Rumor: iTunes Store could get flexible album pricing

Certainly one of the drawbacks to buying music on the iTS is the single vs. album purchase: sure you can buy a song or two from an album, or maybe the hot pre-release single, but what happens if you want the rest of the album later, or when it's completely released? This has been a catch with traditional music distribution methds as well - you can either buy that $3-5 CD single release, or pony up the ridiculous price of $15-20 (and more) for the entire album. I've been hoping someone would devise a digital solution to this conundrum since I bought my first album off the store the day it launched, and Ina Fried CNET has a rumor stating that a solution could see the light of day soon. The idea is that if you've bought a track or two from an album, you can receive credit for those purchased tracks in the form of a lower total album price, should you decide you want the entire thing at a later date.

If this is true, I would hope it could debut as early as January's Macworld '07 event. Ina's right - they're leaving a ton of money on the table without something like this in place, and they have the opportunity of solving an age-old conundrum in offering an appealing and fundamental advantage over the traditional brick-and-mortar method of buying music.

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Source: http://news.com.com/2061-11516_3-6134596.html?tag=nefd.top

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iTS Retail Rumors

Certainly one of the drawbacks to buying music on the iTS is the single vs. album purchase: sure you can buy a song or two from an album,...

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Galley

YourMusic.com (a division of BMG) offers 15,000 CDs for $5.99 each with FREE shipping. I've been using them for nearly two years. There's no limit, and you can even send them to friends and family. Multi-disc albums are priced at the same $5.99 per disc. They tend to get new releases 3-4 months after retail.

November 12 2006 at 10:54 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Word Diggity

James, if you'll pay full price for something that's not even 1/4 the quality of an actual CD, then you've CLEARLY got different priorities from mine, and there's no point in talking to you.

November 12 2006 at 12:42 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Carter

I know I would've purchased a few albums had I gotten a discount after I bought singles...

This is a very smart business move for Apple.

November 11 2006 at 2:40 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Chris

@ James

Now that MS is (as of 11/22) offering HD movie rentals via the XBOX 360 it may just happen. They are attacking the Wii, PS3, and iTS sales in one deft move.

November 11 2006 at 1:49 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

James Donevan

File this story alongside the Trusted Reviews report in October that "revealed Apple will drop the much-rumored wide/touchscreen 6G iPod in December".

It just won't happen.

November 11 2006 at 1:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Riine

i hear that thing called torrents has great deals on CDs

November 11 2006 at 1:03 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

James

RE: Word Diggity. Dude, some people have more important things to do than "shop around" to save a few bucks on a CD today. The gas, car wear and tear, time, and aggravation is NOT WORTH IT. Before electronic downloads, people did not have a choice, they HAD TO SHOP.

November 11 2006 at 12:29 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

ryan

Let's hope they do the same for TV shows and season passes, I've purchased enough of the Office shows to warrant getting the rest of the seasons for next to nothing.

November 11 2006 at 12:26 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Word Diggity

Dude, who pays full retail price for CDs anymore? I just bought-NEW, mind you-the new Decemberists album for $8 at Best Buy. Look for sales, or better still, look for used copies.

If you can't be bothered to shop around (Amazon has stuff for 20-30% off all the time, and places like Best Buy and Target always have some kind of sale on) then you deserve to overpay.

November 11 2006 at 12:23 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply