http://www.macstories.net/stories/the-great-disparity-in-global-itunes-prices/

Fortunately its not something I'm affected by but we come second in both categories of the 'getting the shaft' contest and we'd be overall winner since japan & sweden who won the different categories were only moderately ripped off in the other one.

I'm beginning to think that these companies only operate because there's a funk fan in the australian govenment and anytime they say shaft he goes "Oh I can dig it!"

If you hadn't of forced Paul Hogan on us we wouldn't have had to stoop to these measures.

What about Men at Work?

That is pretty fucking awful. Although, why is Mexico cheaper? I'm not sure I understand that. Though I'm pretty sure my proudly Mexican-descended brother would jump on that as proof that Mexicans are better.

When you have the biggest shaft in the world, you should be the one screwing other countries. Be proud of your huge shaft!

That's reason to drop the bomb right there. That fucking song still plays when I go to department stores and low-end restaurants.

I would have pulled the trigger after tasting that mucky beer they export. I wouldn't clean my toilets with Fosters or Castlemaine.

The research is flawed. As stated in some of the comments, many countries have tax included in the price (the US doesn't). Tax in the UK is currently 20% and given the table about music purchases shows that the UK pay 21% more than the US (before tax) price, it's a non-issue.

I don't know whether other regions have tax included in the price or not, but I think most of the European countries do at least?

All EU prices include VAT at 21% regardles of what the actual countries VAT rate is. It's why Eurolanders get so upset at the price hike over the UK price which usually boils down to £29.99 = €49.99. There is no justification for this other than good old fashioned price gouging.

I agree, but that's the same for most digital distributors and not just iTunes. Until distributors adopt the single currency model (as highlighted in the article), there are always going to be countries where people are charged more.

It might be interesting to investigate how much tax is paid in each of the countries included in the article and whether tax is included pre- or post-checkout.

I still laugh when people come to Australia and ask for Fosters. That stuff is CRAP - and the funniest thing is it's SO hard to find in Australia. Australians do NOT drink Fosters, period. It's a myth - it's what we EXPORT overseas. Don't even ask me why.

Seriously, if you rate us because of Fosters (and Castlemaine for that matter - never heard of that one and I've sampled nearly every beer there is here over the years) then you need to come over here and be amazed. It's like saying Russians ONLY drink Vodka and do that weird Russian line dance, whilst Texans ALL wear cowboy hats and masturbate bulls.

Midnight Oil was inexcusable.

No, Midnight Oil were one of the driving forces of Australian pub rock and a defining component of the 70s, 80s & 90s alongside AC/DC, Cold Chisel, Rose Tattoo, INXS, The Angels & Icehouse amongst others.

If my suspicion is right, you've heard one maybe two of their songs and due to the unimaginative repetition of radio, you've heard them so often that the very thought of them makes you want to claw your ears off. Same goes for complaints about Men At Work.

Not really, its applied psychology. In the discworld book Maskerade, there's a famous opera singer called Enrico Basilica from Brindisi who packs houses in Anhk Morpork every night because everyone wants to hear the foreign genius and feel cultured. In reality Enrico is actually Henry Slugg, born & bred in Anhk Morpork but he relocated, changed his name and then came back because people are far more enamoured with the foreign mystique than the local colour.

In short, even if its swill, people will buy it if it sounds exotic.