CNET has an interesting piece about the record companies and Itunes. Apparently they (the record companies) are not so happy with Itunes as it has become so popular that Apple is now dictating terms to them instead of the other way around. The record companies want to change more for popular songs and less for old stuff, but Apple wants to stick to it’s 99 cent per song scheme that has proven so popular. The record companies are now looking toward mobile phones as their possible salvation, because if users will pay $2.50 for a ring tone, the record companies think they will pay more for a full song. The question we should be asking, is “should they be permitted to charge more for a song then you would pay for the same song on a CD” (if you paid 18 dollars for a CD with 18 songs on it, that’s a dollar a song). The record companies have far less expenditure for digital music, but passing those savings onto us appears to be a priority that is way down on their list.
