i-Tunes rip off?

[Slaine mac Roth]

iTunes rip off?
(Friday December 03, 2004 05:03 PM)

Apple's iTunes Music Store has been accused of overcharging UK customers.

The service has been referred to the European Commission by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) following a complaint from Which? that iTunes charged UK users 20% more than those in France and Germany.

Which?, formerly the Consumer Association, also complained that UK customers were barred from logging on to the French and German sites.

The OFT is asking the European Commission to rule on the matter.

It said the Commission was better placed to judge on the matter because "Apple iTunes operates in more than three European Union member states".

Philip Evans, principal policy adviser at Which?, said that the price of downloads should not be determined by national barriers.

Speaking to BBC News, he commented: "The online music market is a huge growth area; the Single Market should work the same in this market as in others.

"We're campaigning for free movement of goods and services in Europe and we'll take on any company, or group of companies, that seek to carve up the market to their benefit."

iTunes customers in the UK currently have to pay 79p to download a song. French or German customers are only charged 99 cents (68p).

Apple have yet to comment on OFT's decision, although, back in September, a spokesperson for the company said that the economics of individual countries did have an impact on how their downloads were priced.

The spokesperson added: "That's not unusual - look at the price of CDs in the US versus the UK.

"We believe the real comparison to be made is with the price of other track downloads in the UK."

However, Ed Averdieck, European sales and marketing director for OD2, which runs music download sites for the likes of HMV, Wanadoo, Tiscali and MTV, refuted the notion that UK consumers should pay more than their European neighbours.

Averdieck said: "Our retailers charge everyone in Europe the same price, and we believe there should be such a unified pricing policy.

"If you look at MSN, for example, it charges 99 cents in the eurozone and 69p in the UK [the same amount].

"We believe this is right and that there is no reason why UK consumers should have to pay any more."

iTunes currently dominates approximately 70% of the UK download market.

[Ogg]

I've been reading a little about it in the tabloids. Strikes me funny that the average price of a single song is 79 english pence.

We even had a special offer, umm, offered to us posties via the union, to purchase vouchers for said songs...only thirty pounds for thirty three tracks!!!

My advice is to get a decent net connection, look up the TORRENT p2p system and download a full album, for free, in ten minutes, lol.