ITunes to be investigated

[Vanhalen]

http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story...1305215,00.html

 

The Office of Fair Trading is to investigate the pricing policy of Apple's iTunes digital music store after a leading consumer group complained it was charging customers 17% more to download tracks in the UK than in the rest of Europe.

 

The Consumers Association, which publishes Which?, said today it had asked the OFT to investigate the difference in price.

 

"There appears to be considerable evidence that the iTunes set-up is prejudiced against the UK public and distorts the very basis of the single market. If the OFT agrees it will be another example of the rip-off culture that the British public are often victims of," the group said in a statement.

 

In continental Europe Apple charges 99 euros per track while in the UK the price is 79p. Bolstered by the popularity of the iPod, the digital music player that has helped kickstart the digital music revolution, the European store has already sold more than 5 million tracks since launching in June.

 

In the US, where tracks are priced at 99 cents each, the iTunes music store has a 70% market share and has already sold more than 100 million tracks in just over a year.

 

Apple has dismissed the charges, saying that CDs are also more expensive in the UK than they are in the US and in continental Europe.

 

"The underlying economic model in each country has an impact on how we price our track downloads. That's not unusual. Look at the price of CDs in the US versus the UK. We believe the real comparison to be made is with the price of other track downloads in the UK," the computer maker said in a statement.

[Mik]

I don't get that apple=cunts out of that at all. What the article is saying is true...they just look at how music is priced in the countries and price their songs accordingly. You could probably pick up a CD much cheaper in those countries as well.

[Guest ally mccoist]

Well, i've been to America and CDs are cheaper there than in UK. But 79p a track is bullshit anyway.

[claydude14]

Whats that roughly in American?

[Steviekick]

A little over a dollar, I think.

[Guest ally mccoist]

I bought a box off ebay that was $100 american which worked out at roughly £60. So i'd guess 79p would be something like $1.20. The exchange rate changes all the time though.

[razazteca]

You are complaining over $1.50 a single? But isnt it true that you can upload any kind of mp3 to the iPod and are not restricted to using only iTunes as the only source of music? If you are going to complain about the prices that Apple charges you should worry about the cost of the hardware and not about the software.

[Edwin MacPhisto]

Last I checked the exchange rate was not so good for the dollar - between $1.89 and $1.99 per pound. 79p is probably in the range of $1.50 these days.

[Alro]

Apple AAC isn't the only type that works with the player. You can put other types of audio on an iPod, like mp3s. The only time I use iTunes as a source of music is when they have good pre-release downloads or exclusives I want.

[Edwin MacPhisto]

Yeah. I've never bought a damn thing on iTunes and I have 4,000 songs on my iPod.