iTunes. Why can I only buy Canadian?

(The following I wrote in response to a piece that appeared in "Raise the Hammer", an on-line publication out of Hamilton, Ontario. The article juxtaposed the advent of the Apple Corporation's new "iPhone" with the development of the "Childrens Machine", a third world-directed product being made under the ausipices of the "one computer per child" movement. The article made me think of something else a little more, well, selfish in any event). If you want to read the original article go here:


Interesting piece. Not to stray to far from the topic at hand, but I have a comment/question about iTunes and digital rights.

I firmly believe in paying artists for their work by not using on-line services to share music files. As such, I purchase only from Napster and iTunes (and other artist official sites). Well....mostly iTunes because I like how music synchs seamlessly with my iPod, which I love, which I know is evil at some levels.

However, other iTunes users will know that each country has its own iTunes store. With a Canadian address on my credit card, I can buy only from the Canadian iTunes store. Why is that? The U.S. iTunes store has all sorts of stuff, like movies and TV shows which I cannot pay for legitimately. The U.K. store has all sorts of music I'd love to purchase, but can't because it isn't available in the Canadian store.

Can someone explain to me why, with the technology we have, I am not able to purchase these things? Doesn't iTunes U.K./U.S. want my money? What sort of "rights" things are going on here? I just don't get it.