The eagle-eyed music lovers over at Ars Technica spotted some interesting fluctuations in iTunes pricing earlier this week, with some DRM-free "Plus" tracks being reduced to the same $0.99 as encrypted songs. Now, Apple has officially announced that all iTunes Plus tracks will be priced this same amount, making good on Steve Jobs' pledge to do what he could to improve access to non-DRM music.
A current bone of contention that is as of yet unresolved is whether tracks previously bought can be "upgraded" to DRM-free, as used to be the case by paying the difference between the two types. Since this difference has now been removed, and barring any price drop of standard songs, it will remain to be seen whether free upgrades of tracks now available unencrypted for the same price will be permitted.
In an interesting twist, EMI label head Alain Levy used the Apple announcement to disclose that he was in talks with Cupertino regarding bringing in flexible pricing for iTunes tracks, in such a way that popular songs could potentially rise to $1.29 while infrequently downloaded music would fall accordingly. Apple is yet to comment, although any such plan would be, as Levy recognises, implemented in the course of 12 months rather than immediately.
[via Apple-Touch]
