Comments on: iTunes, iTunes, iTunes

iTunes, iTunes, iTunes

seanyboy — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 09:34:26 -0800

By: seanyboy

seanyboy — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 09:38:25 -0800

Prices are outrageous though. $1.20 for French and German users, and a staggering $1.44 for the British. Personally, I blame Blair.

By: loquax

loquax — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 09:47:03 -0800

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.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 09:47:26 -0800

the least you could do is blame bush, he's tony's special friend!

By: fenriq

fenriq — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 09:53:52 -0800

Its always Bush's fault. And Hilary Rosen.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 09:58:28 -0800

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

By: xmutex

xmutex — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 09:59:23 -0800

I heard that Coca Cola also released an exciting new beverage recently! I shall go post about this right now.

By: biffa

biffa — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 10:03:28 -0800

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.

By: John Kenneth Fisher

John Kenneth Fisher — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 10:11:27 -0800

I doubt the persons to complain to are the folks in Cupertino, biffa.

By: John Kenneth Fisher

John Kenneth Fisher — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 10:13:18 -0800

Oh, and welcome to the party, Europe.

By: kindall

kindall — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 10:14:07 -0800

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.

By: biffa

biffa — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 10:43:12 -0800

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.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 10:46:10 -0800

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.

By: kindall

kindall — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 11:07:04 -0800

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.

By: DBAPaul

DBAPaul — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 11:16:36 -0800

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.)

By: obloquy

obloquy — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 11:28:14 -0800

I'm in CA & I pay sales tax on everything I buy from Mac except iTunes purchases. I don't know why.

By: emelenjr

emelenjr — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 11:36:58 -0800

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.

By: emelenjr

emelenjr — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 11:40:22 -0800

(and Mac sells cosmetics, obloquy. ;) )

By: mcwetboy

mcwetboy — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 12:09:49 -0800

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.

By: danny the boy

danny the boy — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 12:16:41 -0800

Erm. Too expensive? Napster is £1.09 a track, & £9.95 per album. Apple is £.79 per single and £7.99 for most albums.

By: danny the boy

danny the boy — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 12:19:40 -0800

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?

By: Blue Stone

Blue Stone — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 12:40:58 -0800

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.

By: Blue Stone

Blue Stone — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 12:42:43 -0800

*that should be considered newsworthy.

By: Blue Stone

Blue Stone — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 13:29:14 -0800

Signing to iTunes "commercial suicide".

By: adrianhon

adrianhon — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 16:56:22 -0800

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.

By: dash_slot-

dash_slot- — Mon, 21 Jun 2004 06:00:24 -0800

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!!!