Time does not stop, technology evolves and things change to the better.
128bit is not good enough. I am pretty sure that the 128 Bit songs will vanish from the store any time soon.
Apple worried?
Some Apple sites behave like a....kissers but you guys are turning into drama queens. What's so official about it anyway?
Are they worried about Microsoft too, because they launch 10.5 soon?

"It means they are cognizant of the marketplace and are willing to admit when they can't get away with the huge margins that hey are charging."

What are you kidding ? How much money do you think Apple makes off of a song ? They cut the price by 11 cents which is probably half of their margin.

Huge margins? Uh, most of that money goes to the labels.

The only way Amazon was able to get away with lower prices was that they were willing to offer Amazon a lower wholesale price than Apple. In fact Apple has been the one trying to keep a lid on pricing, whereas the labels have been trying to charge more for newer songs.

The other possibility worth considering is that Apple went to EMI and said, "Hey...you're giving Amazon this price on DRM-free stuff. What's the deal?"

It seems like the initial price of 1.29 was Apple's way of compensating EMI for the potential lost revenue from piracy, and now that things have (apparently) been going well, it was time to bring the price back down and phase out the DRM, record by record.

For the last year or so I've bought all my music on iTunes. I'm kind of an apple fanboy actually. love their products. Except, ever since Amazon's mp3 store I haven't bought any mp3s from itunes. I've bought 4 albums from Amazon, and it's going to continue that way until Apple changes their price and DRM regulations to match.

The reason they are changing their price structure/ itunes plus method is because this is the first real thread.

It's because the songs work with iPods and it's because they are cheaper. I, having primarily used iTunes, actually switched to Amazon for all songs available there.

It's the first real threat to iTunes.

I have been checking the Apple site all day. When are the price reductions supposed to kick in?

Here's what I believe is the most likely scenario:
- Apple priced DRM-free at 1.29 (likely giving $1 per song to the label) to entice the labels to give up DRM. EMI agreed but no other label.
- Universal, which is trying to break iTunes domination, went to Amazon and others (but not iTunes) and offered to sell its songs DRM-free at the same price (getting .70 per song). Amazon told EMI and EMI went along, because it would look bad if EMI songs were .30 more.
- Apple went back to EMI and renegotiated to the same deal as Amazon's, since no other label was willing to sell at the higher price. EMI may have insisted on getting some variable pricing in a year's time in return as Levy, the EMI CEO, said today.

So yes, Amazon did play a role, but I think the original price was a bone to the labels.

"Yes, we know that AAC is a better encryption algorithm and is an open standard."

Do you mean that AAC is a better compression algorithm?

Nice article.

Worried???

Reacting as needed maybe. You don't think Apple has been anticipating real competition? I'll bet Steve Jobs is amazed it took this long. iTunes is an important component of their strategy, but it's just one piece of the equation. Proliferation of their devices will continue, regardless of where the content comes from.

OMG! Apple is working to get the price of non-DRM'd tracks in line with the price of DRM'd tracks. Can this be? Could it be possible that apple is trying to offer one price for all tracks... like it has worked to do since day one?

This is another drama story from 9to5 creating controversy where non exists. This site was excellent for about a month, great reporting and very accurate. Then the iPhone came out and Apple upset an editor or two and now anything and everything that happens means Apple is going out of business and screwing it's customers. Stop crying and move on. This is technology and things change everyday.

Amazon is the first real competitor to iTunes and if Apple is positioning itself to compete more aggressively then so be it. The only store offering high quality, Non-DRM'd tracks with no watermarks (unlike iTunes and Amazon) is the Zune store. Perhaps that will trickle down to iTunes as well. Competition is good, it makes the market better for everyone.

Evolve or Die. As a die hard Apple fan.. that goes for both Apple and 9to5.

Topslakr

I have to agree with some of the other guys on here. The content of your reporting is great, but what's with the drama queen "It's Official. Apple is Worried..."
Why not a catchy title like "Apple Adjusts to the Market..." or something else PROFESSIONAL.

Like they've said, you guys were solid for about a month, and you still get the facts, but you present it like a bunch of grade school girls.

"just callin' em like I see em."

Exactly! Why couldn't the headline and story have been:

EMI CAVES TO APPLE!

EMI unable to justify charging higher prices on iTunes Music Store. EMI lowers wholesale prices to Apple after allowing AmazonMP3 to grab some headlines.

Is there any evidence either way?

Apple profits very little from the iTunes Music Store. It has always been a way to drive people to buying iPods (and it has worked). The Amazon store is no threat to Apple in general as 90%+ of the songs sold by Amazon will still be loaded on to iPods. Apple would likely want to continue lowering prices to match the general music market. Unlike Amazon who is trying to profit from the sale of media only, Apple makes (a lot of) money on the iPod no matter where the songs come from. I don't think that cheaper music from Amazon will suddenly make the Zune any more attractive to anyone.

This place used to be cool, now I see that it's run by a bunch of b1tch3s.

Stop putting spin on your articles. It's not worth looking at anymore. I'm going back to macrumors. At least they really "call it as they see it".

This place is ran by morons.

I agree with the last comment. There was a point at which this site was underground and clutch cargo. Now it seems the point is to knock Apple off their horse. I don't disagree with certain observations... but the way the information is described... it totally sounds like a bunch of GATES Keepers.
Undercover PC bottom feeders or something. Report the information in a way that educated... no random guesses and opions.

Wow, my spellchecker is working well today. That last sentence should read... REPORT THE INFO IN A WAY THAT IS EDUCATED, NOT RANDOM GUESSES AND OPINIONS. I'm a dumb ass...

"It is Official. 9to5mac.com is Worried About Losing its Visitors"

This place sucks. Never coming back. Later.

More spin here than Fox News and propeller blades combined.

I think the reason for the drop this time around is because Amazon is the first direct threat to the iTunes / iPod market. All of the others would sell you songs but they would only work on WMA compatible devices. Now Amazon is selling songs that will work on the iPod. To my knowledge this is the first MAJOR online retailer to provide songs that work on the iPod without any tricks. I now look at Amazon before I go to iTunes. Better prices for the most part and up until today a better selection.

Agree! 9to5mac.com was good for one month ... now it's getting worse here ... bye 9to5mac.com, never coming back!

"Yes, we know that AAC is a better encryption algorithm and is an open standard."

Actually, AAC is a compression algorithm, not an encryption algorithm. The goal is to make your music files smaller through lossy compression that uses psychoacoustic heuristics to know what data is "safe" to throw away.

Encryption is another beast altogether. You encrypt things when you don't want third parties to access them. FairPlay DRM is the encryption that Apple uses on the iTunes tracks that aren't sold DRM-free. However, AAC and FairPlay are two different things, so they shouldn't be confused.

Do early adopters of the $1.29 tracks get money back? Because I think i deserve a refund just as much as the iphone people. haha.

Amazon sells a bast set of digital music players even the chinese ones, make your own conjectures

Correction in your usage of AAC in the second sentence:

"Yes, we know that AAC is a better encryption algorithm and is an open standard."

AAC is a /audio compression algorithm/ not an encryption algorithm.

Not trying to be persnickety - just correcting a common misconception.

The last song I bought, well, I paid more than I would have at Amazon, but I was able to download it immediately into my iPhone. . .
Apple will still have the market for those of us with their toys that need that instant gratification thing, even if it costs us a dime more.

It's official, this page has some great Amazon adds at the bottom. Wait! you don't think that they would ........Nah, I'm sure it's all just a coincidence.