iTunes, iTunes, iTunes

June 15, 2004 9:34 AM

Finally, iTunes Launches.
posted by seanyboy (25 comments total)

Prices are outrageous though. $1.20 for French and German users, and a staggering $1.44 for the British. Personally, I blame Blair.
posted by seanyboy at 9:38 AM on June 15, 2004

Not that I would use it personally, but why not Canada?? I've wanted to send gift certificates to American friends and couldn't. I can't help but feel snubbed.
posted by loquax at 9:47 AM on June 15, 2004

the least you could do is blame bush, he's tony's special friend!
posted by quonsar at 9:47 AM on June 15, 2004

Its always Bush's fault. And Hilary Rosen.
posted by fenriq at 9:53 AM on June 15, 2004

In the US, there's no tax at all on iTunes, right?
posted by smackfu at 9:58 AM on June 15, 2004

I heard that Coca Cola also released an exciting new beverage recently! I shall go post about this right now.
posted by xmutex at 9:59 AM on June 15, 2004

Seanyboy: Re the costs: Write an abusive email to apple (which they will ignore) but might make you feel slightly better, and then an 'helpful informer' email to the Office of Fair Trading to see whether they can do anything (you never know). How about pointing this out to a few newspapers too? They seem fond of 'consumer getting screwed' stories, esp. where our European allies are getting stuff for less.
posted by biffa at 10:03 AM on June 15, 2004

I doubt the persons to complain to are the folks in Cupertino, biffa.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 10:11 AM on June 15, 2004

Oh, and welcome to the party, Europe.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 10:13 AM on June 15, 2004

In the US, there's no tax at all on iTunes, right?

Wrong. Many states charge sales tax, and if a company has a presence in a given state, it must collect that state's tax. Apple has a presence in quite a surprising number of states, since they have field sales offices for education and the like, and now the Apple Stores.

Of course, no state charges sales tax as high as the European VAT.
posted by kindall at 10:14 AM on June 15, 2004

JFK: The iTunes webpages all seem to begin www.apple at the beginning so I'm fairly sure its something to do with apple. Clicking on the Contact Us link at the bottom of the UK page lets you send off a missive somewhere, whether its Cupertino or their London trading office (or a giant electronic bin) is pretty moot as I was advocating sending abuse and don't think it'll have any effect whichever part of their whorish empire it ends up with.

Kindall: VAT in the UK is 17.5 %, the mark-up on US prices is >45%. Its even 20% above the FR/DE prices.
posted by biffa at 10:43 AM on June 15, 2004

Since the Apple thread's already started, here's a Jobs interview with the WSJ from yesterday where he says the 99 cent price in USA is not going up, which was rumored previously.
posted by dobbs at 10:46 AM on June 15, 2004

Yeah, I'm not saying all the difference is VAT, but some of it is, because it is not usual in the US to include sales tax with prices, while it does seem to be usual in Europe to include the VAT in the price. iTunes here in Washington is nearly 9% more expensive than Apple says it is, but everyone understands that the advertised price is before tax.
posted by kindall at 11:07 AM on June 15, 2004

Wrong. Many states charge sales tax, and if a company has a presence in a given state, it must collect that state's tax. Apple has a presence in quite a surprising number of states, since they have field sales offices for education and the like, and now the Apple Stores

And for those who file tax returns, many states try to add on tax assuming all tax filers purchase items without paying taxes (esp. via internet and mail). Remember to never buy over the Internet (or never admit to it anyway.)
posted by DBAPaul at 11:16 AM on June 15, 2004

I'm in CA & I pay sales tax on everything I buy from Mac except iTunes purchases. I don't know why.
posted by obloquy at 11:28 AM on June 15, 2004

I am not charged any taxes on iTunes purchases, and I live in Richmond, VA, where there is an Apple Store. I wonder if taxes are somehow built into the $0.99 price.
posted by emelenjr at 11:36 AM on June 15, 2004

(and Mac sells cosmetics, obloquy. ;) )
posted by emelenjr at 11:40 AM on June 15, 2004

Rumours originally pegged the European price at €1.29, which was chalked up to the rightsholders getting a bigger piece of the pie -- €0.80, according to MacPlus at the time -- among other things. If there's a (Mach-O) kernel of truth to these generally wrong (in re price) rumours, it's that a high VAT may not be the only variable at play that led to higher prices for Europe generally and the UK in particular. If the rightsholders are getting more than they are in the US, Apple, with its dainty per-song margins, has no choice but to pass those costs on. For all I know there are added costs for overseas credit-card purchases as well, but that's just a wild guess.

Or, Apple could just be trying to fleece you. But I'm prone to think that there might be a reason behind the ostensible rip-off.
posted by mcwetboy at 12:09 PM on June 15, 2004

Erm. Too expensive? Napster is £1.09 a track, & £9.95 per album.

Apple is £.79 per single and £7.99 for most albums.
posted by danny the boy at 12:16 PM on June 15, 2004

Am I not getting something?

"$1.20 for French and German users, and a staggering $1.44 for the British."

That's a conversion, right? Are you not taking into account that the dollar is very weak compared to both the Euro and GBP?
posted by danny the boy at 12:19 PM on June 15, 2004

How about pointing this out to a few newspapers too?

I think this will be all over the newspapers. Apple is definitely newsworthy, as is the Great British Rip-Off.
posted by Blue Stone at 12:40 PM on June 15, 2004

*that should be considered newsworthy.
posted by Blue Stone at 12:42 PM on June 15, 2004

Signing to iTunes "commercial suicide".
posted by Blue Stone at 1:29 PM on June 15, 2004

Blue Stone: While the bit about commercial suicide is still presumably accurate in that Guardian article, it is incorrect in predicting that "the first European territories to get the company's hotly awaited service will be the UK and Ireland and three Scandinavian countries Denmark, Finland and Norway" - out of those five, only the UK got iTunes. Also, they predicted that "Apple's failure to secure a deal with French independents could even see the country taken off the list of territories that are due to get the service first," which obviously didn't happen since France has iTunes now.
posted by adrianhon at 4:56 PM on June 15, 2004

Just seen this thread.

I am amused at how a thread about the launch in Europe of iTunes inspired half the commenters to post about US tax rates.

YankFilter!!!
posted by dash_slot- at 6:00 AM on June 21, 2004