Apple launches iTunes Music Store in Japan
Posted by jerry on 04 August 2005 - 07:22 · 41 comments & 5787 views
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(5 replies)
#1 Posted by unbalance on 04 Aug 2005 - 07:30
- YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THIS IS AWSOME! ive been waiting for them to open up the Japan store for so long! I live on Jpop (1/2 japanese is moi!) and i was always resorting to downloading or filesharing my music cause no music store offered Jpop. atleast no music store that i could understand (even tho im 1/2 japanese, i still cant read well) This is the best week ever!!!!!!!!!!! -
#1.1 Posted by HAKdragon on 04 Aug 2005 - 13:20
- You know that you have to actually live in Japan to buy from the store, right?
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#1.3 Posted by cdanr on 04 Aug 2005 - 13:42
- I live in Japan and have a Japanese credit card and I was beginning to think this day would never come. FINALLY!!
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#1.4 Posted by sphbecker on 04 Aug 2005 - 17:39
- I have always wondered, what is stopping someone who wanted to from buying music from the US store???
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#2 Posted by Cubiz on 04 Aug 2005 - 07:33
- Nice to hear
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#3 Posted by n1g3lng on 04 Aug 2005 - 07:55
- Any clue, when will they open in Aus & NZ ? We are waiting for so long ...
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#3.1 Posted by Enigma-Penguin on 04 Aug 2005 - 09:07
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who knows when we will see it. -
#3.3 Posted by Enigma-Penguin on 04 Aug 2005 - 10:07
- It's supposedly Sony BMG pushing for more money, but I dont know how valid those claims are.
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#3.4 Posted by Zenith on 04 Aug 2005 - 11:45
- im getting desperate. couldn't they just open it without Sony/BMG?
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#3.5 Posted by The_Decryptor on 04 Aug 2005 - 16:09
- It's not sony asking for more mony, it's sony trying to force their own format apon Apple
Luckly, apple is resisting.
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#4 Posted by SojIrOu on 04 Aug 2005 - 08:06
- oh man. this would be so cool i could get the latest jpop songs but too bad its not available here. ah well i'll live off CDs for now.
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(2 replies)
#5 Posted by Caleb on 04 Aug 2005 - 11:28
- removed.
Last edited by 3351 on 04 Aug 2005 - 19:44
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(1 reply)
#6 Posted by Gowcra on 04 Aug 2005 - 11:38
- @ Caleb. I dont know WHO/WHAT jPOP is but you made a flame there. Please stop, as it just degrades the quality of this community.
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#7 Posted by The Beav on 04 Aug 2005 - 11:52
- if only there was a way to have a us itunes store account that works with the japanese itunes store too ( i don't want two accounts )
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#8 Posted by LTD on 04 Aug 2005 - 12:02
- Are people actually *buying* music now?
Of course, I assume the ipod can play any mp3 - purchased through the store or not.
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#9 Posted by georgi55 on 04 Aug 2005 - 12:30
- I think Japanese record labels are not too happy about this, in Japan, unlike USA, 8cm small CD singles
are the main stream music, all the artist release bunch of 8cm singles and after 4 or 5 they put them in together into album.
One single is 1000 yen, one album is 3000 yen. Typicaly a single has 3 tracks, 1st track is the famous song,
2nd track is like a bonus song and 3rd track is Karaoke verison of the 1st track. Most people spend 1000 yen
on singles because they only want the 1st track or 3000 yen on Albums because they wamt 3, 4 songs off it.
Now with this they only have to pay up to 200 yen for a single and for only 1000 yen they can get the songs they want from album too.
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(1 reply)
#10 Posted by TheSarge on 04 Aug 2005 - 12:42
- At last! An oportunity to use the
emoticon!
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(1 reply)
#11 Posted by Cailin on 04 Aug 2005 - 13:18
- From xe.com: 150 yen = 1.34530 USD; 200 yen = 1.79373 USD
Wow! Kinda expensive if you ask me... of course it's still much better than buying the single. And finally Apple's got a legit place for all of those people with iPods in Japan (because there are a lot of 'em) to buy music. Three cheers! -
#11.1 Posted by aristotle-dude on 04 Aug 2005 - 15:27
- Wow, why don't you look at competitor prices in the same "market"? You are forgetting the level of inflation and cost of living which may be different from the US market meaning 1.79 USD is not "worth" the same locally as it is in the US.

I heard the same crap when people were complaining about UK prices compared with EURO prices. Hello? If you do not use the same currency, you are not in the same market and you cannot buy from the other stores anyway so the price difference is a moot point.
If you could buy from the other stores, your credit card company would give you a much worse rate than what you found on online "and" they would charge you fees for the conversion. Those rates you see on XE are called "mid-market" rates which are an average between the buy and sell rates and you could not get real market rates anyway on amy real transaction.
The internet has really dumbed down society.
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#12 Posted by Novaoblivion on 04 Aug 2005 - 14:24
- If only we could buy from it in the US too

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(4 replies)
#13 Posted by BBinder on 04 Aug 2005 - 14:50
i'm not really an itunes fan but one question u gotta ask is the japaness government gonna start censoring what songs can be purchased and what cant-
#13.1 Posted by The_Decryptor on 04 Aug 2005 - 16:17
- I think your thinking of china.
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#13.2 Posted by BBinder on 04 Aug 2005 - 17:10
- ohhh ok i was close enough goes and sits in the stupid corner
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#14 Posted by icloud on 04 Aug 2005 - 15:41
- Anyway to figure out how many songs (like a live update or something) are being sold on iTunes?????
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#15 Posted by Jugalator on 04 Aug 2005 - 18:33
- For that market, I can only say -- about time!

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#16 Posted by user name 2 on 04 Aug 2005 - 20:59
- iTunes is a waste of money. You get rubbish quality compressed gunk for your yen.
If only advertising told the truth ... -
#16.3 Posted by user name 2 on 04 Aug 2005 - 21:27
- Oi! Lay off with the troll comment.
I was only just expressing my opinion, that's all. Or do I need to kiss Steve Jobs's backside everytime they expand their (rip-off) service or release a product?
If I think a product is crap, then I reserve every right to say so. -
#16.4 Posted by Cailin on 04 Aug 2005 - 22:41
- I don't know about that "rip-off" factor... people will pay as much as they are willing to. But with CD prices going so high these days, ITMS is a nice change of pace for the industry. Not to mention almost half the price for (almost) the same thing... and apparently Apple makes nearly no money on it (but they make incredible revenue on iPod sales).
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#17 Posted by LTD on 04 Aug 2005 - 22:06
- Well, alright, fair enough . . . so do you in fact get "rubbish quality compressed gunk"?
Is it indeed poor quality?
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With one million songs priced at just ¥150 and ¥200 per song, plus Apple’s ease of use and features such as built-in support for Podcasting, the iTunes Music Store in Japan is one of the best ways for Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music online.
Apple's iTunes Music Store remains the number one online music store with over 500 million songs purchased and downloaded worldwide, and works with iPod, the world’s most popular digital music player with over 21 million sold.
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