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  Eagle eyed users of the site started posting news early this morning in the forums that the Australian iTunes music store was live, ahead of a press conference that took place in Sydney at 12pm (NZ), announcing the iTunes Music Store Australia.
I can confirm that at the time of writing, it was indeed possible to log in and purchase songs, with the same technique the Apple Australia asks Kiwi’s to do when ordering a serial number for QuickTime...listing NSW as the state and New Zealand as the city, although it appears that this process may have in fact been unintentional.
Songs start at $1.69 AUS, but as one user of the NZMac.com Forum
has pointed out, the Terms and Conditions state...
" 10. Territory. The Service is currently available only in Australia, and is not available in any other location. You agree not to use or attempt to use the Service from outside of the available territory, and that iTunes may use technologies to verify your compliance."
To investigate, I'm pleased to report that I now own a copy of “"Bittersweet"” by the Hoodoo Gurus (my favourite band of all time) which I purchased from the store purely for the sake of research....as I own all their stuff already. It appears that there has either been an unforeseen loophole with the iTunes store or Apple Australia documentation and press releases simply fail to mention availability for New Zealand Mac owners. Unfortunately, it does not appear to be a case of the latter, but rather an issue that Apple Australia will need to work quickly to resolve.
NZMac.com has emailed both the Managing Director of Renaissance (the Distributor of Apple Computer in New Zealand) and the press contact for Apple Australia, but as yet, no response has been received.
In the meantime, the press release from the Apple Australia site is listed below. Feel free to take part in the discussion concerning the iTunes Music store launch and how it affects Mac users in New Zealand in the NZMac.com Forum
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Apple Launches iTunes Music Store in Australia
Sydney—-25 October 2005—-Apple today launched the revolutionary iTunes Music Store in Australia, giving Australian music fans the same innovative features, breakthrough pricing and seamless integration with iPod that have made iTunes the world's most popular music jukebox and online music store. The iTunes Music Store is now available in 21 countries and features the most music of any digital music store in Australia with over one million songs from major and independent record labels and over 1,000 music videos. Priced at just $1.69 per song, $3.39 per video and with most albums at $16.99 including GST, the iTunes Music Store in Australia is the best way for Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music online.
"We're thrilled to bring the revolutionary iTunes Music Store to Australia," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "iTunes features the largest catalogue of local and international music in Australia with over one million songs, enabling music fans to purchase their favourites with one click and have them automatically sync to their iPod."
Exclusive music featured today includes tracks from Australian artists Missy Higgins, Bernard Fanning, Paul Mac, Evermore, Gyroscope and The Dissociatives. Extensive catalogues are available from Australian greats INXS, Hunters & Collectors, Paul Kelly and Slim Dusty. In addition, there are iTunes Originals from local heroes Spiderbait, and international stars R.E.M., Alanis Morissette, LL Cool J, PJ Harvey and Sting. International exclusives include Madonna's entire catalogue, digital box sets from U2 and Stevie Wonder, albums with digital booklets from Jack Johnson and Elvis Costello and more exclusives from Black Eyed Peas, Tiesto, Bloc Party, Elbow, Hayley Westenra and Jamie Cullum. Exclusive videos include U2, an online Beastie Boys exclusive and an extensive Madonna catalogue. The iTunes Podcast Directory features over 25,000 Podcasts, including featured Australian Podcasts from ABC, Triple J, Triple M and SBS Radio.
With Apple's legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as integrated Podcasting support, iMix playlist sharing, seamless integration with iPod and groundbreaking personal use rights, the iTunes Music Store is the best way for Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music online. The iTunes Music Stores feature the same groundbreaking personal use rights, giving users the ability to play songs on up to five personal computers, burn a single song onto CDs an unlimited number of times, burn the same playlist up to seven times and listen to their music on an unlimited number of iPods.
Pricing & Availability
iTunes for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Music Store and is available as a free download immediately from www.apple.com.au/itunes. Purchase and download of songs from the iTunes Music Store for Mac or Windows requires a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of purchase. Music fans in Australia have the option to use iTunes Music Cards for cash purchases on the iTunes Music Store. iTunes Music Cards are available at Coles Myer as well as through the Apple Store (www.apple.com.au). iTunes Music Cards will be sold in $20, $50 and $100 denominations and are available through Myer, Megamart, BI-LO, Coles Supermarkets, Pick 'n' Pay Hypermarket, Kmart, Target, Coles Express, Officeworks and Harris Technology. Prices include GST.
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[Update 1] Press release
[Update 2] Tidies up story details
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