If you are an Apple TV user, or just would like to grab some AppStore apps at a discount (or sometimes for free), you would need a US iTunes account. After getting a number of requests from friends and family on how to have a US iTunes account, here’s the tips on how we do it.
First and foremost, let’s go through the things we do not need to open a US iTunes account.
- You do not need your credit card details
- You do not have to live in the US
1st Step
To start, you would need a computer with an iTunes program / app installed. For this example, we are going to use a Mac with OSX 10.9 installed.
2nd Step
If you are logged into your iTunes account, do log out.
3rd Step
Navigate to the bottom and change the country. If you are in Malaysia, you would find the country flag as Malaysia. Click on the Malaysian flag, and you will be presented with an option to select the United States. Do this and you’ll be able to browse US iTunes apps, songs and movies. Do not register your account yet.
4th Step
Now that you are browsing the US iTunes Store, look for the free iPhone/iPad apps. You might even be keen to look for Amazon’s Kindle app, which is now not in Malaysia. Click on the free app, and you will be asked to register. (And no, we don’t recommend the Mr. Crab app. Just not something we would play with during our free time. But if you are talking about Final Fantasy Tactics or X-Com, Enemy Unknown, that’s a different story altogether)
5th Step
Now, go ahead with the terms and conditions, and enter your username, password, security questions and email address, plus an extra email address, for when the first email fails. And you will be presented with Payment Type. And here’s where the magic lays. Unlike registering the US iTunes Account normally, because we have chosen a free app, iTunes automatically gives us an option of “none”!
If you couldn’t find the “none” option, you might have done it wrongly. Please try again. Apple’s iTunes will not allow you to register a new US iTunes account with Malaysian credit card, nor Malaysian Paypal account(s).
However, if you’ve gotten to here and found the “none” option, you just need to continue and you’ll have a brand new US iTunes account by the end of the day. Cheerio mate! 🙂