iTunes Fail

A year ago when I bought a new MacBook, I started buying a decent amount of music legally through Amazon. I refused to use iTunes since it put DRM protection on the music, and I didn't want my music to be locked by an Apple mainframe somewhere. Fortunately, Amazon built a fantastic plugin to its store that would download and import a high-quality MP3 into iTunes -- complete with artwork. To seal the deal, most songs were actually cheaper, around $0.89.

Then, a few months later, iTunes introduced DRM-free songs called "iTunes Plus" that were $0.30 more, so I could buy a DRM-protected song by Third Eye Blind for $0.99 or get a DRM-free version for $1.29. I stuck with Amazon.

Even a few more months later, Apple finally reduced pricing on these songs so they were all $0.99 with a few exceptions. At that time, I had my new iPhone 3G, so I would hear a song I liked on the radio or wherever I was, and I'd want to buy it right there. Normally I'd use Shazam to identify it if I didn't know it, otherwise I'd just go straight to the iTunes store directly on my iPhone. I'd sample, hit buy, and 15 seconds later I'd have it. Awesome, I could hear, identify, sample, and buy a song in under a minute or two. For this convenience I'd happily pay the extra 10 cents.

Sadly, I recently switched back to buying music from Amazon.com rather than iTunes. A few weeks back, iTunes reintroduced variable pricing on its music, including both iTunes and iTunes Plus songs (i.e. DRM-protected and DRM-free, respectively). Now pretty much every song I want is $1.29.

In this economy, Apple, you're increasing prices? Who do you think you are? Fortunately, Jeff Bezos still has a smart cap on while Steve Jobs seems to be waxing eccentric like Howard Hughes. At Amazon, I can still buy almost any song I would want on iTunes, but instead I get it in MP3 format -- and often times it's only $0.89. I simply lack the luxury of buying directly from my phone (if only the Amazon iPhone app would support direct buying of music, but Apple does hold a monopoly over that feature -- for now -- they will eventually be forced to open this and not face anti-trust lawsuits).