iTunes still not available in some EU countries. Here's why

Some EU countries still can't access iTunes—for which consumers can thank a music licensing system that won't allow digital stores to operate across geographic borders. But the European Commission is now pushing record labels and collecting societies into the Internet age and has announced its first successes. ars technica reports.

Last year, European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes raised questions about the strange state of the European music market. "Why is it possible to buy a CD from an online retailer and have it shipped to anywhere in Europe, but it is not possible to buy the same music, by the same artist, as an electronic download with similar ease?" she asked. "Why do pan-European services find it so difficult to get a pan-European license? Why do new, innovative services find licensing to be such a hurdle?"

This year, she intends to do something about the problem, which has resulted in low growth rates for digital content sales.

emily | 9:53 AM | News, Buzz |
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