May 16 2007
Apple sets NZ pricing for DRM free tracks
PC World NZ has the details (via Public Address | Hard News) on the pricing for individual DRM-free tracks from Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Turns out NZ’ers will be paying $2.49 per track, which is a 39% premium over the DRM-crippled tracks that currently sell for $1.79. This is also 9% more than US and European customers will pay, and 14% more than UK residents will be paying. The strong NZ dollar has obviously been forgotten about in this pricing so I threw together some stats…
The following spreadsheet (original from Google Spreadsheets) shows the pricing for DRM and DRM-free tracks in USA, Canada, UK, Europe, and NZ with all prices converted to USD on the current exchange rates:
Luckily we don’t live in the UK who pay the most for both crippled and DRM-free tracks, but we have jumped ahead of Europe into second place for paying the most for DRM-free tracks. No mention of the pricing for full albums so hopefully Apple haven’t changed their mind about providing EMI DRM-free albums at the same price as current, crippled albums.
Does anybody else find it strange that legally purchased music that isn’t crippled, is something that we have to pay extra for..?
Update: An Australian Economics Professor has created an iTunes Index, which is based on the principals of the Big Mac Index. He’s updated it to include NZ, and it would be interesting if he updated it to include the DRM-free tracks too.