Apple Extends iTunes Store To India

[manu1991]

Perhaps this changes everything about the way we purchase legal music in India! Almost six months after extending its iTunes Store to 12 Asian markets, Apple has finally launched the service in the Indian market, silently. Users in India will now be able to buy and download local and international music and music videos, and rent or purchase films (HD films included) from the store. Interestingly, Apple has also extended its iTunes Match service in India, allowing users to re-download previously downloaded music (even music purchased & downloaded from sources other than iTunes) from iTunes, and store it in the cloud at a price of Rs 1200 per year (compared to the US Store price of $25 per year).

Although, Apple has not announced the names of record labels and studios it has tied-up with, the store features both Indian (including Bollywood and Tamil films) and International music from all major labels including Sony Music India, Saregama, T-Series, YRF Music (Yashraj), Universal Music India, EMI Records, among others. At the time of writing this post, individual songs are available for Rs 9- Rs 15, album prices differ depending on the number of songs, for example Jab Tak Hai Jaan is priced at Rs 108, while Talaash is priced at Rs 72, and music videos are priced between Rs 15 to Rs 30; Ringtones are available for Rs 15. HD Movies are priced between Rs 290 to Rs 490 per download or Rs 120 for Rental, while SD Movies are priced at Rs 190 for download and Rs 80 for Rental. Note that rentals allow users to watch movies 30 days from the time of rental, and 48 hours after they start viewing to finish it. Once the rental period expires, the movie disappears from the user’s iTunes library. While we were able to find many big Bollywood titles, the catalogue is still small. Also, there are only a handful of Hollywood titles available, at the time of writing this post (even titles like Inception or The Dark Knight are missing). Unlike the US version, TV shows are also not available.

Source: Apple Finally Extends iTunes Store To India - MediaNama

Seems like a pretty decent move. If they can reduce the prices slightly more, it should be very good. At least we now have an option to buy/rent Movies legally especially HD ones. Lets see how much traction they get.

Interface looks good:

 

[reddead]

i didn't see this coming....

 

[ALPHA17]

Google better get its act together and get its Movies, Music and Books services' here.

Otherwise Apple will monopolize the market. Pricing too.

But a good move on the whole.

 

[babhishek]

what happens to my us store purchases if i switch to the india store?

 

[dexBG]

India already has the Flyte music store (from Flipkart) which offers DRM free music .. (upto 9 downloads)
Songs start from Rs. 9

 

[gREen]

Does rental movies stores in cloud or on the pc. How does it work.
Any atv for Indians in next year?

 

[ALPHA17]

India already has the Flyte music store (from Flipkart) which offers DRM free music .. (upto 9 downloads)
Songs start from Rs. 9

But no where to rent films and TV shows and viewing them online.

This finally means we do not need to have a Blu-Ray player to enjoy our HD-capable displays. Although currently Apple does not offer TV shows and the film's and movie section is also rather Spartan in its offerings.

And depending on music, album-wise iTunes is cheaper but by individual track(s) Flyte is a better deal.

Does rental movies stores in cloud or on the pc. How does it work.
Any atv for Indians in next year?

^^ No you will have to download the movie onto local media (via the iTunes app). It will be there for 30 days from date of payment and for 48 hours from start of viewership after which it will be removed from the users library.

No plans for Apple TV in India.

 

[gREen]

But no where to rent films and TV shows and viewing them online.

This finally means we do not need to have a Blu-Ray player to enjoy our HD-capable displays. Although currently Apple does not offer TV shows and the film's and movie section is also rather Spartan in its offerings.

And depending on music, album-wise iTunes is cheaper but by individual track(s) Flyte is a better deal.



^^ No you will have to download the movie onto local media (via the iTunes app). It will be there for 30 days from date of payment and for 48 hours from start of viewership after which it will be removed from the users library.

No plans for Apple TV in India.

So it was deleted automatically.
Btw, is it easy for people kinda make it drm free

 

[ALPHA17]

So it was deleted automatically.
Btw, is it easy for people kinda make it drm free

^^ There is no DRM on iTunes music files (as far as I know).

About the films / TV Shows, it is rather robust (DRM) but yes if you want to crack, it is possible.

 

[manu1991]

So it was deleted automatically.
Btw, is it easy for people kinda make it drm free

Onion.TO

Requiem is a program that removes Apple's DRM (called FairPlay) from songs, videos, and books purchased via iTunes

 

[F3niX]

Good move! Hopefully, they will lower prices later. Movie rentals will be great!

 

[siddharth.beam]

They are charging 120 for rental i don't thing anyone will going to rent for such high cost but i want to knowhow long rental is going to last .its good that apple is making effort in India . Here I am little disappointed by google and Microsoft . But when will be Netflix ,Hulu and amazon video services will going to get avail to India crowd .

 

[Spacescreamer]

But when will be Netflix ,Hulu and amazon video services will going to get avail to India crowd .

The day ISPs will start loosening their grip on the speeds/data plans.

First, the politicians were no good.. now the ISP are trying to outdo them.

 

[dexBG]

The day ISPs will start loosening their grip on the speeds/data plans.

First, the politicians were no good.. now the ISP are trying to outdo them.

Correcto .. the ISP's can very well start their own steaming service but they'd rather bleed us with their glutton business practices.

Hulu and Netflix can sustain because they cater to a local geography and dont rely on international bandwidth.

 

[tracerbullet]

Google better get its act together and get its Movies, Music and Books services' here. Otherwise Apple will monopolize the market. Pricing too. But a good move on the whole.

I understand your fears about monopolies in general, but in this specific case, please explain why you would want Google to compete with Apple in an area that doesn't need fixing. iTunes is a big success in the US and has, for the lack of a better word, revolutionised how we consume music. And now, iTunes has entered India with very aggressive pricing so it's a system that works perfectly. 100-150 bucks for an album? It's almost unbelievable, I used to buy CDs at Rs 450-500 back in the '90s when my pocket money was 2,000 a month. Now I can buy the latest album by a relatively esoteric band like The National for Rs 84. It's plain brilliant.

 

[sudhanshu123]

^^napster revolutionised music consumption..hehe

 

[ALPHA17]

I understand your fears about monopolies in general, but in this specific case, please explain why you would want Google to compete with Apple in an area that doesn't need fixing. iTunes is a big success in the US and has, for the lack of a better word, revolutionised how we consume music. And now, iTunes has entered India with very aggressive pricing so it's a system that works perfectly. 100-150 bucks for an album? It's almost unbelievable, I used to buy CDs at Rs 450-500 back in the '90s when my pocket money was 2,000 a month. Now I can buy the latest album by a relatively esoteric band like The National for Rs 84. It's plain brilliant.

^^ Ummm... isn't more competition better in general. More choice. Also, suffice to say I am not a big Apple fan much less iTunes lover.

There is Flyte for music needs (has a decent enough list) but for movies, TV shows and most non-mainstream outfits we are still cut and dry. If Google comes up with that we can see retail prices also undergoing a revolution, availability a non-issue. Not to mention the multiplexes will also need to recalibrate their monopolizes on the ticket-pricing and services offered.

You speak about buying CD's, even I do that but on a much reduced rate because some bands that I listen to have hardly got a following in India and as such their albums do not make into the market. And if they are available this is the price --> Agalloch Music: Online Shopping in India - Buy Books, Mobiles, Cameras, Laptops, Watches, Apparels, Baby Care Products and Other Products Online at Flipkart.com.

In the end I have mentioned that in a broad-sense the move is good, for the Indian market, if this works as a catalyst to bring in more service providers that will be excellent.

On the contrary, if Apple develops cold feet because people who do not want to pay will not pay and the Piracy feed circle starts all over again it will not send good vibes to corporates like Google, Hulu, Netflix to set-up shop here.

Hope this gets my point across. Cheers!

^^napster revolutionised music consumption..hehe

Amen there mate, I do not want to know what we would be undergoing if Napster had not started the P2P revolution.

 

[rdst_1]

I bought songs worrh 400 bucks today.
Is there any setting where we can choose the bit rate. The ones I bought are 256kbps ones.
Also I can re download these songs whenever I want, right or is their any limit to the no of times one can download the songs he has bought.
The albums are really cheap when compared to US prices. The album I bought for 50 bucks is being sold for $10.99 acc to the US store.

 

[msankadi]

I understand your fears about monopolies in general, but in this specific case, please explain why you would want Google to compete with Apple in an area that doesn't need fixing. iTunes is a big success in the US and has, for the lack of a better word, revolutionised how we consume music. And now, iTunes has entered India with very aggressive pricing so it's a system that works perfectly. 100-150 bucks for an album? It's almost unbelievable, I used to buy CDs at Rs 450-500 back in the '90s when my pocket money was 2,000 a month. Now I can buy the latest album by a relatively esoteric band like The National for Rs 84. It's plain brilliant.

you had a pocket money of 2000 a month in 90s??Wow man dont want to get personal...but I think thats a huge huge amount...growing up in 90s my pocket money was in 10s anyways, I guess anyone who has an apple device in india is anyways not looking for VFM so it doesnt matter much to them how cheap/expensive itunes is...and others for whom it matters wont have apple devices

 

[sudhanshu123]

Amen there mate, I do not want to know what we would be undergoing if Napster had not started the P2P revolution.

well,for one thing,justin timberlake would not have starred in the social network..hehe,just the butterfly effect i suppose,and btw how weird would it be if i began selling my 'bought' mp3's on the TE market,how would i present them?"hey,come buy mp3's from me at dirt cheap prices,wait,who am i kidding?just go to beemp3 you twat."To make me buy music,artists will have to figure out how to put 'multiplayer' in the mp3's.(maybe ask chuck norris?)