Re:UPC really universal (Score 2, Interesting)

European barcodes are indeed different from US ones. For example, US records will have a 12-digit UPC number, whereas European records will frequently have a a 13-digit EAN code. You can actually get several different length codes within both UPC (American) and EAN (European) systems. See e-centre for more info on EAN codes. Of course, this does mean that only American products contain the number of the beast. Make of that what you will.