14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has officially launched the iTunes Store in Russia, Turkey, India, South Africa and 52 additional countries with a selection of local and international music from all the major labels, as well as independent studios.
Among the 20+ million songs available to buy from iTunes, Apple names local artists including Elka in Russia, Sezen Aksu in Turkey, AR Rahman in India, and Zahara in South Africa.
Customers also have access to works from international artists, such as The Beatles, Coldplay, Lang Lang, Yo Yo Ma and others.
Movie-wise, iTunes users in select countries get access to a wide array of films from major studios including 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, The Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros, available for rent or purchase, HD or SD (standard definition).
Cupertino says only Russia, Turkey, India and Indonesia will get access to movies today. Films “will be available in select additional countries” at a later date.
With this new rollout the iTunes Store is now available in 119 countries. Apple says iTunes is “the best way for iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music online.”
“All music on the iTunes Store comes in iTunes Plus, Apple’s DRM-free format with high-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings,” the company adds.
The Cupertino giant also touts iTunes in the Cloud which enables users to download previous purchases to all your iOS devices at no additional cost.
Music not downloaded from the iTunes Store gains the iTunes Match treatment. All countries listed today are supported, Apple says.
Finally, the iTunes Store also opens the gates to the App Store with its 700K+ apps for iOS devices and Mac OS X.
Customers in all these countries can download iTunes 11 for Mac and Windows free of charge at the links below. Apple outlines that content buyers will need a valid credit card with a billing address in their respective country.