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Apple cuts prices for iTunes

Posted Jan 06 2009, 01:00 PM by Kim Peterson
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Apple (AAPL) revised pricing for songs on iTunes and said it will also offer more songs that don't have restrictions on how they can be used.

The changes say a lot about Apple and the music industry, both of which are bending their rigid positions when it comes to selling music online. Apple has refused for years to sell songs beyond the 99-cent price point, but now, according to reports, songs will sell for 69 cents, 99 cents or $1.29, depending on how popular they are.

And the music labels, afraid of losing more business to rampant piracy, have pushed to lock down songs so they can't be traded online. But that strategy hasn't worked, and lately Amazon (AMZN) and other companies have rolled out restriction-free songs that can be freely moved between players and computers.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs asked labels to drop song restrictions a year ago. And labels have called on Apple to raise song prices above 99 cents. Both sides have now given in.

But how will this impact sales, if at all? It's unclear that a 20-cent discount would entice people to buy more music -- or, for that matter, that a $1.29 price point would be a deterrent. And do the masses care at all about removing piracy restrictions from songs?

Related reading:

Would you pay for unlimited iTunes?

Apple sells or rents 50,000 movies a day

Apple on pace to become top music seller

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Comments

 

Yes, we do care about removing the piracy restrictions in the music! I am a DJ and the computer program that I use for DJing uses my iTunes database. It will not plat protected AAC's but will play normal AAC's. I have to burn all my iTunes downloads to CD and re-import all of those songs to remove the AAC protection.

D Fischer (Posted 01.06.09 6:07 PM) Report Abuse

nice media spin, headline; "Apple cuts prices for iTunes". oh, by the way most will stay $.99 and go up to $1.29, but you know some songs are gonna be $.69. thanks Kim Peterson. more importantly, how much is apple paying you. or is it just msn thats in bed with apple.

freemusicbitches (Posted 01.06.09 6:16 PM) Report Abuse

Yeah that matters. I hate the inflexible, bland itunes. I'm planning on buying a Zune.

Geno (Posted 01.06.09 6:19 PM) Report Abuse

Paying for the music does not bother me, musicians worked to create the songs that we like and they should be paid for them.  What DOES bother me is that I can't burn an mp3 cd if a song was PURCHASED from i-tunes.  I legally bought the music, let me put it in any format that I want.  There are still certain songs that cannot be bought on i-tunes that requires buying the cd.  I also would like their download quality upgraded.  From time to time the songs distort, I don't know why, I have high speed dsl so I know it's not the bandwidth, but it's still annoying.  No matter how one looks at i-tunes, for me anyways  it's better than going to the store, dealing with people and forking over $20 for a cd only to like one song.  

Jeremy (Posted 01.06.09 6:29 PM) Report Abuse

" As the saying goes, the strong will survive.  Apple is smartly changing its pricing in response to the current depressed retail market for music. "

-  http://www.USANews.TV

Kevin (Posted 01.06.09 6:33 PM) Report Abuse

Loosening the restrictions would be a huge step forward. It is very annoying to have the same song on more than one of my family's iTunes library because we do not all use the same computer. So much so that we were planning to ditch purchasing through iTunes. You permit users to a short list of family/friends that can add the song to their library, you will have less grumbling from especially families

MusicalUncle (Posted 01.06.09 6:36 PM) Report Abuse

That's why I like Amazon. I can put music on the MP3 player, or a CD, and their downloads are smoother and easier for the most part.  Thanks everyone for confirming that I'm doing the right thing. I never liked all the silly restrictions from iTunes.

Frank (Posted 01.06.09 6:41 PM) Report Abuse

I now pay .99cents. The tunes for .66 cents, I probably wouldn't buy anyway. The one's for 1.29 will probably be the top 40.

Not A. Decrease (Posted 01.06.09 6:46 PM) Report Abuse

Got a 25$ i-Tunes gift card for Christmas, just started using it and very disappointed not able to download to a cd.  When the 25$ is gone I intend going elswhere, to Amazon.  

Not happy with Apple nor their stock (Posted 01.06.09 6:59 PM) Report Abuse

Absolutely we care about piracy restrictions.  I only buy MP3s on Amazon because there are no restrictions and they only charge 79 cents for the popular songs.  The $1.29 is also a huge deterrent.  If iTunes sells the popular songs for 69 cents without piracy restrictions, then I'll consider it.

e (Posted 01.06.09 6:59 PM) Report Abuse

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