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I use a URL like this to open iTunes from my iOS app, it works

itms://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=CA&term=Roisin Murphy You Know Me Better

However I am trying to use this with a Linkshare affiliate scheme by appending their ID to the start, like this 

http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=YN9rqWEzn*U&offerid=162397&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=itms://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=CA&term=Roisin Murphy You Know Me Better

I get no search results.

Can the iTunes search be used with Linkshare? Or do you have to directly link to the song, instead of searching?

Thanks!

cal
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  • Did you find a solution? if so, could you post it here? i'm having the exact same problem and i've tried different url formats which behave as expected on desktop but get no results on ipad. – Felipe Guajardo Nov 23 '11 at 22:17
  • i'm still working on this. i tested a few combinations of parameters and search urls, and i kind of got it working. According to [link](http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/documentation/linking-to-the-itunes-music-store.html#apps) inside an app you have to use short links. On one test ipad ios 4.x i get no results on other with ios 5 i do get results, but the ios version it's not the only difference, cause the former is configured to use the store from Chile, and the latter, the US one, so i think that may be the issue. Test if you get music results by directly – Felipe Guajardo Nov 25 '11 at 15:12
  • searching on the itunes app in the device. On the ios 4.x i got no results. Before posting this as answer i need to test if after buying a song it gets noticed by linkshare – Felipe Guajardo Nov 25 '11 at 15:12

3 Answers3

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According to this inside apps, one should use short links.

i got this working, and reported in linkshare after buying a song: var url='itms://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?partnerId=30&siteID=<my 11 char ID>&term='+encodeURI(title)+'%20'+encodeURI(artist);

Note that this is javascript code, since i'm using Titanium Mobile, but you get the idea for native dev.

Also take into account, that as i mentioned in my comments, this will show no results if you're using a device that's not been enabled to buy in the itunes store. You can check this by just manually opening the appstore and searching for music. If you just get podcasts results or none at all then the same will happen from inside your app.

Felipe Guajardo
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I've come to the conclusion that Linkshare don't support ITMS searches, only direct links to iTunes products....

cal
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Recognizable search queries for iTunes vary by device/desktop but your search query looks really odd. Try something like this:

http://ax.search.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?media=all&term=XXXXXXXXXXX

Take that query, replace the XXX with your search string, URL encode this a couple times, then concatenate it to your LinkShare URL and you should be golden.

Or, just make it really easy and use something like this -
http://www.georiot.com/resources/linking-formats/#search - where the affiliate encoding will work everywhere, not just US like you currently have.

Geniuslink
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  • That doesn't seem to work, the link below opens a "no search result" page in iTunes, I'll try Georiot though, thanks... http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=YN9rqWEzn*U&offerid=162397&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http://ax.search.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?media=all&term=Roisin%20Murphy%20You%20Know%20Me%20Better – cal Nov 14 '11 at 15:26
  • Hey Johh -- I think the GeoRiot solution is better. But to follow up on your link I noticed a couple things. One is that you need to URL encode the landing page you pass through LinkShare. Second, that query didn't provide much for results. Try this:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=YN9rqWEzn*U&offerid=162397&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fax.search.itunes.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fsearch%253Fmedia%253Dall%2526term%253DRoisin%252BMurphy – Geniuslink Nov 20 '11 at 22:12
  • Hi Jesse, I'm trying Georiot but the search doesn't return anything, I'm trying [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:url] on this http://target.georiot.com/Search.ashx?grid=64&vendor=iTunes&type=Music&ArtistName=Washed%20Out&TrackName=New%20Theory%20(RAC%20Mix), but I get nothing back, it works on a desktop browser though... – cal Nov 30 '11 at 16:18
  • Hi John, were you able to get this figured out? Ping me if not. Thanks. – Geniuslink Mar 04 '12 at 03:24