iTunes Rocks New Zealand (Unofficially)

If you have been following today's Mac news there is no doubt that you will have come across the much anticipated release of the iTunes Music Store for Australian Mac and Windows users. But what does this mean for those living in New Zealand? Have we once again been pushed aside by our close neighbour or is there something more? Luckily the later seems to be the case as hundreds, if not thousands, of Mac users around the country realise there may be some benefits of being considered part of Australia. Yes, that's right lady's and gentlemen, if you have been dreaming of fulling tagged AAC goodness, with album art included, today all your dreams have come true. Well, unofficially anyway.

If you read the teaser you probably thought we were going to delve into a technical process that would cause you to question dumping your P2P client of choice for good. Luckily, it is very simple to download music from the iTunes Music Store in New Zealand. Just open iTunes, scroll down to the country selection menu at the bottom of the music store homepage, select Australia, sign in using your Apple ID or .Mac account and enter your details. It doesn't matter which Australian state you select, but if you want to keep in line with New Zealand's history then New South Wales would be the obvious choice.

Please remember that the iTunes Music Store isn't currently available to New Zealand customers officially and there will no doubt be measures put in place to stop New Zealanders downloading music when this news hits the mainstream media. The loop hole appears to be due to the fact that banks operating in both countries use the same credit card prefixes, meaning that Apple is unable to distinguish between a credit card from Australia or New Zealand. Another interesting point to note is that due to agreements with internet service providers across the ditch, many New Zealand ISPs use IP addresses associated with Australia making it difficult for Apple to block those accessing the store from NZ without blocking Australian customers as well. While it hasn't been confirmed, those living in Fiji and other Pacific islands with Australasian banks should also be able to access the service.

As we see it, there will not be any short term way to block New Zealand based iTunes Music Store fans, so enjoy your time with iTunes. It has definitely been worth the wait.

October 25, 2005