Troubleshooting iTunes Music Store: Songs not available if you leave the country

Upon reading the fine print in Apple's iTunes Music Store license agreement, you will notice the following paragraph:

"Purchases from the iTunes Music Store are available only in the United States and are not available in any other location. You agree not to use or attempt to use the service from outside of the available territory. Apple may use technologies to verify such compliance."

This means that Apple has the right to deny your ability to play and burn songs when you have traveled outside the United States. Since the iTunes Music Store is currently only available in the U.S., international users and frequent travelers appear to be out of luck.

Shawn Yeager writes about his experience with this issue:

"I just received a harsh lesson in DRM and record label-driven policy that may be of interest to those on your lists who are Apple customers and may be leaving the United States in the future. Having purchased a number of songs from the Apple Music Store while in the US and using a US funds credit card, I regrettably didn't read the fine print. I've now discovered that if you leave the country, your songs may just disappear, as mine have.

"I've recently moved to Canada and just this week had a problem with my PowerBook that called for me undertaking a reinstall. After firing up iTunes and attempting to play purchased songs, I was asked to reauthorize those songs, using the Apple ID associated with the purchase. No problem, I thought. This is the Apple Music Store, not PressPlay or MusicNet. I paid for these songs and they're mine. Silly me. Apparently, if you change your contact address and/or have your US credit card address changed, as I did, you are no longer able to play the songs you paid for while on US soil.

"[...] So, shame on me for not reading the fine print. But if you're spending money with Apple and plan a departure from the States any time soon, your money would be better spent on little round platters."

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