iTunes Plus Album Prices

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Level 2

405 points

iTunes Plus Album Prices

I've been checking out the iTunes Plus selection. I notice that individual tracks are $1.29 as expected, but I thought albums in iTunes Plus would go up to $12.99 or whatever (30% more than what they are in regular iTunes). iTunes Plus full albums are all still the regular iTunes price: $9.99, or $7.99 or whatever the regular "non-Plus" version is selling for. That's great, if it's accurate. Or is this a mistake, or a time-limited introductory offer, or do they intend to keep full album prices for iTunes Plus music the same price as non-Plus, usually $9.99?

Brings up a point, though. Although I have quite a bit of iTunes Store purchased music, I only have maybe 7 individual tracks and one full album that are now available in iTunes Plus; these I can upgrade to Plus through the upgrade feature by paying the difference in price. The single-track purchases, they're $.30 more to pay, up from the $.99 I originally paid. Makes sense and seems fair to me. But the album, for which I paid $9.99 back in the non-Plus days is still $9.99 as an iTunes Plus album. But they want $3.00 to upgrade it to iTunes Plus. Now, that doesn't make sense. If it was $9.99 in the non-Plus version, before Plus was even offered, and it's still $9.99 in the iTunes Plus version, now why am I lucky enough to have the opportunity to pay $3.00 more for it in the Plus version over people who are just buying it today and in the future?

MacBook

Posted on May 31, 2007 6:44 AM

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Answer 1

Cander

Level 3

850 points

May 31, 2007 6:57 AM in response to sanford_may

The albums will remain their normal price. Otherwise there would be no little incentive to purchase full albums from iTunes when you could go buy the phyiscal CD for the same price or in some case cheaper.

Now with your problem of paying 3$ for an already purchased full album, they probably still have to pay EMI their full cut for that upgrade as if it is a regular new purchase. So Apple needs to charge to keep from losing money, or alot of money, by offering the upgrade.

That is just my peception of it though.

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Answer 2

sanford_may Author

Level 2

405 points

May 31, 2007 6:58 AM in response to sanford_may

If indeed the full album prices are, for iTunes Plus content, to stay the same as non-Plus in the future, I think I've figured out the sales model they're using for upgrades to Plus. It's not a retail model, it's a software model: if you bought last year's business software package for $400, this year they come out with a new version, a few more features, it still costs $400 for the new buyer. But you're expected to pay, say, a $79 fee to upgrade. So they'd be treating iTunes Store purchases as licensed software purchases, not retail music purchases.

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Answer 3

sanford_may Author

Level 2

405 points

May 31, 2007 7:04 AM in response to Cander

Cander, makes sense on both counts. I can rarely find a CD of something offered on iTunes for $9.99 or less, but I can often find it for $11.99. And of course in that case I would almost always just buy the CD and rip it to my library at whichever bit-rate I choose. So it's little annoying, although I have no urge to upgrade one measly album, anyway, so it's a philosophical argument. In fact, I'd rather be slapped with a $3.00 "overcharge" that I can choose not to pay and have the iTunes Plus albums stay the same price as always -- I buy a fair number of full albums over single tracks -- rather than be offered a free upgrade for what I already own, but have to pay $13 per album in the future for iTunes Plus versions.

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Answer 4

Cander

Level 3

850 points

May 31, 2007 7:08 AM in response to sanford_may

From a business stand point that sounds like a logical way to look at it. It may seem unfair for some, but really look at it from Apples view. They have to pay for bandwidth to let you download the new track, and as I mentioned, possibly the cost to EMI for a full download. So they got to cover their losses. They are a business after all. Not knowing the full details of the deal, Apple could very well be losing money with allowing the upgrades as far as we know for the sake of promotion.

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