As regular readers know, I’m not a fan of the iTunes store and the DRM that comes with it. However, some of my friends are excited because iTunes recently launched in Canada. This morning I was writing an article about Apple. In my research, I discovered that iTunes Europe is accessible to everyone but the Irish. What’s with that?
Here’s an explanation:
It appears Apple originally planned to open for business in Ireland this Tuesday, when it extended its service across Europe. These plans, however, were stymied at the last minute by a disagreement with the Irish Music Rights Organization (IMRO).
Apparently they’re still in negotiations? If any of my Irish readers want to comment, I’d appreciate it.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
Darren, you werent really surprised were you? You lived here for a few years so you should be used to these little “hitches”. I would suspect that the prospect of ITunes was not welcomed by several big music retail chains in Ireland, so IMRO probably came under alot of pressure to put a stop to ITunes.
Remember the email that went around last year comparing prices in different shops and on the internet. (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/archive/index.php/t-111580.html)
The result of this seems to have been IRMA (Should that be IMRO or are IMRA tired of listening to cheap music on long runs? http://www.imra.ie) cracking down not on the big stores, but on CDWOW the cheapest way to get music in Ireland http://blogs.linux.ie/xeer/2003/11/27/irma-sue-cd-wow-illegal-grey-imports/
And dont forget, even if the dispute is now settled between Apple and IMRO, the UK is complaining about unfair pricing on ITunes and the EU is looking into a Europe wide music organisation to standardise these things http://www.cdfreaks.com/news2.php?ID=10501
So Apple may just not bother opening an Irish store until everything gets sorted.