iTunes' New Pricing Could Spell Trouble

Apple announced in January that they would have a price hike on iTunes tracks (oh yeah, and a price drop, they wanted to emphasize that as well) and today the new pricing hierarchy went into effect. Based on what the record labels think the songs should be priced at, popularity and we're sure just some personal preference, the new prices are Apple's effort to get some income from the digital download giant. But we're a little confused about why some songs got the new prices and others didn't.



iTunes kind of tried to play off the new pricing strategy as a half and half kind of deal. Sure some would go up in price, but just as many would go down. It's sure easy to find a lot of those $1.29 tracks now, but finding a $.69 track is like a diamond in the rough. That said, we did see Elvis' "Blue Suede Shoes" on the lowest pricing level. I suppose that's something I could get behind.

But then, you start looking at some of the top downloads and a lot have $1.29 tacked on. So anything from the new Black Eyed Peas album will cost more. Tracks from Lady GaGa are also more expensive. Yes, they think people will pay $1.29 for "Poker Face" and Soulja Boy's "Kiss Me Thru the Phone" (he has nothing to do with Lady GaGa, but shows some serious lack in judgment). Oh poor Apple, this must be the beginning of the end.

We'll have to see how the new pricing structure plays out, but we don't have a whole lot of hope for Apple. In fact, if you really want to know how I feel about it, you can't read my pa-pa-pa-poker face.

For more on the latest tech news that doesn't make us cringe, check out these other blog posts:

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