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- SillyMamma, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Correction: Bam'sUnholy Union is not British and Jongleurs Unleashed may not be either.
- titlesaysitall, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Does the new iTunes store have a better title? Surely the current one doesn't say it all.
- thatsmyaibo, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3Nice hijack. Bad post.
Are you the new description police? Thank you for making the web a safer place.- titlesaysitall, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2No prob, it's what I do.
- Mossa, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Are you related to the Bishop of Southwark perchance?
- titlesaysitall, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2No prob, it's what I do.
- thatsmyaibo, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3Nice hijack. Bad post.
- titlesaysitall, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Does the new iTunes store have a better title? Surely the current one doesn't say it all.
- superpixel, on 10/10/2007, -4/+5But Bam's Unholy Union JACK-- now that is a British show, right?
- SillyMamma, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6I believe you mean the "Bam's Unholy Union FLAG"--unless its being flown on one of her Majesty's vessels
- chochazel, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0Nope....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Flag:
"The Flag Institute, the vexillological organisation for the United Kingdom, asserts that this [this idea that the Union Flag only applies to ships] is not the case and is a "relatively recent idea". It also states "the Admiralty itself frequently referred to the flag as the Union Jack, whatever its use, and in 1902 an Admiralty Circular announced that Their Lordships had decided that either [the Union Jack or the Union Flag] name could be used officially. Such use was given Parliamentary approval in 1908 when it was stated that 'the Union Jack should be regarded as the National flag'."[2]"- demonstro, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2So, does this being in wikipedia instantly make it true?
- chochazel, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0The information is sourced from The Flag Institute, the vexillological organisation for the United Kingdom - you can go to their website and check if you imagine in your mind that somebody's just made that up and written it into Wikipedia and nobody's corrected it.
http://www.flaginstitute.org/index.php?location=7
They in turn reference the Admiralty and parliament.
What exactly are you saying is wrong?
Did you imagine that what you heard from some random person is better than sourced information from Wikipedia? Or better than the vexillological organisation for the United Kingdom? Or more correct than the UK parliament?
Or did you imagine that saying that something in Wikipedia isn't automatically true was equivalent to an rational counter argument backed up by impartial sourced facts.
Substantial sourced information > facile comments.
Understand this, otherwise you may end up looking like an idiot in front of grown ups.
- chochazel, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0The information is sourced from The Flag Institute, the vexillological organisation for the United Kingdom - you can go to their website and check if you imagine in your mind that somebody's just made that up and written it into Wikipedia and nobody's corrected it.
- demonstro, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2So, does this being in wikipedia instantly make it true?
- chochazel, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0Nope....
- SillyMamma, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6I believe you mean the "Bam's Unholy Union FLAG"--unless its being flown on one of her Majesty's vessels
- dandonia, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3excellent coverflow with my show
- dampcloth, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1looks like this is for the iphone or new ipod.
- meatmcguffin, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I never thought of that, it seems a little strange releasing an iPhone in Blighty without video content to play on in seeing as it's a main feature. Could this be a definite precursor to the iPhone being released on the 5th?
- PAJK, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I'm sure it's for the Apple TV.
- Kelmon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Could be but let's be honest here, the Apple TV is next to useless anywhere outside the US since there's no content to watch on it unless you're prepared to rip your DVDs or other video. This is the #1 reason why I haven't bought one.
- meatmcguffin, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I never thought of that, it seems a little strange releasing an iPhone in Blighty without video content to play on in seeing as it's a main feature. Could this be a definite precursor to the iPhone being released on the 5th?
- ianbirtwistle, on 10/10/2007, -0/+16Great, can we have an iphone now please?
- AvidPreatorian, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4I do like the prices. Just cut off the DRMs.
- mitchellg100, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5thats like 60 cents more then in the U.S. ......
- drewpost, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9If you are doing a straight conversion rate then yes but that does not work in real life. Look at it this way. A bottle of Coca Cola from a vending machine in say Los Angeles will cost $1.00 that same bottle of coke would cost £1.00 in a London vending machine. Now if I am an American on holiday in London I am going to pay £1 for that bottle of Coke but since the currency that i earn my income in, the dollar, is only worth 50 pence, then I must pay $2.00 to pay for £1.00 (roughly) The difference is is that people here in the UK are earning in Pound Sterling and they don't have the currency conversion rate because they are spending in the currency the earn in. So in America I earn in dollars and pay in dollars ie: $1.99 for an iTunes show. Here in the UK I earn in pounds and pay in pounds £1.89. Long story short, it is not 60 cents more than in the US unless you are earning in dollars and spending dollars to buy something in Sterling.
- sspooner, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6Huh ? You're not making any sense whatsoever. You have to look at either the proportion of total salary used up by purchasing an iTunes video, or use some other equalizer, like the price of a a gallon of fuel or something. You'll find the percentage of gross salary you're paying is approximately double what we pay in the US.
I'm actually a Brit that moved to California several years ago and I'm constantly surprised by how expensive the UK is in proportion to the average salary.
The UK has systematically been ripped off for years and paying ludicrous sales tax (VAT to you). You pay 17.5% sales tax. The sales tax I pay in Silicon Valley is amongst the highest in the country and it's only 8.25%. You also pay far more income tax that I do. I earn over $150k and my effective tax rate is less that 28% I'd be up in the 40% range in the UK. In short, you're paying twice as much for just about everything, except beer in the UK.- meatmcguffin, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4Us Brits get generally higher salaries (especially in London), higher minimum wages, free healthcare and cheaper higher education. It all balances out in the end.
But yeah, we are still getting ripped off :P - jasarien, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I don't see how you can disagree by saying that it all balances out in the end, but then agree that we are getting ripped off. Which is it? One or the other?
- meatmcguffin, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4Us Brits get generally higher salaries (especially in London), higher minimum wages, free healthcare and cheaper higher education. It all balances out in the end.
- coldfusion1970, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Its amazing how few people 'get it'.
Just because something is cheaper in Spain or the USA, it doesnt mean that we are being ripped off.
There are all kinds of economic factors which dictate the price for things sold in this country (higher wages for employees and higher VAT for starters).
I think 1.89 for a TV show is a very good price (free would be better).
Now they just need to get some Smallville and Stargate episodes online.
- sspooner, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6Huh ? You're not making any sense whatsoever. You have to look at either the proportion of total salary used up by purchasing an iTunes video, or use some other equalizer, like the price of a a gallon of fuel or something. You'll find the percentage of gross salary you're paying is approximately double what we pay in the US.
- Akaramu, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Wrong.
Based on minimum wage UK (5.35) vs California minimum wage (7.50) a 40 hour week job works out as 0.5% weekly income for a £1 coke in the UK vs 0.3% weekly income for a $1 coke in California. It really is costing us more effort for a coke than people in california. They don't call it Rip Off Britain for nothing.- coldfusion1970, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1How many people do you know who earn a minimum wage?
I certainly dont. - jasarien, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Just because you don't know many people earning minimum wage doesn't mean there aren't any... You just don't know them. A lot of people earn minimum wage.
- coldfusion1970, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1How many people do you know who earn a minimum wage?
- drewpost, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9If you are doing a straight conversion rate then yes but that does not work in real life. Look at it this way. A bottle of Coca Cola from a vending machine in say Los Angeles will cost $1.00 that same bottle of coke would cost £1.00 in a London vending machine. Now if I am an American on holiday in London I am going to pay £1 for that bottle of Coke but since the currency that i earn my income in, the dollar, is only worth 50 pence, then I must pay $2.00 to pay for £1.00 (roughly) The difference is is that people here in the UK are earning in Pound Sterling and they don't have the currency conversion rate because they are spending in the currency the earn in. So in America I earn in dollars and pay in dollars ie: $1.99 for an iTunes show. Here in the UK I earn in pounds and pay in pounds £1.89. Long story short, it is not 60 cents more than in the US unless you are earning in dollars and spending dollars to buy something in Sterling.
- JoeDiggsIt, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5Was I the only one who was unaware this hadn't already happened?
- Patlutz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+17When will it be Canada's turn!?
- MonkeyBoy87, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I am beginning to wonder if Canada offended his Steveness in some way. we get dvd's on Tuesday just like the USA. the movies release here at the same day as in USA but not TV in itunes. I would seriously stop ussing BitTorrent if I could get the stuff for my ipod and apple tv from iTunes store.
- NicP, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Now all we need is video in the Australia store please :)
- KMehthas, on 10/10/2007, -0/+16*checks iTunes for Canadian video store...
*sigh* - ronmexico, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6If the title said it all, then why the long description?
- HanSolo69, on 10/10/2007, -5/+1"I am proud to bring you: the iTunes Hugh Grant store."
- CCmachined, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1btw are you HanSolo from http://cubeengine.com ?
- Kelmon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I wish - at least then there'd be some local content rather than all these US shows...
- akhomerun, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1If the title said it all then why was there a description?
HanSolo69 beat me to it... - Steeple, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3wow, apart from south park and kim possible it's a great big nothing, Lost ( pfft) loads of really bad Disney "screaming kid" shows...live from Jongleurs is a stand up comedian show filmed in Canada with alot of brit contributors, it's funny, but it's one of those watch-it-if-nothing-else-is-on things
- Akaramu, on 10/10/2007, -3/+6Minimum Wage UK: £5.35 per hour
40 Hour Week: £214 pounds
Percent of weekly income for coke (£1): 0.5% (rounded)
vs
Minimum Wage California: $7.50
40 Hour Week: $300
Percent of weekly income for coke ($1): 0.3% (rounded)
So yes, the UK is paying out more in pure time/benefit, yes we are usually getting ripped off by large companies coming from the US, they don't call it Rip Off Britain here for nothing.- coldfusion1970, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1And where do your 'math skills' account for costs in manufacturing and selling of the product in the UK?
- jisatsusha, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0It doesn't really make any difference, most products are produced in China anyway.
- shinyhappydan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Perhaps you could explain why the EXTRA cost of manufacturing (lol) and selling the product in the UK amounts to 91% of the original US price?
- CedanticPunt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You pay £1 for a coke? It's more like 60-70p tops, and that's in London.
- stephend, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Not for a 500ml bottle you don't.
- Kelmon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I'm a British Citizen living in Belgium. Believe me you've seen nothing until you've lived here. Britain is cheap as chips in comparison, except for the booze. My first year's car insurance here was EUR 2000 for a poxy Ford Focus - the same car would have cost me something like around GBP 300 in the UK to insure.
We here a lot about Rip-off Britain but it's not really true but we believe it because the Daily Mail tells us it's true.- iDrinkKoolAid, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1i'm moving to the UK from the U.S. in a month for grad. skool and their prices are scary, especially for computers and consumer electronics. i thought it was bad when it was £1 = $1.50 (U.S.). now it's like friggin' two bucks per pound sterling, and it really hurts us americans with our depressed currency. i did find that some things were cheaper though, like baked beans, cereal, and bread. we here in the in U.S. pay two bucks a loaf for ***** factory-made wonderbread. I've heard that people in I.T. make bucketloads of money the UK, although this is anecdotal.
- synagence, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Define Bucketloads?
IT Consultant working for large IT firm as Oracle DBA getting £53,000+
And yes ... for being a consultant i get to work more than 40 hours a week ... live 5 days away from home (in hotel) and spend 10 hours a week travelling home (on top of the 40+ hours).
- synagence, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Define Bucketloads?
- iDrinkKoolAid, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1i'm moving to the UK from the U.S. in a month for grad. skool and their prices are scary, especially for computers and consumer electronics. i thought it was bad when it was £1 = $1.50 (U.S.). now it's like friggin' two bucks per pound sterling, and it really hurts us americans with our depressed currency. i did find that some things were cheaper though, like baked beans, cereal, and bread. we here in the in U.S. pay two bucks a loaf for ***** factory-made wonderbread. I've heard that people in I.T. make bucketloads of money the UK, although this is anecdotal.
- coldfusion1970, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1And where do your 'math skills' account for costs in manufacturing and selling of the product in the UK?
- Akaramu, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11Its all a bit pointless really, on top of ripoff prices we get a shoddy selection and most likely far later than it is released in the US anyway. Is it any wonder why we're the leading TV pirates in the world? Because we're sick of waiting for shows that have no logical reason to be withheld. UK Video store? Meh, back to P2P.
- REBELinBLUE, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Yeah, I agree 100%. I'll continue to download shows from P2P and then buy them when they are released on DVD. Oddly enough I've just ordered one that I downloaded when it was on, BSG season 3 is out in the UK on monday, yet there is no release date for the US, I guess we do get some things first :|
- shadekeiko, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5...kim possible is classic?
- Dorepoll, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Can't wait until Australia gets this. Problem is, local programming here sucks, which is why a lot of us resort to the internet anyway.
If iTunes had Weeds, 30 Rock, The Office, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, South Park and Scrubs in their Australian store, I would be happy to buy them rather than bittorrent.- Mossa, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Amen to that.. They're definitely missing a trick. Instead of spending on DRM & law suits how about earning by making the things available to those who can ONLY get then by P2P! Good grief they already know we want them!!!!
- omnis, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0the title says it all. but just in case, here's some more information...
- FrankieAngels, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3This is definitely a step in the right direction for us in the U.K., just a shame it's expensive compared to the U.S.
- Rovient, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Lol as with everything. It's ok because if you get into a massive car accident in the UK, all you have to worry about is getting well again, not whether you're covered.
- coldfusion1970, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Well thats not really an issue as i dont live in the US.
So as long as the prices are comparable (or even slightly cheaper) than other UK services, then thats fine.
- rtilford, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8about time we got videos shame there is not anything worth watching on there
- Rovient, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Dugg down because the author used "The title says it all" and then continued to explain. Sick to death of reading that ultra slick sentence. It's totally lost it's meaning.
- CCmachined, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12DRM? no thanks.
£1.89 each--that's a steep $3.81 in today's weak US dollar, compared to the $1.99 US episode costs
big WTF? this happened with 79p / 99¢ songs also! eps should be more like £1... and then theyd sell! - aliguana, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Amazon > Handbrake > iPod/AppleTV/PS3/Xbox ftw. OK, Apple have done some of the donkey work and encoded them for lazy people, but come on... unless their video store has the choice that your average DVD outlet has, and sells without DRM, then what is the point?
- Kelmon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I'm prepared to give it time. Ripping takes sodding ages and I'm happy to pay for someone else to do this for me. It's quite true that the initial offering is pretty poor but the US store did develop pretty well so I'm expecting the same here.
- r3zonance, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1The £1.89 price tag isn't that steep when set against the cost of a 5-minute music video. Quit whining, we all know we "get ripped off" in the UK so why did you all of a sudden expect this to be any different.
And I'd guess it's not Apple doing the ripping off, it'll be content owners and the UK government in the form of taxes (and maybe even Apple's providers of bandwidth too).- moisie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Music videos are of potentially more limited appeal and don't have any specific other retail market. I don't paying more per minute (maybe not £1.89) but when compared with DVD and the options of watching these things on TV this is too much. Most of these shows you can find on some channel probably every day.
- MartyMcSly, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Doing a quick conversion at XE.com (which apple obviously doesn't think the average person is capable of) reveals that the prices should be £0.99 and £1.16-£1.17 with 17.5% VAT added. As it stands the UK is getting absolutely shafted as usual. Yet we lie down and take it - so I guess we only really have ourselves to blame. Sad but true.
- r3zonance, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1So you expect Apple to calculate the prices everytime somebody makes a purchase? That's hardly a realistic proposition. And besides, no company takes the direct exchange rate EVER. They always have a percentage on top for the handling fees they'll be charged.
What businesses do is provide an average rate + their percentage and this then provides a consistent experience to the consumer. It's all about managing their expectation, while still turning a profit (which let's face it, is what a business exists for). I wouldn't like it if I bought a song for 40p, then next day 54p and the day after 27p and then 60p.
- r3zonance, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1So you expect Apple to calculate the prices everytime somebody makes a purchase? That's hardly a realistic proposition. And besides, no company takes the direct exchange rate EVER. They always have a percentage on top for the handling fees they'll be charged.
- mrblack, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1well its interesting you see. Apple are currently getting probed by the EU because of unfair practices relating to ITMS. Basically we have to have free unrestricted trade between all countries. So I should be able to buy music from Germany at the cheaper rate. More about that over here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6520677.stm
- r3zonance, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1"So I should be able to buy music from Germany at the cheaper rate."
The restriction on the purchasing of music is all down to the licencing bodies in the specific countries. While the purchasing at a cheaper rate would look good on the face of it, you would be charged to your card in Euros. Living in the UK, banks and credit card companies, see this an Overseas transaction, and as a result would charge you around 1 GBP per transaction, so your 0.55 GBP (or whatever it works out as) would actually cost you 1.55 GBP, which isn't cheaper is it?
But as the restriction on purchasing is down to the music licencing bodies of particular regions, it's a bit of a moot point really, and not Apple's fault.
- r3zonance, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1"So I should be able to buy music from Germany at the cheaper rate."
- moisie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I buy lots of shows on DVD, I pay for Satellite TV, there is no way I'm paying this much for iTunes downloads. Music Videos are different because you can't really get them elsewhere and you're only going to want the odd one, but this is too much.
- MartyMcSly, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3Please fellow brits I emplore you not to buy this tripe! If we show our complete and utter distain for their disgusting pricing and terribly banal selection maybe they'll think twice about selling us old rope for hard-earned cash. Cheers.
- Kelmon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Sorry, I bought a show. My theory is that there's no chance the price will change and if it proves popular then we'll get more content.
- Anteros, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2DVDs are better value, higher quality, include extras and don't have drm restrictions. If you want to watch recent programs whenever you want, you would be better of buying a DVR. It also makes no sense to price shows like southpark the same as shows like lost which are double in length.
- fLUx1337, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10OK, for the record:
Xbox 360 games = £39.99, $80.52
PS3 console (60GB) = £399, $805
iTunes songs (with DRM, 99cents US ones) = £0.79, $1.59
iTunes TV episodes = £1.89, $3.81
Now, you americans better stop moaning about your prices, when we pay FAR more! lol- MartyMcSly, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3Probably would have made more sense doing dollar-dollar comparisons mate!
- shinyhappydan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0And the justification for the 91% price hike is...?
- r3zonance, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It aligns with Apple's usual tiny profit margin, after the agreed prices with those responsible for the licencing of the content.
- Kelmon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1This is a bit disappointing. We've waited 2-years for this and the content is pretty much what the US iTunes Store started with. I thought the delay was for sorting out some local content. I'm not bothered about the price (all things are relative) but I'd like to see some local content rather than just US shows.
I bought an episode of Commander In Chief to see how things work and what the quality is like. - ricodued, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I just want Top Gear on iTS. That's ALL I want.
- ant4177, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1One question; will we get shows as they are shown in the US or months later when they are shown over here. All this means nothing if we still have to wait.
- r3zonance, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I'd imagine we'd have to wait, otherwise the US networks would not be able to make that much money selling the "rights to broadcast" in the UK.
- DaviDaviDaviD, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Finally :) PMR should be a good watch. Suite life for my little sister, something for everyone! Price is a little steep though :( Oh DRM, damn.
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