ITunes Music Store

Update.-- I did find this iTunes Web page for music which uses the iTunes store to listen and download music, but still you need to know the artist than see the newest or recent music.

I've liked the various types of world music for a few decades, once I found sources to listen and buy the music from around the world, and for awhile the iTunes Music Store was a good source. I say was because they've slowly changed the world music section to be harder to actually find artists and the latest albums.

And today I went to the store to find the links in the world music section have changed and many don't work. I suspect they're switching over the design but it's really a WTF when it's just before Christmas to see the Asian music effectively unavailable unless you know specific artists.

I know Apple has had issues with Asian artists and music because of competition from the major music publishers who have exclusive contracts which don't include selling through the iTunes stores, such as Sony music.

That's a pity since many of the Asian artist would find a market here in the US. I have a number of albums from artist and use Amazon Japan to buy the CD's which I can't get in the US or in the iTunes store. It's a shame the companies can't work something out to market the music worldwide for people interested in the music.

Ok, a rant, and the point besides the obvious? Nothing except why did Apple redesign the world music section and links don't work just before Christmas? Well it's about finding music in the iTunes store. Try searching for recent or the latest from some countries.

Good luck there because they show a long list of artists but in many cases, they don't have any albums by those artists. And if you want to look for new artist or different artists in the same genre of a country, good luck because it sends you back to the main music page.

In short, the store is set to sell the latest American music and forget the world outside what they can sell. It would be cool if they could have a search by country similar to the regular pages, such as a drop down list by continent and then country.

That's not rocket science for the Apple developers, and it cetainly would sell more music. And then get agreements to sell more world music by the other music publishers who don't offer music here or have a store like iTunes where customer can listen and buy.

How about it Apple? Or don't you really care about world music and your customers?