iNuts

Today I opened iTunes on my Windows NT computer, picked a couple of songs in the iTunes store and clicked to complete my purchase, only to face something I did not like at all.

Being a mother tongue French speaker living in Italy, I hadn’t been quite pleased at first by the fact that Apple Computers Inc. doesn’t allow European citizens to benefit from the European constitutional right of “free movement of goods, service, labor and capital“.

Since 1995, I have the right to purchase any of the above within the European Community. Yet in 2006 Apple Computers Inc. prevents me from doing so. I can for example download iTunes and install any of the European languages, but it won’t let me create an account in the European country of my choice since the credit card number I provide must come from the country of download. This means I won’t have access to any the (french-speaking) songs I have been listening to most of my life.

Then why did I bother installing the Italian translation and create an account? You might ask. Well at least I had access to most of the English-speaking songs, which account for 90% of the music I listen to. Right. Until now.

I run iTunes version 4.9. For many reasons, I am quite content with this software. It isn’t too demanding on my computer and it does its job. But since today, iTunes won’t let me see my shopping cart and instead displays the following page:
Upgrade to iTunes 7?
The text in Italian (obviously) politely invites me to upgrade to iTunes 7 in order to be able to carry on using the iTunes store.

Well as far as I know I was still able to browse the catalog, add songs to shopping cart and download the podcasts I registered to.
The text goes on to explain why I might want to benefit from this upgrade.

By upgrading you will be able to use the following:

  1. iPod games. (Sorry, I don’t use an iPod)
  2. High resolution video. (Well if I am only using iTunes for music, do I really need that?)
  3. Coverflow. (No thanks)
  4. iTunes backup. (Well, I’m bright enough to locate the iTunes folder on my hard disk and I am wise enough to know to back up my music collection from time to time… as my current version of iTunes rightly keeps reminding me)

So end of the deal, I don’t really have any use for the alleged benefits of an upgrade. Not only does Apple Computers Inc. limit my constitutional use of their service, but I am now being blackmailed into upgrading.

Update:

Twenty-four hours after having written this article, I downloaded and installed iTunes 7 (on another computer). I managed to authorise that computer as the second out of the allowed maximum of 5, but now the iTune network won’t accept my password. I am now technically uncapable of purchasing songs from the iTunes store. This is starting to feel like the doom of my relationship with Apple Computers Inc. digital music services.

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