iTunes now available in the Philippines!

Abe Olandres June 27, 2012 · 1 min read

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So iTunes is now fully available in the Philippines and everyone can now buy songs, movies and TV series in the iTunes Store. This huge push includes several countries in South-East Asia.

Each song is selling for around ~~$1.29~~ $0.69 each (goes up to $1.29) while albums may vary from $4.49 to $14.99. The single “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepson is on the top of the charts.

Movies are not available for rent, unlike in the US. The HD versions are more expensive though at $19.99 ($14.99 for SD version). TV Series ~~are selling at $2.99 per episode~~ are not yet available though.

If you already have a Philippine iTunes account, you will automatically see these content in the store with the “Buy” icons in them.

So now, the bigger question is — are Filipinos going to start buying?

Updated: Ok, I was looking at my US iTunes account earlier and not the Philippine iTunes account.

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

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78 Comments

harry · 5 years ago

iTunes

Krystal · 6 years ago

How to itune

Vickie · 6 years ago

Question po good evening. I have a friend and, she’s in Atlanta right now. I checked itunes, denomination and there is a 15usd worth. Where can I buy one? Does SM stores have them and if I buy it from our country will it work in Atlanta?? ? Please I need a reliable reply asap. Thank you for your time In replying.

daisy · 7 years ago

hello po san po ba pwede kumuha ng app store itunes card

Joselina Hingpis Mateo · 7 years ago

Where i can buy this iTunes gift card and how i can pay it here?

Musinu · 7 years ago

Which store we can buy us iTunes gift card in Philippine

Ritchell dela pena · 8 years ago

Hi just asking…sn b pde mka avail ng itunes card??

Jeffrey Downey · 4 years ago

Go to any groceries shop or supermarket

Noel · 9 years ago

Where can i purchase itunes using my BDO online banking to make payment?

Free itunes gift · 13 years ago

I am really enjoying the theme/design of your weblog.
Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility issues?
A handful of my blog audience have complained about my site not operating correctly in Explorer
but looks great in Safari. Do you have any recommendations to help fix this problem?

Lonnie · 14 years ago

Futile really when 99% of iPhone owners here just jailbreak their phone.

Reng · 14 years ago

So effin true!

Dr.G · 14 years ago

TV Shows would have been nice… especially the older and/or less popular ones that aren’t available completely using “alternative” means.

Toni · 14 years ago

I wanted to buy, but unfortunately the Japanese artists that I wanted is not available in itunes. I still have to stick on buying their CDs/DVDs on online selling (like cdjapan and yesasia). Hopefully the agency will be amicable to opening up their artistes songs in international itunes

M · 14 years ago

YOU! Dont Own Anything with a Download!
CD and old reliable Vinyls pa rin ako…

Jay Q. · 14 years ago

That’s not entirely true. Owning something doesn’t really mean it has to be physical goods. A good example would be your email. It’s not tangible but it’s yours. (or is it?)

Buy the song burn it on a CD so you can play it on your discman :D

ARL · 14 years ago

Glad to know that a local iTunes Philippines is now available. Sana available ang mga hard to find songs dito! Been using gift cards eversince…

Lezure2010 · 14 years ago

Some people are forgetting the difference between digital and CD audio.

Does the iTunes store offer songs in ALAC format? Or just lossy mp3 or aac? If not then I’d still rather buy a CD, then rip it to a lossless format then convert it to aac or mp3 when needed.

crackinthewall · 14 years ago

CD:
I pay for everything, even those songs I don’t want.
I get to keep the CD forever and rip the songs in any format I want.
CD/DVD drives are being phased out by PC manufacturers and honestly, ripping them to a lossless format and then converting them to MP3 and AAC as needed is too much of a hassle. Not a lot of people can hear the difference between a 256 VBR MP3 and FLAC so for most people, it shouldn’t matter.

iTunes Audio:
I get to pick and choose which songs to buy off an album and they’re encoded in high quality. Not lossless audio format but I don’t really need a lossless copy when I can just download a new one from iTunes.
If ever there is an upgrade in the audio quality of iTunes track, you can just delete the old file and download the new one (because you already paid for it). MP3 and AAC are here to stay and instead of ripping to FLAC, I’d rather leave the storage problem to Apple and I’ll just worry about getting more music to my library.

JP · 14 years ago

DO NOT CHANGE YOUR iTUNES US ACCOUNT TO iTUNES PH, if you still want to have your iTunes Store US purchases intact on your cloud.

Ver · 14 years ago

I’ve been using my US and AU accounts for the longest time by asking my friends abroad to buy the gift cards for me. This is a very welcome development that I can now use my local credit card to buy some hard to find songs legally.

For those who have been stealing music, then nothing will change, they will never buy as long as they can steal their way for free.

Meyer · 14 years ago

@Iyan

Use a debit card (prepaid). The most preferred cards are Smart Money or BPI. As long as you have the card number and the cvv you’re good to go. I use both my cc and db and for seven years now there’s no problem so far.

Iyan Sommerset · 14 years ago

How do you buy if you don’t have a credit card?

razorous · 14 years ago

iTunes gift cards?

Lady · 14 years ago

About time! Yes~~ Definitely buying!
I’ve only been listening to some British & US singers online (and through illegal DL *gasp*) because sadly they don’t have an album in the Philippines yet, some don’t even have labels yet.

Thanks for the info!

Berkano · 14 years ago

0.70 USD per song translates to 30 per song, as opposed to 35 pesos in Mymusicstore.com.ph

This will definitely shake their model.

crackinthewall · 14 years ago

Not to mention that you get properly tagged files, with a high quality album art, and there a semblance of permanence to your iTunes collection that you would never get with mymusicstore.

Paolo · 14 years ago

Ok na ako sa Torrent. :)

imitator101 · 14 years ago

Sobrang sabog ng post na to haha

Marcelino · 14 years ago

Hahahahaha!!

Sonn · 14 years ago

“So now, the bigger question is â€” are Filipinos going to start buying?”

– yes, I am. After my US account runs out of credits.

“Then thereâ€™s also their physical CD counterparts which are still cheaper compared to the prices stated above. (That is, if my conversion is correct, $1 = Php 43 and assuming that an album at your record bar still costs the usual Php 400-500. If itâ€™s cheaper now, then thatâ€™s good).”

– I’d rather spend $0.69 to $1.29 on one good song than spend 200 to 400 on a CD that has one to three good songs and nine others that aren’t

JKisaragi · 14 years ago

“Iâ€™d rather spend $0.69 to $1.29 on one good song than spend 200 to 400 on a CD that has one to three good songs and nine others that arenâ€™t”

I was looking at it on a “per album” basis as mentioned in first release of the article. With most of the songs costing $0.69, a whole digital album would be cheaper than their CD counterpart (something I acknowledged in Neil’s comment).

I failed to take into account the fact that you can pretty much filter out songs and only buy ones that you like. Point well taken. That’s another plus for buying digital music online.

Thanks! :)

Harley Mah-Son · 14 years ago

Sir Abe, I need your assistance. I currently have Sony Ericsson Arc and a blackberry 9320. Is it a good thing to get the iphone 4s or wait for the new iphone? Kindly reply. I was tweeting you yesterday but it seems you didn’t answer back. @heidewhite

JKisaragi · 14 years ago

“So now, the bigger question is â€” are Filipinos going to start buying?”

Me thinks it’s not gonna happen anytime soon, as long as there are “other sources” of getting it at a “much cheaper price” (read: free).

Then there’s also their physical CD counterparts which are still cheaper compared to the prices stated above. (That is, if my conversion is correct, $1 = Php 43 and assuming that an album at your record bar still costs the usual Php 400-500. If it’s cheaper now, then that’s good).

Not a fan (defensive) but I think you ought to know: it’s “Jepsen” not “Jepson”. :)