The iTunes Music Store now has your favourite DRM-free tracks for less.
DRM-free music has been the big thing this year. With the Apple iTunes music store, Walmart, Amazon, and a plethora of other companies offering it, you now have the ability to get your music from one or many places and not having to worry about it not working on your favourite personal music player. The only bad thing about it though is that if you wanted it from the iTunes Music Store, you had to pay more for it then the DRM-laden cheaper versions - until now that is.
Apple has decided to lower the price of its iTunes Plus songs to 99 cents per song. That is currently the same price as regular iTunes music but in better quality and without all the DRM. The move probably comes as a direct counter-measure to Amazon's variable 89 to 99 cents pricing model for 256kbps DRM-free music.
Personally, if I want music then I'll go out and buy the disc album because I view the whole $1 per song price to still be far too high. I'd rather head over to the record mart that is a couple of blocks away from my house and pick up an actual CD with case and booklet for around $10 then to pay the same amount for a downloaded copy. Until the price range hits around 50 cents a song, then I'll probably stay far away from the likes of iTunes.
So tell us, are you like me and still prefer to buy physical copies? Maybe 99 cents, DRM-free is the price barrier for you. Which camp do you sit in and what is your magical price (besides free) that will switch you over? Discuss it with us
over in the forums.
It's THAN damn it!
I will however say that the reduction in price can really only be seen as a good thing :)
unless you are those guys that were pressing itunes to increase the price of their music.....
With a cd i can rip it at lossless and still keep the cd, case and booklet.
I can never see it catching properly (as in over taking cd) until they lower the price 30/40% below cd.
i think that is illegal....
why would that be illegal? please, elucidate.
i remember reading this on CDs, that you could not re-sell them.... its kind of right... they did not sell you the music, they sold you the right to hear the music, you cant resell that right..... i think..... anyway it is bad for business.
and considering the current "sue-everyone-that-has-the-radio-on-in-any-public-place" scenario....
Phil
If I were to buy music online I would pay about $0.40 - $0.50 NZD or half the price of the CD.
The fact that Apple have relented heartens me, though I doubt I'll ever get an iPod.
thats what people say about hearing to a radio transmission in a public place were anyone can hear it, and it is apparently illegal according to the RIAA..... i think
edit: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=140489&highlight=radio+hairdresser
"The PRS claimed that Kwik-Fit mechanics routinely use personal radios while working at service centres across the UK and that music, protected by copyright, could be heard by colleagues and customers."