iTunes song inflation?

[AppleCrumbDlite]

Anyone else noticed A LOT of the single songs on iTunes have gone from .99 to 1.29 recently? Does anyone know why? It's ridiculous, a 33% price increase?!

[BStecke]

They announced this a few weeks ago. Popular stuff is now $1.29, not as popular stuff is still 99 cents. It's all about demand.

[dpomp]

Originally Posted by AppleCrumbDlite

Anyone else noticed A LOT of the single songs on iTunes have gone from .99 to 1.29 recently? Does anyone know why? It's ridiculous, a 33% price increase?!

I noticed too. Maybe demand will go down now

[Tru2theBlu]

Their prices now range from $0.69 to $1.29 in order to be more "competitive." Catalog songs and albums will be cheaper, but if you want the new stuff, it will cost you.

[LembasBread]

All music is now DRM-free and 256kbps in exchange for labels being able to pick their price tier. Songs you've already downloaded are upgradeable for a small fee as well instead of having to pay full price to repurchase the song/album you already own.

[AranhaHunter]

They pretty much have a monopoly on downloadable songs, and variable pricing structure is much better than a fixed one. Really some songs ARE worth more than others IMO.

[dpomp]

Originally Posted by LembasBread

All music is now DRM-free and 256kbps in exchange for labels being able to pick their price tier. Songs you've already downloaded are upgradeable for a small fee as well instead of having to pay full price to repurchase the song/album you already own.

please explain.

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by dpomp

please explain.

For $.30 per song you can upgrade your music to DRM free and the higher bit rate. However you can't pick and choose what songs you want to upgrade, it's all or nothing.

I've found very few $.69 songs other than some lists they linked to on the main Itunes store. It seems like most older songs kept their $.99 price and some newer songs went up in price but few went down in price.

[Galley]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

For $.30 per song you can upgrade your music to DRM free and the higher bit rate. However you can't pick and choose what songs you want to upgrade, it's all or nothing.

They changed that a few months ago. You can pick and choose.

Also, it's not only Apple that was forced by the labels to raise their prices, all the others raised their prices as well.

[ScarredLungs]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

For $.30 per song you can upgrade your music to DRM free and the higher bit rate. However you can't pick and choose what songs you want to upgrade, it's all or nothing.

I've found very few $.69 songs other than some lists they linked to on the main Itunes store. It seems like most older songs kept their $.99 price and some newer songs went up in price but few went down in price.

Does the DRM mean that it can be copied/ burned as many times as you want? I was under the impression that it was limited to a set nuber like 5 or 6. Since it is now DRM free, can it be copied and burned as many times as you want?

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by Galley

They changed that a few months ago. You can pick and choose.

Also, it's not only Apple that was forced by the labels to raise their prices, all the others raised their prices as well.

I didn't know they changed it so you can pick and choose. When they allowed the upgrade I looked into it and it was going to be like $90 to upgrade and it wasn't worth it so I didn't look at it again. Regardless all I use is Ipods (4 of them) so I don't need DRM-free.

[dpomp]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

For $.30 per song you can upgrade your music to DRM free and the higher bit rate. However you can't pick and choose what songs you want to upgrade, it's all or nothing.

I've found very few $.69 songs other than some lists they linked to on the main Itunes store. It seems like most older songs kept their $.99 price and some newer songs went up in price but few went down in price.

ok i understand what he was saying, what i meant was, explain how to do it..... i don't think i've ever seen any option.

[fighthefutureofhd]

Originally Posted by Galley

They changed that a few months ago. You can pick and choose.

Also, it's not only Apple that was forced by the labels to raise their prices, all the others raised their prices as well.

even the zune? cause i thought there's was a flat rate or something like that.

[FilmmakingFiasco]

Originally Posted by cvm

Does the DRM mean that it can be copied/ burned as many times as you want? I was under the impression that it was limited to a set nuber like 5 or 6. Since it is now DRM free, can it be copied and burned as many times as you want?

YES

[ScarredLungs]

Originally Posted by FilmmakingFiasco

YES

gotcha, that makes sense and this is a much needed change

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by dpomp

ok i understand what he was saying, what i meant was, explain how to do it..... i don't think i've ever seen any option.

On your Itunes store front page there on the upper right side there is a box that says Quick Links. Under Quick Links one of the options is Upgrade to Itunes Plus. It then has a list of all your songs and you can click buy on the ones you want to upgrade.

[ryoohki]

Amazon music price rise too.. about the same time as Itunes...

[Doc_Stew]

Originally Posted by ryoohki

Amazon music price rise too.. about the same time as Itunes...

Same with Rhapsody. At least their monthly unlimited use fee is still the same, which I LOVE!

[AlexG]

wow, people here still buy downloaded songs?

[ryoohki]

Originally Posted by AlexG

wow, people here still buy downloaded songs?

Well it's either that or mostly nothing. Here where i live. We have HMV and Walmart. HMV used to been all about music and some movies. Now it's 80% movies 10% Video Games, 2% book and the rest is CD. Walmart have some CD in my town. Mostly one rack with popular stuff and that's all. So the more it goes the less i can buy my music on CD.

Sure i can order online but the number of 'fake' copies online is beyond stupid. So sometime i buy Itunes + songs because it's the only way for me to get some music legally..