Comments on: The Hole In Apple's iTunes Price Cut

By: JJB Mpls., MN

JJB Mpls., MN — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:02:30 +0000

No matter what, you just can not please some people. They will find *something* wrong with everything. What a miserable way to live.

By: planetfinder,Clarksville MD

planetfinder,Clarksville MD — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:49:06 +0000

APPLE 2.0

Mac news from inside the negative reality distortion field.

By: KSmith, Buffalo NY

KSmith, Buffalo NY — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:29:59 +0000

Actually, I think what's being complained about is that the "Upgrade My Library" feature, which upgrades previously-purchased, DRM-loaded tracks with the DRM-free, higher bitrate iTunes Plus ones, still costs the 30-cents per track upgrade fee. I just went through the library upgrade for 156 tracks, and while it wasn't a blanket 30 cents per track it was $38.50, which was close enough.

By: Rusty, Charlotte, NC

Rusty, Charlotte, NC — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:48:40 +0000

ok this should be corrected….its not new USERS. Its new PURCHASES. Songs that were previously purchased will be charged to upgrade, but if you currently use iTunes and purchase music that you don't already own then those can be purchased DRM free for the new reduced price.

By: Alan, Kokomo IN US

Alan, Kokomo IN US — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:43:32 +0000

I had to read the article twice before I could convince myself that it wasn't complete fiction. The wording makes it sound like existing iTunes customers are being charged 30% more than new customers, but I can see how the article manages to be technically accurate even while implying something totally false.

It would be more kind — and arguably more correct — to say that people who already own the lower-quality Fairplay-protected version of a song or album can buy the new DRM-free higher-quality version at a 70% discount.

By: Frank, Portland, OR

Frank, Portland, OR — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:41:57 +0000

Who would buy Norah Jones in the first place?

By: John, Neenah WI

John, Neenah WI — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:35:41 +0000

The link to this article from CNN Money says "Only new iTunes users get Apple's price cut"? That's extremely misleading. I have been using iTunes for years, I don't have Nora Jones' Feel Like Home CD and I can buy it for $12.99. Only people that have a couple songs and want to get the entire album have this problem, it has nothing to do with new iTunes users. Just thought the link was very misleading.

By: B. Aulenbach, Lilburn, GA

B. Aulenbach, Lilburn, GA — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:27:55 +0000

It is not a new versus exsisting customer issue. If one wants to upgrade previously purchased lower-quality DRM version tracks/albums to the higher-quality DRM-free versions, iTunes still charges to upgrade despite that the new price of the DRM-free version was equivalent to the original purchase price of the the lower-quality DRM version. But for albums, this has always been true since iTunes started offereding DRM-free tracks – the price to purchase an entire DRM free album was typically the same as the lower-quality DRM version, but if you already purchased the album, you had to pay to upgrade.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:27:13 +0000

yes but 1.29 is 30% more than .99

By: Urs W. Keller, Zurich, Switzerlan

Urs W. Keller, Zurich, Switzerlan — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:24:06 +0000

Please bear in mind that the audio quality of an AAC-encoded track (=iTunes) is noticeably superior to an MP3-encoded ona (=all the others