| Home > Technology > The iTunes Music Store pre-paid card - will it work for an Aussie visiting the US?? |
| The iTunes Music Store pre-paid card - will it work for an Aussie visiting the US?? | | Date Created: 05 Jan, 2005, 12:23 AM |
 I was at the South Coast Plaza in Orange County, CA today for a little shopping expedition.
Naturally, after visiting Borders, we made our way to the first floor (ground floor to my Aussie friends) Apple store, a single-level store perhaps the size of the store in Palo Alto.
It was not especially crowded but there were enough visitors and buyers to make it look busy. It had a small theatre at the rear for presentations, a Genius Bar, and quite a few friendly young sales reps.
Bought myself some replacement in-ear headphones from Sony after the last batch died (the third set!). I did want to buy the new Plantronics set, which has cords for both an iPod and a cell phone. Listen to the iPod, and when a call comes through, flick a switch, pause the iPod, and use the built-in microphone to handle the call.
I joked with the sales rep. that it would be great if you could place your caller on "hold" and let them hear your iPod's current track! Pity the connection didn't have an adaptor for my Sony Ericsson T610.
Ended up also getting the new Kensington Wi-Fi Plus key-ring device which searches for both wi-fi (b and g) and Bluetooth signals. $29.95 seemed Ok, and I am hoping it is way better than Kensington's first lame attempt.
As we were paying at the front register, I noticed some $20 iTunes Music Store Cards.
Looking like a pre-paid phone card, in green it's written:
"Buy card. Get music. Rock the house."
I asked the rep handling my purchases if the card could be used by Australians who couldn't access the store... yet.
He didn't know, and thinking that (1) if I couldn't succeed it would make a nice gift for our Irvine, CA hosts' son and make for a good blog entry, and (2) if I succeeded I would be faced with the dilemma of what would be my first legal music download from the iTunes Music Store. And that would make a better blog entry.
The subversive part of me would also be quite happy to have finally accessed what has been denied Australians for so long - the iTMS.
Believe me when I say I have tried all sorts of methods in Melbourne to access the store. Using my US AOL account, using an Amex card with a US Billing Address and my .Mac account - all to no avail. The Amex card itself, despite its NYC billing address, has its first four digits as the tell-tale sign that it was not issued by a US bank.
And even my PayPal account let me down, despite changing it to the Amex card as the preferred credit card. Once the iTMS knew I was in Australia (from my IP address presumably) and my Amex card, I was done for...
So with only a little hope, but at least a contingency of using the Music Store card as a gift, I asked the rep. to sell me one, to which he promptly sold me down to a $15 card to reduce my potential loss. Very kind. He swiped the card and thus activated it ready for use.
Back in our hosts' home in Irvine, I fired up iTunes but with no idea what to do next.
So, yes, read the card, and see what to do - feeling like a total newbie.
"1. Open iTunes and click Music Store
2. Click Prepaid Cards.
3. Enter the code printed on the attached card when requested.
4. Download your songs. Enjoy."
and so I gave it a try... and located this image in iTunes:
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16 keystrokes later, I discover my number is accepted.
Except...
I am then taken to the very familiar iTunes page which tells me I haven't set up an iTMS account yet! And invites me to either use my AOL or my .Mac account to do so.
Hmm...
Foolishly, I make an attempt to use my .Mac account which has failed me before because I have registered it to my Australian VISA and Amex account (I have two .Mac accounts - 250Mb and 1GB).
Then I note that the fields have my Australian address details, but the country is automatically filled in as United States! Again, it's likely recognising a local IP address.
Well, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I enter my US billing address for my Amex card, and wait.. and wait...
...and this is what I see next: |
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| Ah... it looks so pretty! |
 Especially this piece at the top right corner - music to my eyes! |
Sorry, kid, looks like you're not going to get your iTunes Music store gift after all! Perhaps if I'm back in March for his mother's wedding I'll get him something else Apple-oriented to make up for my sins, but for now it's the serious matter of what to do with those wonderful $15 to spend.
Don't worry - I have no hope of using it back home in Oz next week as the music store cards can only be used with US accounts, so it says. Hopefully, that will be something I won't have to worry about if the Aussie store opens soon after MacWorld!
So, what did I choose for my first download?
Nina Simone's classic rendition of Sinatra's "My Way".
Nice to finally enter the iCrack party, one and all!
(And good to see Apple has continued its Tsunami relief support by including a click through link on the iTunes Music Store page.) |
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