News Euro iTunes store this spring?

Macworld reported this last Friday, but I'm old and slow. So here it is now:

Music industry insiders expect Apple, Napster and other major digital music services to launch in Europe as soon as the second quarter 2004.

While Apple remains tight-lipped about plans to introduce its service in Europe, Universal Music's eLabs president Larry Kenswil told Macworld: "By the second or third quarter there will be a number of major services in Europe, and I expect one of these will be Apple's iTunes Music Store."

Kenswil spoke at the well-attended Music and Technology conference at the Royal Society in London yesterday. His assessment of a Q2 rollout for Apple's music store was shared by representatives from BMG, EMI and other smaller labels represented at the show who were spoken to by Macworld.

He said: "As far as we know, the deals for Europe have been done, all the agreements are in place to introduce services here."

He added that what remained now is for operators to fix the fine detail and make the necessary software adjustments and infrastructure investments to get legal digital music into the hands of Apple's European music fans.

Full report here

Good news, IMHO.

 

£10 says they charge £0.99 a song. Nobbers.

 

That's not really a bet though, is it. Of course they will - everyone knows that £1 = $1, and that those idiots in the Money Markets know jack.

[At the moment, £1 = $1.7876, making 99c (current price of a track on US iTunes) about 55p]

 

You're so right, one of my pet hates. Wherever possible I buy software as a dowload from the US.