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iTunes Music Store Coming to Japan in 2005

iTunes Music Store Coming to Japan in 2005

by , 4:00 AM EST, November 19th, 2004

Apple reportedly will launch its iTunes Music Store in Japan in March 2005 with about 100,000 songs that emphasize Japanese music, this according to a Japanese newspaper. The Nihon Keizai reported the news Thursday; Apple Japan declined comment. Apple has sold about 500,000 iPods in Japan and holds about half the market for digital players in that country. [Ed. Note: A Reuters story on the subject incorrectly states Apple has sold 60 million iPods worldwide -- that figure is closer to 6 million.]

Apple expanded the iTunes Music Store this summer to a number of European countries and plans to launch the store in Canada by the end of this month.

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Close Name:Guest
Subject: Looking forward...

It'll be nice to finally start using iTMS here in Japan.

Close Name:AFCdtLoeb Posts: 2533 Joined: 20 Jul 2004
Subject:

100K? Is that a typo? Heck, the new U2 box set contains that much music!

Close Name:Atsi Posts: 8 Joined: 23 Jul 2004
Subject: It isn't a typo

100K isn't a typo. The article on Nikkei Net says "over 100,000 songs."

I suspect that this may be because the Japanese iTunes Music Store won't have non-Japanese songs. The Japanese record companies already have plenty of trouble on their hands because the prices of imports are significantly cheaper than Japanese records. For example, the Japanese version of U2's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" is priced 2,548 yen at amazon.co.jp. The U.S. import is priced 1,531 yen and is sold for 1,420 yen (a 7% discount). The Japanese record companies are trying to get people to buy the Japanese versions, typically by including bonus tracks, Japanese translations of the lyrics, and Japanese liner notes. As you can probably imaagine, many listeners don't want to pay an extra 1,000 yen (roughly 10 $) for one extra song and the Japanese booklet.
This makes me suspect that the Japanese record companies may have said "we want the iTunes Music Store, but only if all the songs are Japanese." If this is true, it would suck for me (because I don't listen to many Japanese artists), but it's better than nothing. The best development that occured recently is that some Japanese record companies are saying they may get rid of CCCDs (drm'ed "Copy Control CD's," which actually aren't audio CDs if you go by the red book) because it wouldn't make sense to have CCCDs if so many people want to listen to music on their iPods and buy music from an iTunes Music Store.

In conclusion, I hope that there will be an iTunes Music Store in Japan, even if it only has Japanese songs, and that it will work as a medium to bring the Japanese record companies to their senses.

(I'm really looking forward to this, especially because I'm going to buy an 30 gig iPod from a friend tomorrow - he got an iPod Photo)

Close Name:Mace Posts: 9604 Joined: 07 Aug 2003
Subject:

Thanks Atsi for the explanation. Is such a pity. Things should get better through time.

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