Amazon Undercuts iTunes With 69-Cent Pricing on New Release MP3s

153727 amazon 69c new releases

As noted by the Los Angeles Times, Amazon has taken Apple's iTunes Store head-on in the digital music marketplace with its new feature of 69-cent on popular new release tracks. The new, lower price marks a substantial discount from iTunes, which typically charges $1.29 for current hits.

The Seattle online company is now pricing select top-selling tunes for 69 cents, down from 89 cents previously. Many of the songs in Amazon's 69-cent store sell for $1.29 on iTunes, including Katy Perry's "E.T.", Jennifer Lopez's "On the Floor" and Lady Gaga's "Born This Way."

The report notes that Amazon has been stuck at about 10% of the digital music download market for several years, finding itself unable to eat further into Apple's dominant position with iTunes.

Apple initially used a standard $0.99 price point for iTunes Store music content, but shifted to a tiered pricing model in April 2009, with much of the store's content remaining at the original $0.99 price point but certain popular content bumped up to $1.29 while older back catalog material in some cases dropped to $0.69. Amazon and Wal-Mart quickly followed suit with their own tiered pricing models.

Apple's shift to tiered pricing was made at the request of major record labels seeking more control over content pricing and was part of the negotiations that led Apple to be able to offer its entire iTunes Store music catalog free of digital rights management (DRM) restrictions.

Related Forum: Mac Apps

Top Rated Comments

yg17 Avatar
170 months ago
You like lossy compression? How 1990's of you.
iTunes is lossy too :rolleyes:

Edit: And glad to see someone downrated me for stating a fact. Real mature.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
samcraig Avatar
170 months ago
Anyone arguing against this is an idiot.

First people complain about not having choices or prices being too high. Now there are more options and pricing is lower.

Wow. Just wow.

Well those addicted to Apple can still pay more for their songs. Enjoy. I won't stop you. Just like those that want to pay more for ebooks.

Personally - I'll shop it around and pay the best price whoever is selling it.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
levitynyc Avatar
170 months ago
Remember when tiered pricing was announced, Steve said more songs would be available for $.69 than $1.29...I have yet to see a $.69 song.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Yvan256 Avatar
170 months ago
Can you name a few more? I have only seen Sony support AAC on their PMP devices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding#Hardware

I don't understand why people still call AAC a "proprietary Apple format" in 2011. It's not even from Apple.

Screenshots in Mac OS X are saved as 32-bit PNGs, yet I've never heard anyone call PNG an "Apple format".
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kaibelf Avatar
170 months ago
Come on! We all know that the TRUE Apple fans on here will gladly pay $1.29 or even 2-3x that to support Steve Jobs' organ transplant fund. They wouldn't go to Amazon even if they were giving away that music for free. :D

Criticism of fanboyism and the habits of consumers is one thing, but it's pretty awful to make fun of the needs of someone who needed such an extreme procedure due to advanced cancer. Very very trashy. :mad:
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lesser Evets Avatar
170 months ago
CDs are generally around $10-$13 in stores. Downloads at roughly the same price are a rip(10+ songs per CD). $.69 is right for me. Hello, Amazon.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
apple id account

Apple ID Accounts Logging Out Users and Requiring Password Reset

Saturday April 27, 2024 12:41 am PDT by
There are widespread reports of Apple users being locked out of their Apple ID overnight for no apparent reason, requiring a password reset before they can log in again. Users say the sudden inexplicable Apple ID sign-out is occurring across multiple devices. When they attempt to sign in again they are locked out of their account and asked to reset their password in order to regain access. ...
macos sonoma feature purple green

Apple's Regular Mac Base RAM Boosts Ended When Tim Cook Took Over

Friday April 26, 2024 6:34 am PDT by
Apple used to regularly increase the base memory of its Macs up until 2011, the same year Tim Cook was appointed CEO, charts posted on Mastodon by David Schaub show. Earlier this year, Schaub generated two charts: One showing the base memory capacities of Apple's all-in-one Macs from 1984 onwards, and a second depicting Apple's consumer laptop base RAM from 1999 onwards. Both charts were...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: Apple's iPad Event Finally Announced!

Friday April 26, 2024 8:31 am PDT by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the announcement of Apple's upcoming "Let loose" event, where the company is widely expected to announce new iPad models and accessories. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Apple's event invite shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Apple CEO Tim...
ipad pro 2022

Apple Event Rumors: iPad Pro With M4 Chip and New Apple Pencil With Haptic Feedback

Sunday April 28, 2024 6:19 am PDT by
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman outlined some of the new products he expects Apple to announce at its "Let Loose" event on May 7. First, Gurman now believes there is a "strong possibility" that the upcoming iPad Pro models will be equipped with Apple's next-generation M4 chip, rather than the M3 chip that debuted in the MacBook Pro and iMac six months ago. He said a ...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...