European iTunes Music Stores Now Accept Firstgate’s Click & Buy

“We think giving our iTunes customers the option to use the Click & Buy payment option is going to be a hit,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Applications. “And, with over 15,000 iTunes affiliates in the US, the introduction of our affiliate program to Europe will drive even more customers to the world’s best online music store, while providing affiliate websites a quick and easy way to generate commissions.”

All iTunes Music Stores offer the same innovative features, breakthrough pricing and seamless integration with iPod® that have made iTunes the number one online music service in the world. Since its launch just two years ago, the iTunes Music Store has extended its reach to more than 70 percent of the global music market with stores in 19 countries and more than 400 million songs purchased and downloaded worldwide. The iTunes Music Store offers the largest online catalog of music in the world, featuring songs from all four major music companies and over 1,000 independent record labels with catalogs around the world averaging over one million songs each.

Every iTunes Music Store offers Mac® and PC users the same innovative features such as iMix, Party Shuffle, audiobooks, the ability to create and print stunning jewel case inserts, and automatic WMA to AAC conversion. iTunes has most recently added the ability for customers to download videos with select albums and singles, as well as the ability to pre-order albums. All iTunes Music Stores feature the same groundbreaking personal use rights, giving users the ability to play songs on up to five personal computers, burn a single song onto CDs an unlimited number of times, burn the same playlist up to seven times and listen to their music on an unlimited number of iPods.

Affiliates that sign up for the iTunes Affiliate Program (www.apple.com/nl/itunes/affiliates) between today and June 30th will be automatically entered to win an iPod*. Many labels and artists alike have already signed up for the program, and Clear Channel’s ticket site www.getlive.co.uk, as well as Hit40UK and xfm, will have integrated links from their sites directly into the iTunes Music Store.

Pricing & Availability
iTunes for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Music Store and is available as a free download immediately from www.itunes.com. Purchase and download of songs from the iTunes Music Store for Mac or Windows requires a valid billing option with a billing address in the country of purchase. The Firstgate Click & Buy program is not available to iTunes Music Store customers in Switzerland.

* Terms apply. For further details, please visit www.apple.com/nl/itunes/affiliates