Hey Hubie, although I am one of the geographically fortunate this time around and jumped on the iTunes pass immediately - I just want to say I totally understand your frustration and the frustration of others who are in the same boat as you...

I know there's been talk about wanting to put Don't Think and Pourquoi on vinyl, and I don't want this thread to deter into a debate on which format is best, but I've been wondering. If there might be a possibility, sometime down the road (and sooner rather than later) of making these 2 tracks available to all 4 corners of the earth - At the least, available digitally in some sort of EP format or digital singles package. I don't know very much at all about the music industry these days and how the digital aspects of distribution goes, so I'm not going to even pretend. ButI think it would make sense to have these tracks available for payable download *at the least* - that would not only allow people a shot at obtaining the music legally and supporting the artist and also the labels could reap the benefits.

@hubie: in the internet age there isn't any discrimination by location anymore. just buy a us gift card on the net and you can buy all the stuff on itunesUS! works puuuurfect from any country in the world.

*smacks forehead* I'm a knucklehead sometimes oh yeah! The US gift card! I forgot that's how you and Joslyn and others have obtained those songs!

brother_ging, on 15 July 2010 - 12:57 AM, said:

So I buy one of these cards http://store.apple.c.../itunes/gallery and then wait for them to post it to me? Is that right or are we talking about a different gift card?

Heya Krisper I think maybe what you're looking at in the iTunes store are actual physical gift cards? brother ging is in Europe and was able to get a US gift card online and a few minutes later he had the Further pass. I'm in the US so obviously getting US iTunes gift cards has never been an issue - so I'm not sure if I'm much help here as I don't have any how-to advice. But if you thumb through the pages of the thread below you'll get some ideas on how non-U.S. people got US iTunes gift cards:

http://www.thechemic...52-itunes-pass/

whirlygirl, on 15 July 2010 - 02:14 PM, said:

Cool Thanks, Whirly Girl. I was hoping there was an online way.

Thanks for your responses Whirly and Ging.

To be quite frank, my main issue with this is the principle of the whole thing. I'm by no means an expert on this kind of thing, but I do have a good udnerstanding of how the market works and I am fairly sure this purchasing system is motivated by the greed of EMI and iTunes.

It is well known that artists and labels don't make very much money from mp3 sales. This sort of thing won't affect artists of the level of the Chems, they were lucky enough to make their fortunes when commercial music was profitable. Therefore this has got to be a cynical attempt by EMI and iTunes to scrape as much money out of the consumer as possible.

It makes sense really... they sell these bonus tracks at $0.99 each - then split the sale between label, distributor, vendor and artist (and possibly publishing company, depending on who owns the rights). It doesn't take a genius to understand there is virtually zero profit from this. So what they do instead is force the consumer to pay for the equivalent of an album and in return 'give away' these bonus tracks plus whatever bonus material is sitting around on their servers. A making-of documentary is all well and good, but once upon a time in the heyday of CD sales, that sort of thing would have simply been included as bonus material on the album or even on a seperate 'bonus disc'. Unfortunately this is just the way the market is these days and we the consumers are the ones who have to tolerate the crazy behaviour of the labels and vendors as they struggle to catch up with a new business model.

So all I am saying really is, for god's sake allow me to purchase the tracks the normal, fair way and I will happily buy them.

hey krisper,

no i don't mean the physical gift cards from apple. on the net there are several sellers from which you can receive a CODE right after the payment (about 10 minutes with credit card).

after the payment you create an us itunes account (with a fake adress of course). one of the last steps is typing in your CODE ("redeem").

it works really easy!

@hubie: i see your point but in the internet age i see this problem more relaxed cause you can get EVERYTHING...

Oh yeah I am fully aware of this. In fact, even though I am strongly against music piracy, I have managed to acquire a copy of this tune via illegitimate means. I'm not so bothered about the illegitimacy in this scenrio though cos the only people I am inconveniencing are the people (the label and itunes) who are doing their best to take advantage of me. As I said before, I will happily pay for a proper copy of it if/when I get a decent opportunity, preferably without having to piss about with any bullshit rip off passes with itunes.

I'm totally with you Hubie !

brother_ging, on 16 July 2010 - 01:12 AM, said:

Thanks Brother Ging ... took about an hour of fucking around, making the US iTunes account and getting a US iTunes code, but finally I have it. All of that to get Pourquoi. I already have everything else more than once. Oh well, I have so much music that I didn't pay for, I am happy to give some more to Tom and Ed.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=1ShtZCgJTRY

Cowbells.....

TEDCHEMICAL, on 20 July 2010 - 09:41 PM, said: