Apple's iTunes Music Store now available in 119 countries

[Jos]

Continuing with an aggressive expansion plan kicked off earlier this year, Apple announced the launch of its iTunes Store in a total of 56 countries today, bringing the number of supported markets up to 119. The announcement almost doubles its reach in one fell swoop and comes just a few days after the Cupertino-based company released a new version of its iTunes software for Windows and OS X.

Those in Russia, Turkey, India and Indonesia will get access to music, movies and apps. The remaining 52 countries will have access to music and apps only, with movies reportedly coming later for select countries. Content availability is likely to vary by region due to licensing and market particularities.

Sales of individual track downloads have slowed down in the U.S. with the arrival of streaming services Spotify or Rdio. But the format is doing well in other markets like Latin America, where iTunes arrived in January 2012.

The latest expansion will represent a challenge for Apple given the rampant piracy in countries like Indonesia, India and Russia, but the company appears ready to tackle the problem head on with services like iTunes Match, which scans people’s local music libraries and makes the songs available from the cloud upgraded to 256kbps AAC files -- even songs that have been downloaded illegally -- for a $25 yearly fee.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/50987-apples-itunes-music-store-now-available-in-119-countries.html

 

[BlueDrake]

I hate to really say this but.. big deal Apple. Mainstream music is so uninteresting to me, that if something is good I'll listen once in a while. YouTube is full of music for free, usually by artists themselves or such. If I want to support a group that has say.. Bandcamp or such, I'll go there and pay more than the asking amount.

Honestly most things I download? Soundtracks of various things, or unique bits of music you won't find elsewhere. Name how likely Apple would sign up those, who have no big label behind them? I find the chances slim to none honestly, there's a lot better stuff that isn't so mainstream.

I don't use a cell, tablet or such being it's wasted money usually. Movies are meh in themselves honestly, if I want a good movie I'll look on Netflix or something instead. I prefer anime over the normal movies, seeing Apple bringing that into it's library anytime soon?

Seriously though.. name how many interesting movies out there, how many really good songs are worth buying? I know it's all preference really, but there's so much garbage, I'd rather spare myself the wasted expenses.

 

[Burty117]

I completely see where your coming from actually, I also crave for some Anime stuff and Japanese pop music but, the stuff Apple do have on there are not only popular but also quite high quality, I own quite few fairly high end sound systems, makes I own are Bose, B&O and Yamaha and honestly, if I streamed all my music from youtube it would sound fairly horrific compared to what they are capable of, now I know that its not perfect quality still but iTunes downloads have improved over the years that I actually don't mind using the service any more, Even the movies are starting to come out at 1080p.

I just hope they continue to push on keeping the quality up to scratch.