| Tuesday, January 6, 2009 |
11:08 - Win some, lose some
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/01/06itunes.html
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We-hell. Looks like there's been much horse-trading going on in iTunes land.
All iTunes music is now DRM-free. But... and it's a big but:
“We are thrilled to be able to offer our iTunes customers DRM-free iTunes Plus songs in high quality audio and our iPhone 3G customers the ability to download music from iTunes anytime, anywhere over their 3G network at the same price as downloading to your computer or via Wi-Fi,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “And in April, based on what the music labels charge Apple, songs on iTunes will be available at one of three price points—69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29—with many more songs priced at 69 cents than $1.29.”
So variable pricing has arrived on the iTunes store. And you can bet that the fact that the bulk of the music is 69 cents does not mean any of the music you'll want is 69 cents.
Ah well—a small price to pay, quite literally, for the end of DRM. I wonder if that will put paid to the grousing from all quarters about Apple's "engineered lock-in" to the iPod/iTunes ecosystem...
UPDATE: As to the Big Giant iPod (aka the Sealed-Shut Desktop-Replacement 17" MacBook Pro that Only a Freak would Take on an 8+hour Flight and Need to Change the Battery, So Says Jobs), I do have a certain amount of affinity for this argument, wild rationalization though it might be. Does anyone doubt that Belkin will have its inevitable external MagSafe-compatible battery-brick device ready any later than 35 seconds from now?
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Brian Tiemann
