iTunes and Canada



I've been a fan and owner of an Apple iPod since the iPod Mini, it was blue and came in a marvellous box. I had it until it a major flaw happened and it no longer worked. Fortunately I had extra warrenty and graduated to the iPod Nano (2nd Generation). Now I own an iPod Touch. It was a present from my folks (thanks Mom, thanks Dad). They got it for me when I was in the hospital.

It is the funnest ipod, as the advertisement asserts. With it, I have music, videos, TV programs, podcasts and apps. It is wonderful and a lot of fun. It's a great thing to have when working out at the fitness club.

Lately I was having problems downloading apps I wanted to buy, for a while I thought there was something wrong with the way I had the settings of theiTunes Music Store wrong. After all, I had problems at first, syncing the Touch with my computer. It's working very well, thank you so much. I decided to read the support to learn what I should do. The instructions listed didn't help, so I used the contact page and set off an email. I explained the problem. Actually I had two problems, that and the fact I accidently rubbed off a few numbers on an iTunes card. The latter was solved quickly by an email and I was able to put an extra $15.00 on my account, which I used to download Philip Glass' work Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance. It's a delightful piece of work, by the way.

As for the former issue, this is the response I got:

I'm sorry, but you will not be able to purchase games or applications with store credit or an iTunes Gift Card in Canada. Customers residing in Canada may only purchase games and applications using a credit card.

My response to that was, 'say what?!?' What do they mean, I can't purchase apps with the itunes card? To me this is preposterous. After all, my local electronic store, gas station, convenience store, in fact any place that sells gift cards, sells the iTunes card. They are all over the place, in Canada. I don't understanf the logic behind such a policy. It can't be the case that there is a problem with the money, since Apple doesn't have a problem taking the money that goes on the card. It can't be an issue that this is Canada and there is some problem engendered by the Security and Prosperity of North America. I wish I could give an answer or even an opinion but it so strange and odd of Apple to have this policy. I plan to write back and ask for an explanation. The whole purpose of the itunes card is convenience and security, I'm not using my credit card, I'm using a purchased itunes card, which should be as good, since you got to put in the right number to use it.

Hopefully it's a policy they will change.