Update: And, a mere 30 minutes after we posted this piece, Steve Jobs himself has confirmed the price drop, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. All prices will reflect the change later today or tomorrow. Indie recording companies are also confirmed to be adding new tracks, at $0.99 apiece. There is now absolutely no reason for iTunes Plus not to be your default.
Some attentive shoppers at the iTunes Store noted that a handful of iTunes Plus songs are going for $0.99, $0.30 less than the normal price of $1.29. Among the tracks available for the cheaper price are tracks by Flight of the Conchords, The Perishers, and even Barenaked Ladies. Is it a one-off, a mistake, or a signal that Apple is changing its pricing policy?
A story at Infinite Loop suggests that Apple is planning on dropping its iTunes Plus prices to $0.99 across the board and add indie labels to the mix, spurred on in large part by the cheaper prices of its latest rival, Amazon’s MP3 store, which sells many of its DRM-free tracks for $0.99 or even $0.89. If true, that would be a big step for Apple, and showcase the immediate effects of competition from Amazon’s offerings. Good news for consumers of digital music consumers everywhere.
Better yet, though, this is good news for those who detest Digital Rights Management. By making it so that users no longer have to pay a premium for DRM-free tracks, it goes a long way towards making unencumbered tracks the norm, instead of something that only certain snobs will pay extra for. I mean, why wouldn’t you buy a DRM-free version if it was the same price? Do you love lock-in that much? Oh yeah? Well, why don’t you just marry it, then.
Saw this on Infinite Loop this morning. Fired up iTunes and went to Upgrade My Library. Sure enough 2 full albums and one single, but Apple charges me $3.90 for the upgrade yet when I looked at the albums in the the store they were listed at .99 cents. Shouldn't the upgrade been free?
"There is now absolutely no reason for iTunes Plus not to be your default."
Unless your name is Edgar Bronfman.
Boy. Price slashed by almost a third. Is this going to become habit? ;-)
"There is now absolutely no reason for iTunes Plus not to be your default."
Or, unfortunately, if you want something from Universal. Not Apple's fault, but that's the reality.
Also, some indie labels are now iTunes Plus! I upgraded an album by the name of Dumb Luck --by Dntel. This album is distributed by SubPop Records.