UAE Community Blog: L I V E S T R O N G

03 July, 2006

If you use iTunes to download original music, and can spend $0.99 to support a very good cause, please click here.

Magnus Nystedt said...: Too bad we cannot do that in the UAE, at least as far as we can tell from what Apple IMC is telling us (see more here); 03 July, 2006 00:21
Parv said...: Actually, if you travel to, or have friends in the US, you can buy a prepaid iTunes card. Unfortunately, that's the best way I know how.; 03 July, 2006 00:24
Magnus Nystedt said...: It's not just being able to make the payment that's the issue, I think, it's the issue of not being in a market where Apple has an agreement with the content-providers/owners. So even if you can pay (with gift card or US/UK etc credit card) it may still be illegal to purchase while in the UAE. We've asked the local Apple IMC and they confirm this.

If someone with international legal experience can chime in here, we'd appreciate it.; 03 July, 2006 00:28
secretdubai said...: It's a content issue. Apple has had to negotiate separately with every single country it operates iTunes in. Eg in Europe they couldn't do it as a block, it had to be France, Germany, Spain - etc etc. I can see how for a population of 4 million, where less than 1m have their own computer, and piracy is rife, that they could probably not be bothered to start the legal groundwork right now.

Somethings that aren't officially offered here you can still get, like Xbox Live. Some international etailers will accept UAE credit cards (thank god Amazon does) but others won't (PayPal, Play.com).; 03 July, 2006 02:25

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