Is the iTunes store useless for people outside of America?

Question

Well, you read the title. The world wide web is a beautiful thing, and it gives us access to information from the other side of the world within seconds. More specifically, it allows you to go shopping in online stores from the other side of the world, with a large and diverse selection of products. That was the main reason why I wanted to start using iTunes; I wanted to buy songs, TV episodes, and other things, that were otherwise not available in a practical way due to my localization.
But however, as I am living in Norway, my account only allows me to buy products from the Norwegian store on iTunes. Which is a major paradox and a ridiculous catch to it. Why would I want to do that? Why would I want to browse the same selection of products I can find in a store 5 minutes away from my physical location?
When I can't download songs and videos available on a global web store - content which I pay for with real money - just because I live in another country (notice the paradox), I just have to ask myself: what is the point? Why does the iTunes Store even exist as it does today? I don't know the whole picture and all the factors related to this decision, but I mean, come on. Either allow different nationalities to browse the same broad selection of products, or remove the service altogether for the "other" countries. Sure, it's nice to be able to buy local media without moving anything else than your fingers. But the way it is now, it just kills the purpose of the web. If the service is available globally, it's just not right with availability segregation. After all, it's the world wide web, not the nation wide web.

Answer 1

The world wide web is a beautiful thing, and it gives us access to information from the other side of the world within seconds.
Yes it does. Information is wonderful.
More specifically, it allows you to go shopping in online stores from the other side of the world, with a large and diverse selection of products
Providing that they can ship it and legally sell it, yes.
But however, as I am living in Norway, my account only allows me to buy products from the Norwegian store on iTunes. Which is a major paradox and a ridiculous catch to
Yes. that is how it works for every music store in all the countries. Thats how the rights holders choose to do that.
Why would I want to browse the same selection of products I can find in a store 5 minutes away from my physical location?
Not every song in the iTunes store can be bought at a physical brick and mortar store nor do many offer the convenience of buying them at any time of the day and (in most cases on a song by song basis).
Its an alternative that allot of people like.
When I can't download songs and videos available on a global web store
Because the rights holders for the music content (not Apple) want to restrict music purchases by country. Since they own the content, its their choice.
content which I pay for with real money - just because I live in another country (notice the paradox),
Yep thats the ticker. Credit cards can be regionally enforced. Music companies have been looking for ways to do this for a long time. Even restricting CD's were tough to do being the difference between the media type.
Apple would love to sell music globally. They cant.
I don't know the whole picture and all the factors related to this decision,
I'm glad for you, they are complicated. But if you have a physic address and a credit card issued from a different country, you can open up an account from that country.
Either allow different nationalities to browse the same broad selection of products, or remove the service altogether for the "other" countries.
That "feature" exists as a convenience for the few people who can buy content from other countries (who have credit cards and addresses in more than one country). What you are asking for is separate version of iTunes for each country that would have to be maintained separately. Since those select few who can open up multiple accounts for a different country would either require a separate version of iTunes or for two different version to be installed at once.
FOor the best in simplicity, the store is a separate entity from iTunes for which iTunes access the same address (routed by IP address for the right store front).
Plus as I said before, Apple cant do cross border sales, the recording companies don't want it.
After all, it's the world wide web, not the nation wide web.
Content gets restricted by location all the time. There just doesn't exist a universal agreement on what can be done by the internet. You can't just make assumptions that the internet is entirely open. Who gets access to what things is determined by the content owners. If they want to restrict it, there is very little that can be done.