Apple picker At WWDC 2011, were you interested in the iCloud service and the associated possibility of having your iTunes music library available for all your devices via Apple's servers? And what about iTunes Match, which for a fee of USD 24,99 will make it possible to have music not purchased in iTunes available in this way and, let's talk, basically legalize your collections with various histories. If so, I probably don't have good news for you.
When I watched the presentation of iCloud and how iTunes would work in it, I was nodding my head, well thought out. And when Steve Jobs said the popular "One more thing", I almost cheered. But it soon dawned on me that it will probably have a catch for us in the Czech Republic again, which is confirmed.
How iTunes works in iCloud
Let's summarize how iTunes Cloud and the iTunes Match service will work under ideal (American) conditions starting this fall. It's about getting your music into iCloud, i.e. onto Apple's servers, and then having access to it from all your computers, iPods, iPads, iPhones without having to synchronize these devices with each other, transfer data on discs, or even buy music again. Have I bought this song before? Do I have it on my laptop, iPhone, iPad or PC? How do I transfer it from one device to another? No. The iTunes in the Cloud service will simply know that you own the given song and it is already in your library and you can simply download it to your iPhone, you don't have to pay again, you don't have to synchronize.
The way you get your library into iCloud is brilliantly thought out, an elegant solution that surpasses the competing services of Google and Amazon. Apple eliminates the process where you first download music from somewhere on the network, only to then have to re-upload it to your remote storage, as is the case with the aforementioned competitors. No uploading tens of GB to a server somewhere. Apple assumes that you bought the music in iTunes, so it simply scans your existing library, compares the data from the scan with its own database, and you don't have to upload anything anywhere, the music is already there a long time ago.
What you don't have purchased in iTunes will be solved by the paid service iTunes Match, when you pay $24,99 and the library will be synchronized in the same way as in the previous case, and if you still own something that iTunes does not have in the database, you will only upload this rest. Plus, when your music is in poor quality, it's replaced with premium quality 256kbps AAC iTunes recordings at no extra charge, no DRM protection. That in a nutshell. Does this sound great to you? Don't worry, we are in the Czech Republic.
iTunes Music Store in the Czech Republic
As the previous text makes clear, everything is tied to the iTunes Music Store, a working iTunes Music Store. And that is a stumbling block, because it is still not available in the Czech Republic. And even the countries where the iTunes Music Store works will receive the aforementioned services with a delay compared to the US, as I mentioned for example in the previous article iTunes Cloud in England in 2012. So I wanted to find out how and if the situation is developing in our country. And since everything hinges on the iTunes Music Store, that's where I started. Getting any information from Apple itself is a superhuman feat, I tried it from the other side. The reasoning was simple: if Apple wants to enter the Czech market, it must negotiate with authors' unions and publishers.
I reached out Copyright protection union (AXIS), International Federation of the Music Industry in the Czech Republic (IFPI) and all major publishers. I asked them a relatively simple question, whether there are currently any negotiations with Apple about the entry of the iTunes Music Store into the Czech market, what stage they are at, and when we could expect this service. The answers did not make me happy. All of them basically confirm the zero activity of Apple in this direction. I think you can make the picture yourself from the selected answers:
Copyright Union: "Unfortunately, the whole matter is on the side of iTunes and the willingness to enter the Czech market. On behalf of OSA, we are ready to enter into negotiations with this partner regarding the treatment of the copyrights of OSA's music of the represented authors. From the proclaimed point of view, iTunes was not interested in countries that do not pay in Euro and in general in the Eastern European market. We hope that there will be a change in their business strategy soon.”
Supraphone: "Of course, we would also very much welcome the iTunes Music Store service in the Czech Republic, but unfortunately we do not have any information of this type."
Sony Music: "We have no news about any negotiations about iTunes entering the Czech market."
Apron: "Please contact iTunes."
Unfortunately, we will continue to be deprived of the possibilities that are available especially in the USA and other selected countries. How long Apple will consider the "Eastern European" market uninteresting is a question.
Wouldn't a petition, signed by thousands, then sent to Apple help? Don't you want to do it?
There were already such... Apple will not launch a separate Store in the Czech Republic, we have to wait for a pan-European store, which hopefully (one day) will be. It's been a few years since Apple lobbied in Brussels to unify copyright laws and various authors' associations within the EU. It's hard to say where it will go.
that would be logical, but I think it would require more legal regulation. even if the copyright laws were identical, apple would still have to deal with each country separately, because these are separate laws that always apply on the territory of the given state. even in the EU, no law can apply extraterritorially, i.e. like a Federal act in the USA. even if something is agreed upon in Brussels (like the Lisbon Treaty), it must be adopted separately in each country. I'm not a lawyer, but I assume that copyright only applies to the territory covered by the given legislation. however, a uniform EU law would facilitate the negotiations, when Apple could negotiate with Brussels, and the subsequently agreed conditions would only knock on the national scales. this would require a certain willingness on their part, and especially the willingness of publishers to authorize a single negotiator.
but that is not the only stumbling block. The EU doesn't even have a uniform tax policy, i.e. taxes are different in every country, so the price would have to be different in every country and every country would require a store in its own language, and this brings us to the current situation where every country would still have to have your own iTunes store.
it's sad, but it's true. the only thing that can help is petitions, to convince Apple that the market is not too small, even if it is marginal in comparison to some actions. it is also necessary to pressure the publishing houses with the argument that the iTunes store suppresses the distribution of pirated music. However, the publishers probably have the biggest voice and they can really pressure Apple to expand the service globally, since there is still a large share of pirated music in Eastern Europe
Well, I don't know about you, but I have both the App Store and the Mac App store in English. I don't know why anyone would specifically request the iTunes Store in their language when it works with App Storama. Same with taxes. After all, now I also pay the same price in euros as you in Slovakia...
Well, yes, but once in a while, for example, we have a government that gives fines even for English on posters. and there are quite a few of them... for example in Belgium. I know that the app store is in English, but I have the feeling that it is because no one noticed that it is de facto a Slovak app store and not a foreign one. I'm waiting for the first Hejslovak to log in.
with that payment, yes, apple wants to push for the same prices, but if the VAT is different in CR and SR, then if there is a uniform price, then apple will get less for the application. it doesn't even have the same price in every country. but everything is OK because it goes through apple. as soon as it comes to iTunes, it is about big publishers, which MAYBE (maybe not) I will have a problem with the fact that Apple will push them to a single price, which will not be profitable for them (understand: they have big eyes).
in my opinion, we are waiting for completely new legislation that would allow free distribution throughout Europe. if we have free movement of goods, so can music, theoretically. i.e. the server would be somewhere in Brussels and the taxes would be paid to Brussels. in other words, you don't buy music at home, but in brussels you don't pay any duty due to the free market. something like if you had a CD imported. then you also do not pay to your national copyright association, but to the one in the given country. of course, all national governments would have to agree to the granting of a license and next, since it is easy to locate the IP address, the relevant amount would be sent to the country where the package was transferred.
a bit complicated, but quite elegant considering the speed of technology.
it is de facto possible now, but, please, if someone is a lawyer, why is it always tied to a payment card in the given country? if the legislation were to be amended now that cross-border payments can be made on iTunes, then it is not an issue.
I really don't know where the dog is buried and I would like to know. if we have the EU, free movement of goods and some even a common menu, why is mp3 not a "good"? so how can I pay for clothes with a debit card on the UK server (the same one on which I have an apple ID) and send it to me without problems, why can't it also be done with software and music? something stinks about it, and I'm guessing that it's the author's organization (the publisher doesn't care if you buy his music from one or the other subsidiary company). at the same time, even such clothing and accessories are copyrighted, but the law is regulated differently (the designer receives a one-time fee, not for every toaster made, with the fact that he has full copyright to the design, i.e., it cannot be produced by another company without his permission).
music should be licensed as a normal product and the problem with millions of apps and iTunes stores would be over
I agree with the friendly petition, I would also like to buy music and movies for a few crowns and legally and have everything in order……
Good day. A petition is clearly a good idea. But it must be amicably tuned, and individual publishing houses headed by OSA and their comments expressing interest should be listed as the main signatories. Then it would make sense. I wouldn't be afraid of paying in euros, we also pay in euros on the app store. That certainly wouldn't matter.
I find those comments to the publisher quite funny. Music is sold at an absolute minimum in the Czech Republic, and iTunes is the way they can get back on the horse and legalize the Czech market. I understand that Apple has been stolen from us as Czechs, but I don't understand those publishers who, on the contrary, should try to launch iTunes, not just wait for Apple to come by itself.
However, they are waiting for it as the grace of God, just don't think, it rather expresses their helplessness and maybe the overall situation in the music market.
I don't want to argue about iTunes Match here, but I think it will work a little differently. For $25 per year you get the service, but it's not about legalizing stolen songs! For example, if I have an album burned from a CD in poor quality (or downloaded from the web), the service will only allow me, after uploading to iCloud, to compare whether this album is in a better quality in the iTunes Store and then allow me to BUY this album in a better quality !!!
That's not the case, you pay 25 USD and you can enjoy the same benefits as with music already purchased in iTunes without having to buy it again. It is a rather fundamental service that changes the established rules. Apple will probably pay a substantial part of the 25 USD fee to authors and publishers, and for those involved it is much more advantageous than not having anything from "illegal" music. I believe it must have taken a lot of work to convince Apple of this. Officially, of course, it is not about legalization, but in practice it is. For info http://www.apple.com/icloud/features/
I take it back, thanks for the explanation. But there is always something behind something. By uploading all sorts of things from users in this way, Apple can acquire even such rarities that have fallen into the abyss of history in some places.
Well, I don't know, friends. I heard that Apple would like to monetize the iTunes Music Store across Europe. However, there is a lack of a uniform and, above all, two-sided poor copyright law. I shop on the iTunes Store with a US account, so I made such a theory. The new album of the group Tata Bojs will be released on the T/B website for 300 CZK. The same album will then be released on iTunes for 170 CZK. I think that the real reason is the general reluctance of Czechs to pay for music (i.e. a small market) and the outrageous demands of the copyright unions for fees from Apple. I don't think that Apple would want to start a store with different prices in our country, when if we got to a price similar to the Czech one, we wouldn't buy it right away. See how expensive the iLegalne.cz server is compared to iTunes. That's more than twice for the same song. So it's not Apple where this fish stinks. :-)
I don't trust publishers for a penny, see walling the service illegally. In their decisive places sit ossified people who are waiting for Apple to impose the service on them. Unfortunately, this is not happening. Euro is not a problem, see App store.
Furthermore, the Euro is not omnipotent, see Slovakia. On the contrary, the "eastern" country of Poland, as far as I know, iTunes music has...
With the attitude the publishers are taking, we won't have iTunes for much longer...
I am for the Petition, because, as you can see, it will be at least some step...
And the reaction of the Publishing House that iTunes is not interested... speaks volumes... because if they dealt with iTunes and not with Apple, they probably didn't get anything :-D
I'm taking back Poland, I couldn't find it on the wiki, it's probably only been discussed there so far...
which doesn't change anything
Yes Yes. petition :D keep up the petitions! apple concentrates on the market = $ yen and I don't even know what the Chinese currency is. there is the market and not your cssr or zebraka europska petition. where will it be there and I won't have anything to do but scratch my balls, so maybe I'll just glance at it with one dead eye. but the Adriatic (Croatian Sea) is Czech, so keep thinking that no one will bite you. bud of the world with the petition, you can go to your neighbor for coffee. She will listen to you (Turkish coffee)
Many music publishers (and not only Czech ones) are against iTunes. Their economic thinking stagnated with the release of the first CDs. Instead of the last chance to make money from music, they prefer to pay lawyers and charge hundreds of thousands of fines for pirated downloads of one CD. But the dam is already broken and it will be difficult to convince people to pay for music.
Why did it shipwreck illegally? not only because of the completely stupid name of the service, but mainly because of the prices and DRM.
Petitions won't solve anything. To those Apples from on high...
This is not a petition per se. You just need to show that there is an interest in it.
Of course, I would also welcome an itunes store in the Czech Republic, and I believe that most people would also start buying music legally. But the fuck! there has to be plenty to choose from and at reasonable prices, we're not all millionaires.
(it can be buried illegally, it just doesn't work, small selection and expensive)
It needs a petition supported by cz publishers and OSO, a page, maybe even a joke.
After all, they are also interested in money, so they should show interest, and not just wait for Apple "authority" to come to them with a beg. Probably not really ;))))
I will add more;) Exactly as Roman writes above:
It needs to show interest, but the larger the number of people with interest, the better ;)
Czech wit and Apple elegance must not be missing.
Why not talk to the old lady, or apple ;)