# AppleTV Movie rentals in Canada: How can we do it?



## RobVee (Apr 11, 2008)

Have any of you figured out how to get US iTunes content in Canada, i.e., US TV shows and movie rentals?

I am investigating a few options. At first, I thought of pre-paying a friend in the US to give me a monthly allowance on his account, but that seems like a hassle to both of us. I go to the US a few times a year on business and I thought of buying a few iTunes Store gift cards, but I don't how Apple manages the security around redeeming a US gift card in Canada.

So, do any of you know how the iTunes rules work for gift cards and allowances? If one could figure this out, we could use a service like Access USA - The Leader In Package Forwarding to set up a US address to which we could send gift cards for forwarding on to Canada. 

I don't have an Apple TV, but I would love to own one for a variety of reasons and iTunes movie rentals is one of the biggies.


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## nick24 (Jul 11, 2006)

I believe the answer is something like...

1 - buy gift card
2 - change iTunes store to US and register using any US address and an email address not yet known to iTunes (ie one OTHER than the one you use to purchase stuff from iTunes Canada store)
3 - purchase and enjoy

See > http://www.ehmac.ca/ipod-itunes-iph...ada-has-different-content-than-itunes-us.html


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## Macified (Sep 18, 2003)

Since you have a friend in the US this will be easy.

Have your friend purchase an US iTunes gift card from any store or even online.

Your friend emails the redemption code found on the card to you.

You go the US iTunes store from within iTunes. Click on redeem card and enter all of your info. You will need to enter an American address (use your friends or make one up - 90210 anyone). You will also need a different email address from the one you use for your Canadian account but they can have the same password if you so choose.

You will now have an US iTunes account with the gift card value available to you. When you need more funds, have your friend buy another card and email the code. Just redeem it into your US account.

Wish I had a contact in the States who could get cards for me. If your friend is game you could set up a batch buy for your ehMac buddies. Anyone interested could PayPal funds to your friend who could then go out and buy a bunch of cards.


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## BikerRob (Sep 19, 2007)

VERY easy to do.

Go on ebay. Purchase a U.S. gift card. Log into iTunes Store. Choose Redeem Gift Card. Set up new account. Enter ANY U.S. address (go online, search for some store and find their full mailing address). Rent or Buy movies for download.
I have it all set up - took me no time to do it.


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## RobVee (Apr 11, 2008)

Thanks, you two, for the encouraging information. I was concerned that I needed a credit card with a US address even just to use the gift cards. It makes sense that asking for credit cards on every account would eliminate some of their best customers: teenagers who buy gift cards.

I was in Houston this week and I am kicking myself that I didn't have the nerve to pick up a couple of $100 gift cards. 

Hey, Macified, have you thought of using a US mail-forwarding service like Access USA - The Leader In Package Forwarding I have not used them, but I have a friend who mail orders a lot of alternative health stuff from the US from companies who do not ship to Canada and she is enthusiastic about that service. You could order yourself a gift card and send it to your US mailing address which automagically forwards on to your Canadian mailing address.


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## BikerRob (Sep 19, 2007)

Again, not sure why you'd go through the trouble ... type "itunes gift card" in an ebay search, and you'll be amazed at how many show up. Buy the card, the person emails you the info. I bought my card and was inputting it into my account within half an hour.


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## iamcrom (May 26, 2005)

*Buying it from eBay is risky!*

I also bought one from eBay in the past. The first one was fine. The problem happened on the second purchase.

Suddenly, I found myself not being able to download "Free song of the week" from US iTunes Store. It said something like "Your account is blocked. Please contact customer support." message when I tried to download it.

I contacted the support, and the support told me that my account is blocked since the original purchaser of "iTunes Gift Card" is doing a chargeback on the purchase. Because it was redeemed by my account, my account had to be blocked, and they took all my remaining balance. Thankfully, I only had about $5.00 left.

Since then, I am not buying it from eBay. If you buy it from eBay, try to use it up as fast as you can. (I believe PayPal is holding the payment for 21 days or something nowadays)


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## RobVee (Apr 11, 2008)

Hey, BikerRob, I know it looks like I wrote a rebuttal to your eBay comment, but I posted about the same time you did, do I hadn't read your note. 

Electronic purchase of iTunes credit is obviously the best way to go and I had not thought of the eBay angle, so thank you for that. 

I am concerned about iamcrom's comments. Do you have a trusted eBay seller or precautions that can help reduce risk in eBay transactions?


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## Z06jerry (Mar 16, 2005)

I have purchased from here without any problems .... 

$25 ITUNES GIFT CARD CODE -- *DIGITAL DELIVERY* - (eBay.ca item 130206668251 end time 21-Mar-08 17:11:56 EDT)


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## BikerRob (Sep 19, 2007)

No worries, RobVee!

I've only purchased a couple of cards and haven't run into the problem that iamcrom had ... not sure how rampant that would be on ebay - if you go with someone with a high rating of positives ... should be good.


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## lreynolds (Dec 28, 2005)

I've also done the eBay giftcard route, and it worked great. Last time I checked, the rental selection was sparse, but it was amazing to realize that we have reached the point where we can rent a movie instantly (almost) without leaving our living room.


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## Fisto (Nov 27, 2003)

Has anybody else noticed that they're now offering 99 cent rentals on iTunes. I'm assuming much the same as their single of the week or preview content for tv shows. I just rented Bulletproof Monk for 99 cents. Don't know what to expect but can you complain for 99 cents!!!:clap: 

Now if only they could only extend the 24 hour limit.


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## Macified (Sep 18, 2003)

I have used eBay with both success and utter failure.

Apple seems to be watching for card re-sellers and is shutting them down. I had one seller whose cards kept coming up as "canceled" when I tried to redeem. Fortunately the seller wasn't an ass and gave me back my money after five cards failed.

You might get lucky but be warned, having a friend who can do it for you is far safer.

Good luck.


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## RISCHead (Jul 20, 2004)

There are enough guidelines about best practices purchase methods from ebay and other such sites. Read, research, use your common sense and in general you'll be fine. Once in a while you may get screwed, but generally statistically no worse than anything else.

I don't really see an issue with ebay purchases if you're sensible about it.


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## ruffdeezy (Mar 17, 2008)

i am streaming from one computer, and have my itunes canada account set up on apple tv, can you have two accounts on apple tv, would I have to have the us account set up on one computer and the canada one on the other, or can i just login to the us one on one computer when i want to access movies and tv shows?


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## RISCHead (Jul 20, 2004)

With Apple TV Take2, you can login directly from the Apple TV to your iTunes account. You can only logon to one account at a time.
It doesn't matter (I don't think?) what iTunes account your computer is logged onto... though I could be wrong.


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## 11thIndian (Feb 5, 2008)

Hopefully we won't have to jump through all these hoops by the end of the year- but this is Canada, so who knows!


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## guytoronto (Jun 25, 2005)

Since you can't legally do it in Canada, why are you paying to do it illegally when BitTorrent is free?


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## fjnmusic (Oct 29, 2006)

Good question, Guy. Quality, perhaps?


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## RISCHead (Jul 20, 2004)

guytoronto said:


> Since you can't legally do it in Canada, why are you paying to do it illegally when BitTorrent is free?


Good collection of movies and rentals that I can browse and start watching in under 30 secs. Beats going to the rental store and Rogers VoD.


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

guytoronto said:


> Since you can't legally do it in Canada, why are you paying to do it illegally when BitTorrent is free?


False premise.

If it were ILLEGAL to do it in Canada, Apple would be obligated to block IPs (like, say, Pandora.com does). They don't, ergo it's not illegal.

Hollywood would like to make you THINK it's illegal, like they do about personal copies, but it's often not true.

But beyond that, I can think of several reasons why one would rather rent through iTunes than steal:

1. The copyright holder gets paid. That's the ethical thing to do.
2. Apple makes money. This is a Good Thing.
3. Instant gratification. Select a movie, 30 seconds later you are watching it.
4. Trying to BT an obscure flick can take DAYS, even WEEKS in some cases, sometimes (even you're a true cinephiliac) it's just not available that way. Probably not the case with something popular, but some of us still have good taste in movies. iTunes' selection is, at the moment, kinda sucky, but that will change.
5. We want to encourage iTunes and services like this to grow and expand. Oddly enough, stealing provides a DISincentive for things like this. Crazy, I know.
6. Simple curiosity. Want to see how the system will work. I tried it -- it's really very neat.
7. Some of us -- admittedly an old-fashioned, backward minority -- still believe in being fair. You want to rent a movie, you should pay to rent the movie. I know, we're dinosaurs of the analog world, but it's how we were raised. Have pity.


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## keebler27 (Jan 5, 2007)

chas_m said:


> False premise.
> 
> If it were ILLEGAL to do it in Canada, Apple would be obligated to block IPs (like, say, Pandora.com does). They don't, ergo it's not illegal.
> 
> ...


i agree with all. great summation.

someone else also mentioned not having to go to rogers or blockbuster...works for me.

Plus, i'm wickedly tired of renting movies with bad scratches b/c ppl don't know how to or don't care to take care of rented movies. especially kids movies...omg...how ppl let their kids destroy discs is just pathetic...
ugh.

cheers,
keebler


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## Z06jerry (Mar 16, 2005)

Can someone explain which law I am breaking by purchasing Movies from the US iTunes store? 

And here's a couple more reasons to go ATV...

- Convenience - select your Movie choices from the comfort of your living room instead of the isles of your local video rental store. - no returns required.
- Viewer Ratings - see how others judged the movie your considering.
- Preview before purchasing.
- Quality - Standard is DVD quality and some titles are also available in HD, and so far everything has been correctly formatted for my TV. No scratched previously used DVD's
- watch your movie without DVD menus or built-in previews.

plus the other great built in ATV features ...

- sync a copy of your iTunes & iPhoto libraries to your ATV so you can acces your content when your laptop isn't at home (you may want the 160 gb model for this)
- and/or stream your content to your ATV from your computer
- direct acces to YouTube & Flicker
- direct access to iTunes Store (no computer necessary)
- easy to operate UI that doesn't require your computer - so easy even a caveman can use it! 

ATV is awsome, everyone should consider getting one!


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## BikerRob (Sep 19, 2007)

Zo6 ... agree completely ... it is NOT illegal ... and I love using my ATV to rent movies, tv shows, etc.

AND, I'm going to love using my iPhone as soon as it arrives ... again, it's NOT illegal to unlock a phone and use it with my carrier of choice.


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## guytoronto (Jun 25, 2005)

Z06jerry said:


> Can someone explain which law I am breaking by purchasing Movies from the US iTunes store?


You are violating Apple's Terms of Sale.

iTunes Store Terms of Sale



> U.S. SALES ONLY
> 
> Purchases or rentals (as applicable) from the iTunes 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 iTunes Store from outside of the available territory. Apple may use technologies to verify such compliance.


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## BikerRob (Sep 19, 2007)

But Guy, that doesn't make it illegal. Apple does a lot of things, but they don't set Canadian laws (at this point, anyway). 
IF Apple wants, they may choose to cancel your account for using it in from a Canadian address (they wont, because they are making money off of you), but that's as far as it would go.
The only reason Apple puts that there is to keep the CRTC from getting pissy.


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## guytoronto (Jun 25, 2005)

BikerRob said:


> But Guy, that doesn't make it illegal. Apple does a lot of things, but they don't set Canadian laws (at this point, anyway).
> IF Apple wants, they may choose to cancel your account for using it in from a Canadian address (they wont, because they are making money off of you), but that's as far as it would go.
> The only reason Apple puts that there is to keep the CRTC from getting pissy.


It does, because the copyright holder in Canada is not receiving the appropriate royalties from sale of that material.

The CRTC has nothing to do with it. The CRTC does not regulate the Internet or content on the Internet.

Let's say you want to download Austin Powers. Who has those distribution rights in Canada? Alliance Atlantis as I recall. Do they see a dime of it if you buy it via the American online store? Nope! You are breaking the law by circumventing what is legally Alliance Atlantis' property.

I'm just playing devils advocate here. I've done it myself. I use BitTorrent. Just don't delude yourselves into thinking it's legal. It isn't.

If you want to get into a big argument about copyright laws, make sure you educate yourself first. Copyright law isn't a simple "who owns it" thing. It has many aspects:

* to produce copies or reproductions of the work and to sell those copies (including, typically, electronic copies)
* to import or export the work
* to create derivative works (works that adapt the original work)
* to perform or display the work publicly
* to sell or assign these rights to others
* to transmit or display by radio or video

Those six aspects can have six different copyright holders. Apple has the right to produce copies and sell those copies (via their online store). They do NOT have the right to export that work. By you "cheating" the system, you are causing Apple to break copyright law. That means you are guilty as well.


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## Z06jerry (Mar 16, 2005)

guytoronto said:


> .... I use BitTorrent.


GT - I'm not getting where you're coming from, unlike yourself at least I am paying for my movie rentals.


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## BikerRob (Sep 19, 2007)

Guy ... I did not know that ... thank you for educating me  ... seriously, I hadn't thought of it that way ... well, back to bittorrent then


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