

Why Apple is really more expensive than Amazon - wanorris
http://listeningtoreason.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-apple-is-really-more-expensive-than.html

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pmjordan
_But calling this price fixing is tantamount to saying that Apple has the
right to set the royalty rate for the entire digital music industry._

I find it amusing to be talking about whether they have the _right_ to specify
their price structure. As far as I can tell, it's still some healthy market
forces at play, I don't think the line to monopolistic behaviour has been
crossed just yet.

What I don't quite understand about this whole debate is the variable pricing
part. If I go into a shop selling CDs these days, almost all the albums are
going for almost exactly €18 (~$28) except for the occasional special offer on
albums that are a few months old. (as opposed to new releases or the back-
catalogue) There's hardly any differentiation in price going on there. Are
retailers playing the Apple game as well? Or is the whining about price fixing
really the record industry complaining that it can't charge crazy money for
_all_ music? (if you ask me, €18 is more than enough - and we in Europe don't
even get to buy cheap-ish MP3s from amazon)

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mechanical_fish
_healthy market forces at play..._

Wait, we're talking about the _recorded music industry_ , right? An industry
that continues to exist only because a massive regulatory structure prevents
me from just _giving_ you a copy of all of my albums?

You might be able to convince me that, on balance, this is a _good_
monopoly... if the public domain still existed. Which it doesn't. (Thanks,
Mickey Mouse and Sonny Bono!) But, whether you approve of it or not, it
crossed the line of "monopolistic behaviour" more than a generation ago.

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mechanical_fish
Upmodded primarily for Reg's responses in the comments, which clarify his
argument.

