iTunes Store Variable Pricing to Begin April 7th?

[Benguitar]

No No No No!

😡 Please tell me they aren't still going through with this?! I swear I thought Apple decided against it because it was extremely disliked by the masses?

 

[neoREgen]

In addition to more illegal downloads, I think sites like MP3 Fiesta will gain in popularity. Since I went digital with my music, iTunes has only been my backup. If I can't find it on any other site, I'll check iTunes.

Wow. Thank you for that.
I hadn't visited MP3 Fiesta before. New favorite site assuming it works.
Goodbye, Rhapsody.

 

[SactoGuy18]

Yea, I don't use iTunes, I go to
256kbps VBR mp3s are not excellent sound quality, what are you talking about. Maybe for the average consumer it is fine, but in no way is it excellent and it would sound like complete crap listening to it on a high end system. MP3s can not deliver "excellent" sound quality, even at 320kb/s, if you're going to be listening to it on anything high end.

I have to disagree here! Unless you're using a serious quality (and very expensive!) in-ear headphone like a Shure SE420/SE530, Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 or Sennheiser IE 8 (all of which cost more than a NEW iPod classic 120 GB!) or plug in your iPod with an iPod data connector to dual RCA connector cable to a really good quality home stereo, you'll be hard-pressed to hear the difference between the original source and the 256 kbps VBR MP3 version, especially given the type of headphones most iPod owners use!

 

[Kirbdog]

I still think that tiered pricing was a concession to get the record companies to allow DRM free tracks on iTunes.

Apple tracks every stat possible about every thing in iTunes. When users do not purchase as many tracks at the new $1.29 price point I sure Steve Jobs will be at their door with a big I told you so.

 

[B2k1977]

Don't like iTunes?

Pissed about the price hike? Aww poor you. Big babies. It goes up 30 cents, wah wah wah. If you don't like it, take your butts to the local store, and pay for a whole CD, while I'll be downloading music on the fly, anytime I want, 30 cents more is a small price to pay for that flexibility. I hate whiners.

 

[ravenvii]

Wow... you people are acting like Apple is raising the price to $30 per song or something.

it's only 30 cents, and they're all now DRM-free.

Jeez, people.

 

[armoguy94]

Pissed about the price hike? Aww poor you. Big babies. It goes up 30 cents, wah wah wah. If you don't like it, take your butts to the local store, and pay for a whole CD, while I'll be downloading music on the fly, anytime I want, 30 cents more is a small price to pay for that flexibility. I hate whiners.

Many people can't afford music to begin with and are still gracious enough to buy it when they can EASILY pirate them, probably at higher quality too. Especially in this economy, 30 cents increase IS a lot if you buy a lot of music. If you can afford it easily, then kudos to you - but don't be such a b*** about it and try to think about other people! sorry for my language, but what kind of way is that to talk? i'm sorry but i couldn't find another word, if mods see this post and are unhappy (idk if it's against the rules) then feel free to edit that word out

In the meanwhile, I'll be downloading off of Amazon for cheaper, and "on the fly" as well..🙄

I'm fine with the prices with iTunes, it's up to you if you want to buy the music from there or not, there are plenty of other places that you can find it cheaper for, but why have such an attitude?

Wow... you people are acting like Apple is raising the price to $30 per song or something.

it's only 30 cents, and they're all now DRM-free.

Jeez, people.

Good.. they removed something that shouldn't have been there in the first place - now people are left to pay for it?🙄

 

[milo]

There are limitations, of course. But I'd say giving SO MUCH MONEY - and even more money - to itunes for my music is quite a major limitation, wouldn't you?

Who's putting a gun to your head and making you give them "SO MUCH MONEY"? Buy a little or buy a lot, nobody is forcing anything.

And with a monthly subscription, how much music do you have to listen to when you stop paying? Sure looks like zero to me. Any music I buy I have available for the rest of my life assuming I still want it.

The fact is that the subscription model has been tried for years, and for years iTunes has cleaned its clock.

Wi-fi and battery life are improving rapidly.

Enough that a player that is connected constantly will be able to compete with the 15-25 hours of current iPods within ONE YEAR? Do you seriously think that is likely considering how "rapidly" batteries have improved?

And all those people with ipods, well don't they have phones? Don't they upgrade them every few years. Will they say no to streaming music?

Yep, every few years. Your math is off if you think people upgrading phones every few years is enough to dethrone iTunes in ONE year. And whether they say no to streaming music depends on all the factors I listed.

And true, when you stop subscribing you'll have no music. But when are you going to stop buying music?

The amount I spend on music is less than a monthly subscription. So no, a subscription doesn't interest me, and yes, it seems like way too much cost for way too little. The fact that no music subscription model has done particularly well is evidence that many people feel that way.

Popular songs will be cheaper, obscure more expensive.

In fact the announcement said the exact opposite.

Wow... you people are acting like Apple is raising the price to $30 per song or something.

it's only 30 cents, and they're all now DRM-free.

Jeez, people.

And you forgot that people keep ignoring that on some tracks the price is going DOWN.

Many people can't afford music to begin with and are still gracious enough to buy it when they can EASILY pirate them, probably at higher quality too. Especially in this economy, 30 cents increase IS a lot if you buy a lot of music. If you can afford it easily, then kudos to you - but don't be such a b*** about it and try to think about other people! sorry for my language, but what kind of way is that to talk? i'm sorry but i couldn't find another word, if mods see this post and are unhappy (idk if it's against the rules) then feel free to edit that word out

In the meanwhile, I'll be downloading off of Amazon for cheaper, and "on the fly" as well..🙄

I'm fine with the prices with iTunes, it's up to you if you want to buy the music from there or not, there are plenty of other places that you can find it cheaper for, but why have such an attitude?


Good.. they removed something that shouldn't have been there in the first place - now people are left to pay for it?🙄

Perfect example. Did you miss the part where they said some prices are staying the same and some are going DOWN?

I wonder if the whiners will come crawling back to iTunes when the track they want is 69 cents and cheaper than amazon (which still has tons of stuff at 99)?

 

[B2k1977]

Many people can't afford music to begin with and are still gracious enough to buy it when they can EASILY pirate them, probably at higher quality too. Especially in this economy, 30 cents increase IS a lot if you buy a lot of music. If you can afford it easily, then kudos to you - but don't be such a b*** about it and try to think about other people! sorry for my language, but what kind of way is that to talk? i'm sorry but i couldn't find another word, if mods see this post and are unhappy (idk if it's against the rules) then feel free to edit that word out

In the meanwhile, I'll be downloading off of Amazon for cheaper, and "on the fly" as well..🙄

I'm fine with the prices with iTunes, it's up to you if you want to buy the music from there or not, there are plenty of other places that you can find it cheaper for, but why have such an attitude?


Good.. they removed something that shouldn't have been there in the first place - now people are left to pay for it?🙄

This economy? Pirating music doesn't help the economy. I always buy music, I grew up and stopped pirating years ago. If you can't afford it then don't buy it, but that doesn't mean steal it.

 

[Galley]

Other than new releases and specials and value priced items, where can you reliably get music for $10 on CDs anymore? Best Buy starts at $12 for sales and MOST albums are priced in the $18-20 range for a CD these days. $10 is half off. Yes, music clubs can get you albums much cheaper, but they often don't get new albums until a year after its release.

YourMusic.com often has albums in as little as three months after they hit stores. They have 15,000 titles to choose from. All are $6.99 each with FREE shipping, no limit, and no commitment.

 

[yossim]

Pissed about the price hike? Aww poor you. Big babies. It goes up 30 cents, wah wah wah. If you don't like it, take your butts to the local store, and pay for a whole CD, while I'll be downloading music on the fly, anytime I want, 30 cents more is a small price to pay for that flexibility. I hate whiners.

Hey, you can get your point across WITHOUT using such rude terminology.😡

 

[Shanpdx]

any update on this?

i still have plenty of track DRMed and lots of music videos...

still four more days to go. 🙄

 

[Shanpdx]

3 more days to Tuesday, any one saw price changes? at least in the album price changes?

arn, any news on this?

 

[kurosov]

If apple want to convince me to buy more music then they should be looking at breaking the per country store barrier. I listen to a lot of 'world music' from Spanish to japanese artists and would be happy to pay more if i could easily access them via my iTunes account. There are a few artists such as monoral i can access via the UK store, but the selection s miniscule compared to the japanese store.

As it stands now, you need to either have a credit card from a bank in the country of the store or buy an itunes money card and trick the system into letting you create an account with it.

If this was done then the itunes store would be a very useful repository for promoting music around the world.

 

[Gonzo3333]

Music that is garbage

I have a feeling that most of the $1.29 songs will be newer releases from artists that are sub-par in my opinion (ie lil wayne, britney spears, miley cyrus, lady goo-goo and other so-called artists) or new music (I only listen to Classic Rock). Hopefully all the music that I listen to will go down in price benefiting my wallet. I guess what I am saying is I think most people have bad taste in what is called music today. I think it is funny that the artists on Billboard is mainly geared towards music that will not stand the test of time. A lot of "popular" music today will only play for a few months on the radio and will be soon forgotten by the next round of crap spoon-fed to the masses by record labels. Sorry if I offended anybody's musical taste but I felt that needed to be addressed. Remember that is my opinion and I think I am free to feel any way I want about this issue. I even apologized for it.

 

[WPB2]

iTunes can do whatever they want, it doesn't bother me. I will just get the music from amazon, or other pay service. On all the other music services out there you don't have to pay state tax. I don't knownwhy apple makes you pay it. I could see if you live in California, but come on.

eBay should do something like iTunes, but call it e-tunes, or something.

 

[Goona]

If apple want to convince me to buy more music then they should be looking at breaking the per country store barrier. I listen to a lot of 'world music' from Spanish to japanese artists and would be happy to pay more if i could easily access them via my iTunes account. There are a few artists such as monoral i can access via the UK store, but the selection s miniscule compared to the japanese store.

As it stands now, you need to either have a credit card from a bank in the country of the store or buy an itunes money card and trick the system into letting you create an account with it.

If this was done then the itunes store would be a very useful repository for promoting music around the world.

You know how hard it would be for them, I don't even think Apple has that much power.

 

[kurosov]

You know how hard it would be for them, I don't even think Apple has that much power.

I am aware. It would just be much easier than importing iTunes cards from other countries.

 

[Razeus]

I no longer pay for music anyways. The price hike means nothing to me.

 

[Shanpdx]

iTunes 8.1.1 and the price change, anything related?