Anyone notice that Square Enix’s entire catalog of music is no longer available on iTunes? Not a single Final Fantasy or SQ album in sight. Apparently there was a reason for it, and Square Enix has offered the following statement regarding the recent disappearance:
“Currently, official Square Enix soundtracks are temporarily unavailable for sale due to the changes we are going through with the iTunes North American service. The items will be available as soon as the preparations are in place. We hope to resume availability of these items by March.”
I know many of us import music from Japan because we like the packaging, but I’m sure this has impacted some. In the meantime, Square Enix recently added the Final Fantasy XIII-2 soundtrack to their North America store for $34.99 (down from $39.99) which is an approximate $10 discount compared to the Dollar-to-Yen import price.
Feel free to chime in and let us know what you think and whether their iTunes service is an important avenue for you to acquire their music.
[Thanks Sam and Robby!]
Tags: iTunes, News, Square Enix
Isn’t this happening because of the internet strike/protest? Google and Wikipedia are on strike. Maybe Itunes too? But it any case, I do not use Itunes for anything. I love buying the CDs 😀
As far as I know, this has nothing to do with the protesting today. Square’s iTunes store has been MIA since around the holidays. I actually contacted them myself, but got a boilerplate/didn’t-know-what-I-was-talking-about answer from their customer support.
Anyway, good to see an official statement, and that they plan to bring it back. When I first found out, I thought it was permanent (the American Square Enix iTunes store has done some pretty strange things in the past, like making Final Fantasy VII and XIII partial albums by removing one track from each). Now I just hope they bring the iTunes library back in full, maybe even add some things (Children of Mana and FF Legends would be nice).
This indeed has nothing to do with SOPA/PIPA. Just happened to post it today as we got their statement yesterday.
I am definitely one who likes getting things off the itunes store, the price is much more reasonable than importing. I was sad that I wasn’t able to get Cafe SQ on itunes when it came out.
I’m guessing it’s because of itunes match, because someone who had pirated the album could always just get the itunes version and actually be legit in the eyes of itunes. They could even get a better bitrate than what they had before.
Then again, maybe I’m way off base. Either way, I hope they bring all the albums along with future ones back.
@Robby: As far as the price goes, those are pretty much my same thoughts – as nice as CDs are, sometimes, it’s not worth it to pay $40-50 plus shipping when a digital version is available for $10. Also, there’s the ability to just get a song or two from an album, because, especially with multi-genre, multi-artist compilation albums like the SQ series, you know going in that you’re not going to like every track on the album (whether you don’t know the source, don’t like the arrangement, etc.).
Also, on a related note, the Square Enix site really needs to update their music page. They’re still advertizing Love SQ, Official Bootleg, and the August 2010 Toronto Distant Worlds concert… The Black Mages III isn’t even listed in the site’s iTunes downloads section.
As a collector, having a hard copy is essential. Even keeping the obi sleeve that comes with a imported CD is important to me as that’s what makes it the total package. But that’s just me.
CD also makes a impact on how it sounds if you’re into the whole audiophile especially with CD player, DACs, or just any transport.
I HAD noticed this, as I just recently decided to try and officially purchase some of the music I’ve been listening to for years, and then I see that it’s all gone! Thanks for the information, I hope they get their catalogue back up soon because I am all for spending money on fantastic music.
Well its April where are the soundtracks i wanna download the skies above by the black mages
It’s August and only a fraction of the catalog on Square Enix’s music iTunes website is not actually available on iTunes. Support has been unresponsive. Frustrating for someone like me who depends on digital releases. Japan’s music industry is very unfriendly to foreign customers!