So we have indeed seen a worldwide launch – that actually includes us – from Apple on the DRM-free EMI tracks, and local pricing on these 256kbps AAC files is…
$2.19
Great to see we’ve got it, but that price differential again stretches out just too far for me to want to pay it. Album pricing is $22.09 (haven’t seen it directly, but that’s based on their $5.10 upgrade price for previously purchased albums) Oh yeah, forgot that albums work differently, and so far I’m seeing iTunes Plus options from $17.99 to $20.99, and you do have to pay about $5.10 “for most albums” to upgrade them. I can (still) go and buy ANY album I want on CD for a lot less than that price.
More than ever I’m inclined to go buy discs, and rip them in the format of my choice. But I do appreciate us getting the choice, so cheers for that.
Reckless
Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 2:00 PMTracks should always have been encoded at a bitrate higher than 128kbps, all they’re doing now is playing catchup and making us pay for it. It’s like charging a DVD price for a movie that’s been crammed into a 700 meg file (I’m sure that most people reading this know exactly what those files look like :)
It’s definitely a step in the right direction, but why should we pay more to get quality that should have been there to start with?
I understand that a higher bitrate means a larger file size which in turn costs more to deliver, but look at how much they’re already saving! No CDs to manufacture, no album sleeves to print, no distribution or retail outlets to pay for. I’m pretty sure that the iTunes servers cost a hell of a lot less to set up and maintain than the old skool physical system, so where is the money going?
When the price comes down and ALL tracks are high quality and DRM free then I’ll switch from CDs. For now though I’m happy to wait.
Frank Di Cosmo
Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 4:50 PMExactly. Why the hell are we paying 90c more per track than the US? Take out the exchange rate, and we’re still being ripped off. Why do Aussies have to cop it up the rear whenever it comes to anything technology-related? For the occasional single, I may spend the 2.19, but if they are trying to promote album sales, they would want to find a sharper pencil to stab us in the eye with. I, like you Reckless, will be buying the cd album, and ripping it. I will then have an uncompressed (not 256kbps compressed aac file) physical copy, complete with album art etc, and it will cost me less!!! What a load of shit!
Jared
Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 7:56 PMThe people who set this pricing scheme must think we are morons or something. Our exhange rate is awesome right now, and yet they still overcharge us. Maybe DJ Lars was onto something.
Peter
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 at 7:49 AMCheers for that???? This is not Choice. Choice would be if we were given the alternative to buy either the lower priced version of a track as well as the extravigantly priced DRM free one – but we don’t!
dan
Sunday, September 12, 2010 at 1:46 PMwheres HD on itunes, australian itunes is so behind everyone else.