Apple has quietly rolled out iTunes Pass in the US, after launching it in Japan yesterday.

The new service allows users to top-up iTunes credit for iTunes Store, App Store and iBooks Store at Apple retail stores.

To recap, here’s how iTunes Pass works:

Customers need to first add a new iTunes Pass in the Passbook app. They can then tell the specialist at an Apple Retail store how much credit they want to add to their iTunes account. The specialist will accept the payments, and scan the iTunes Pass, which will instantly update the balance in the iTunes account.

Here’s Apple’s description of the service:

Now you can add money directly to your iTunes or App Store account with iTunes Pass. To get iTunes Pass, go to the iTunes Store on your iOS device, scroll down, and tap the Redeem button. Then go in to any Apple Retail Store3 and let a Specialist know you want to add credit to your account. Open iTunes Pass in Passbook, and have the Specialist scan it and accept your payment. Your balance will be updated and can be used immediately.

It seems like a paperless and a more convenient alternative to the physical iTunes gift cards, which requires users to buy gift cards from retail stores and subsequently redeem them.

It doesn’t seem to be available in other countries yet (I’ve checked Canada and UK), but based on one of the footnotes on the iTunes page it looks like the service will be rolled out worldwide soon except for Brazil, China, and Turkey.

It will be great if you can let me know if it is available in your country.

Update:

Apple has rolled out iTunes Pass in Canada as well. We’ve also got several tips that it has been rolled out in other countries as well like in Germany, UK (thanks Sebastian) etc, but it is not listed on the iTunes page in those countries currently.