I wrote a post well over 2 years ago about how us South African’s couldn’t buy music on iTunes and that the alternatives we do have are well below par. Well, I thought I’d write a follow up post on how easy it is to actually buy music (and iPhone / iPod Touch applications) on iTunes. So here is a quick guide on how to buy music from iTunes in South Africa.

Setup a U.S. based iTunes account

In order to do this, you need to download any free iPhone app from the U.S. iTunes app store, create a new account, select None when they ask for your payment method and fill in the rest of the information. Simple?

Here is a step by step guide:

Click on iTunes Store in the left sidebar of iTunes. Make sure you are in the U.S. store, but scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking the circle icon and selecting United States.

Once you are in the US iTunes store, find the Free Apps section in the right sidebar of the page, hover over any of those apps, and click the Free link. A popup window will appear where you must click the Create New Account button. Follow the next few steps until they ask for payment. Make sure you use a valid email address, as you going to need it to validate your account.

On the Provide a Payment Method screen, make sure you select NONE.

Fill in the rest of the details using fake details you can generate using the Fake Name Generator website. Don’t worry, Apple won’t ever use these details.

Once that step is complete, iTunes will send you a confirmation email. You need to click the link in that email to verify the account. Once you have done that, you are now the proud owner of an U.S. iTunes account. Click on the Sign In link in the top right corner to login.

Buying music from iTunes

Once you have your U.S. iTunes account setup, you are going to need to buy iTunes gift cards that you can load into your account to spend. There are 2 websites that come recommended:

• iTunes Express (I have personally used this service without any problems)
• MediaWoB (recommended by friends)

Once you have purchased the gift card, you’ll receive an email from them with a code. Click on the Redeem link under the Quick Links section (top right of iTunes Store), enter the Gift Card code and off you go!

You should now see your email address next to the value of your gift card loaded in the status bar like the image below:

You can now buy music and apps from the iTunes store!

Disclaimer: This does violate the terms of conditions of the iTunes store, but the music industry in SA need to catch a wake up. There is no decent place to buy music online in South Africa. At least this way, you aren’t pirating music (the artist is getting paid), the only people suffering are the record labels in SA who won’t get their commission.

Hat tip goes to Marc Forrest. Read his blog for some excellent iPhone related tips and tricks.