By default, iTunes will show you the store of the country in which you are located (more specifically, the country matching your credit card billing address). But it is possible to change the country of the iTunes store, and explore items that are for sale in other countries' iTunes store. This tutorial explains how to change your country settings, and revert back to your original country's iTunes Store.
Change iTunes Store country
Follow these steps to change the country whose store you are visiting:
- If needed, open iTunes
- Click on "iTunes Store" in the left Sidebar
- Once the iTunes Store homepage loads, scroll all the way to the bottom
In the bottom right corner of the page, iTunes displays a round flag icon, representing the country of the store in which you are currently: click the flag button, as shown on the screenshot.- The next screen will display a list of flag representing all the countries that have a dedicated iTunes store (countries in which iTunes has a presence, and offers purchasable content).
- Click on the flag of the country whose iTunes Store you want to see
- iTunes will load the homepage of the country's iTunes Store, in one of the country's language
- You can surf that country's iTunes Store, preview audio and video content, etc.
- The problem comes when you try to purchase something from that country's store: currently, iTunes will only let you buy things from the country in which you have a credit card.
- In other words, if you have credit card from two countries, you will be able, by signing out of one Apple ID and logging to the iTunes Store of the other country with another ID, be able to purchase items from either country's iTunes Store. If not (if you only have a credit card for one of the two countries), iTunes will display the following message when you attempt to make a purchase in another country's store:
- If you're lucky, the item will be available in your country's store - otherwise, you'll need to purchase it from another online store (for audiobooks, for example, you can go to the German Audible site, the French one, etc.)
- Free items, like podcasts, don't have such billing restrictions, or restrictions on exports of intellectual property, so you'll be able to do much more with other country's free content.
This is how you can change country from the iTunes Store; hopefully, and probably, the purchasing limitations you face will fade and disappear over time, as old school businesses become more comfortable with online sales. The fear of (and battle against) piracy of all kinds is what drags down the progress of online distribution of copyrighted material. Since these hurdles annoy honest, paying customers, and do not stop dishonest ones, we are confident that day we see worldwide availability of anything isn't too far away.