The iTunes store for US residents is 10 times better than the Canada one. The US one has a huge selection of TV shows and you can’t rent movies from it. They aren’t available in Canada due to some licensing issues. I don’t think I really want to rent movies on my iPhone, but storing some TV shows on it to watch on it or my Apple TV would be cool.
Here is how you get an US iTunes account:
1. Buy an iTunes gift card in the USA or buy a code from ebay
I bought a $15 card at a gas station in the states. There is lots available on ebay though.
2. Open iTunes. Sign out of your current account if you are logged in. You will have to create a new iTunes store account with a different email address.
3. Enter the gift card redemption code.
4. Make up an address. I made up an address in Oregon since they have no state tax there and the US iTunes store will charge you state tax. At the bottom where it says optional then lists different credit card types, select none as you wont be able to use a credit card. You will have to refill your account with gift cards.
5. You are done. Enjoy. The TV shows are usually $1.99 and include shows like The Office, Lost, CSI, CSI Miami, etc. All of my favorite shows. It’s a big step up from the Canadian store which only sells Degrassi and Corner Gas bascially.
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2 Pings to “Canadians: How to set up a US iTunes Store Account”
29 Responses to “Canadians: How to set up a US iTunes Store Account”
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1. jewels Says:
May 21st, 2008 at 10:08 amWhat kind of things have you purchased with your itunes card from the states? Does it really work? Never considered trying that before. Let me know - thanks!
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2. ruffdeezy Says:
May 21st, 2008 at 10:26 amI actually haven’t bought anything yet but I plan to buy a couple shows and rent a movie or two. There’s also some music available in the US iTunes store that isn’t available in the Canadian one. It does work though, I know it has worked for others. It shows I have the money in the account so there shouldn’t be any problems.
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3. Anonymous Says:
May 21st, 2008 at 2:38 pmThanks very much for this. Seeing how simple it is, I’m going to take the leap with a smaller gift card the get renting- unlocking the full power of my AppleTV!
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4. ruffdeezy Says:
May 21st, 2008 at 6:28 pmYeah the main reason I did it was to use it for my Apple TV.
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5. Anonymous Says:
May 29th, 2008 at 5:19 pmJust tried this. Bought card off ebay. Downloading tv show from US itunes as I write this. Awesome advice, thank you so much.
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6. ruffdeezy Says:
May 29th, 2008 at 7:08 pmAwesome, enjoy!
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7. John Mark Says:
June 7th, 2008 at 4:50 pmGo to http://www.itunesexpress.net as they sell us iTunes gift certificates and are really fast it I’d better for me as I used to drive down to the US a lot and always got a couple of gift certificates but idont anymore. Thank God for this site
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8. ruffdeezy Says:
June 7th, 2008 at 5:19 pmThat site doesn’t seem to work for me
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9. Derek Says:
July 5th, 2008 at 6:41 amWell it works brilliantly for me, they have EXCELLENT SERVICE you must go to them
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10. ruffdeezy Says:
July 18th, 2008 at 8:03 amWorks now
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11. Partners in Grime Says:
July 27th, 2008 at 1:46 pmNot sure about state sales tax but I hear many folks are using 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CA 95014 as their fake address. Making a little statement there, I suppose. :)
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12. Crewser Says:
July 29th, 2008 at 5:35 pmIn the EhMac forum one person said they had issues when the synced back to the Canadian iTunes site. Has anyone else experienced this? I am still waiting for my iPhone and this App is the one that I want to get.
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13. Hey Crewser Says:
August 4th, 2008 at 1:16 amHey Crewser,
If you create a new US account, you will experience sync/listening rights problems with all content purchased on the Canadian account.
So don’t create a new US account if u dont need to. Simply go to your account settings and to the right of hte “country: CAN” label, click change, and follow the rest of the process
Hence your account is converted to a US account.
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14. Ben Says:
August 5th, 2008 at 3:48 pmI just bought a card off http://www.itunesexpress.net,
When I typed the code in to the redeem box, the system says the code they gave me was suspended.
I contacted the seller to see if he is going to give me another replacement one that works.
I will follow up the story and give you guys updates of this business’s credibility.
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15. ruffdeezy Says:
August 11th, 2008 at 9:50 amI don’t recommend anyone using itunesexpress.net as many people are reporting that they are having problems getting the codes to work and getting their money back.
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16. Dwayne Says:
August 13th, 2008 at 6:08 pmI’m going to ask a stupid question….why are all (or at least most) of the iTunes cards on ebay selling for more than face value? Why would someone pay more than $50 for a $50 card?
Surely I’m missing something.
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17. ruffdeezy Says:
August 13th, 2008 at 7:50 pm@ Dwayne
I’m not entirely sure but it could just be a lot of Canadians and others buying them up and willing to pay extra to get access to the US store instead of going across the border. -
18. Ben Says:
August 14th, 2008 at 8:28 amWell… regarding itunesexpress.net….
I asked for my money back, and guess what, the seller stopped communicating with me…
Can i report him to the police or something…
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19. ruffdeezy Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 5:38 am@ Ben
Did you pay by paypal? If so you can get your money back that way. If he has a lot of paypal claims against him, I’m sure there will be some consequences. -
20. Louis Says:
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:17 amDo not use itunesexpress.net. codes are no good and the guy is a cheat and liar.
I have sent over twebty mails and he always plays dumb
Avoid like the pest
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21. generalinq Says:
September 28th, 2008 at 10:51 amFolks,
I just set up an account using the redemption code from:
http://www.tunecore.com/freealbumI’m downloading all the free apps I want from the iTunes store. Apparently the redemption codes expire in a few days but I do not know if that means we won’t be able to login anymore or simply ‘new’ people won’t be able to login. Anyhow, works perfectly so far. You have to logout of your existing CDN account and create a new account using an address in the states (pick an address with no sales sax if you plan on purchasing items..here’s a list that shows which states have sales tax: http://www.taxadmin.org/FTA/rate/sales.html
However..I want to download the latest Prison Break episode but I’m not sure if I can simply add my credit card to the account or not. There is an option for paypal as well but it points to the US paypal which I do not have. Not sure if I can switch it to CDN paypal, I’ll try again. Anyone have any experience downloading pay items and if so which methods did you use?
Thanks. OH by the way..if you are in the US app store, check out UrbanSpoon..really cool app. Not sure why they don’t offer it in the CDN app store..
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22. echo Says:
January 1st, 2009 at 1:15 pmI recently bought a USD50 iTunes voucher from http://www.itunesexpress.net. It was just after Christmas. I didn’t hear from him after more than 24 hours so I emailed his email address listed on his PayPal account. Unfortunately the email bounced back, I got nervous and filed a PayPal claim. Upon filing the claim, I heard back from the seller immediately, and got my iTunes code. Everything was fine, the code worked and I cancelled the claim. Will buy from him again.
@generalinq
Urbanspoon is available from the CDN AppStore. I’ve had it on my iPhone for months now.
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23. Me Says:
January 16th, 2009 at 5:14 pmCan you use a candian gift card instead of an american 1?
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24. Me Says:
January 16th, 2009 at 5:19 pmin stead of using an american one has anyone tried to use a canadian but say they are in the states? try and tell me
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25. HBKitty Says:
March 5th, 2009 at 6:09 pmYOU DON’T NEED A VOUCHER OR GIFT CARD
If you want an American iTunes account just log out of the Canadian iTunes go to the bottom of the page and change to the US store ( you can click on the Canadian flag to open all the iTunes Stores in the world, then click on the US flag ), once you’re in the US iTunes click on the App Store, then pick a free app to download in the App Store, click download at which point a pop up will ask you to log in. Click on open new account and enter your email ( this must be different than your Canadian iTunes log in email address ), name and a valid US address. The address can belong to anyone ie: a company, a friend ect. it just has to have a street, town and zip code that match or the program will flag it as not valid. Also make sure to get a phone number with the right area code for the address you use. Click on no credit card option for a free account or if you want to buy things I recommend using the Vanilla Mastercard Gift Card you can pick up almost anywhere, like Shoppers Drug Mart, Money Mart and 7-11. They don’t nickel and dime you for foreign transactions or have a transaction fee. Very important if you’re just buying a song for 99 cents. They charged me just $1.29 Canadian. When the card has no money left you just need to log in and change the Credit Card info… simple enough. Now for the best part… you can get all the TV shows and Movies they have in the American iTunes store which we don’t have in the Canadian iTunes. Happy shopping : )
Oooh and if you want to have an account in other iTunes from around the world you can do the same. Not sure if the Gift Cards will work but you can always give it a try and if it doesn’t work you can always set up the account with no credit card. There is an option button for no credit card, just click this and set up all the rest as described above with whatever address for that country. For example, just Google ( address Paris France ) and use what you like. They often even have phone numbers too. Many iTunes stores have free songs every week.
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26. marmite Says:
March 31st, 2009 at 6:34 amThank you HB Kitty, I’ll try this out later today!
:) -
27. Kittie Says:
March 31st, 2009 at 7:00 amYou can use this to get the Skype app and the Kindle app
This works or you can you a US$ visa (like TD CanadaTrust offers) and a friends US address -
28. Lyle Says:
April 14th, 2009 at 1:05 pmHBKitty
Have you actually done this yourself?
I just went to follow your instructions and obviously the first few lines of the iTunes contract go something like “if you are in the United States only” and “you agree not to use or attempt to use in any other location”.Later on, near the bottom it says something about if you violate this agreement, blah blah blah,
So I wonder, before I jeopardize my iTunes acc’t and ability to use my iPhone, has anyone actually, in real life, tried this?
Or are we all waiting to see someone else do it?
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August 18th, 2008 at 7:01 am
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