iTune in Japan is 150 yen, my bankcard will do the conversion to $1.97 or whatever the going rate is on that given day. Again, not a hindrance for iTunes in any way.

Both Amazon.com and Ebay,from my own personal experiences, allow international purchases with my US-issued Visa card. How can I esclate this issue at iTunes? I'm certain I'm not the only person who wants to purchase international music for my iPod.

Thanks for your assistance,
Carolyn
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And so I got the following answer from support employee #2:

Dear Carolyn,

Thank you for contacting the iTunes Music Store.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, but these restrictions are in place in accordance with agreements between the iTunes Music Store, the Artists and the record labels.

Thank you for your email with feedback for improving our business practices and products. The iTunes Music Store team recognizes that our best advice comes from our customers and we appreciate the efforts you have made to share your opinion with us.

Sincerely,
.......

To which I really must just say this:

Dear iTunes Support,

Thank you for this response - which at least is plausible and understandable.
Again, however, I repeat that I am able to buy international music releases from Amazon.com. I can buy new German music CDs or Japanese music CDs via Amazon and have them shipped to my US address -- and billed to my US debit card directly from my US checking account. This is something I love about the internet.

I really love iTunes, too. However, if you've truly established regional-only contracts to sell music from big multi-national recording companies like SONY and BMG - I'm so sorry for Apple. That just means I'll continue to spend more money at Amazon.com and far less money at iTunes.

I also know for a fact (since I can see the Japanese iTunes store) that in Japan where the mix of music is J-Pop (music created in Japan) and international artists they can purchase JPOP and the latest Eminem single right next to a new French pop artist's hit.

So, apparently those "restrictions" you mentioned are only for North American users of iTunes?

Whatever.

iTunes' loss. In a giant melting pot like the US where the latest Census statistics show more than 18% of our population speaks another language besides English at home (over 47 million Americans) - you think there aren't people who buy non-English language music?

And you think I can't read the Japanese iTunes site to see that they can get the latest release of anything on the US pop chart while I can't get a single Japanese pop single? Well, I can. And it makes an unhappy consumer. It makes me want to get around your system.

And guess what - I probably could if I wanted to. I could create a new iTunes user account, select Japan as the country then and give my old Japanese address or even an address of a hotel or business in Japan. Then I could enter my bank card number, or use an iTunes card purchased at Target and you'd be none the wiser.

But instead.. like I said, in my own stubborn little protest I'll just spend WAY more money at Amazon.com and send them effusive thanks for allowing me to purchase CDs from their German store.