Pricing for digital music just became WAY more confusing. With Apple iTunes new variable pricing (as low as $.69 per old song and $1.99 for new songs), a reasonably complex process - buying downloading installing playing music - just became even MORE complex and confusing to people who just want to listen to music. Economists call this price discovery, I call it a pain in the ass. I don’t want to spend my time looking for the best deal on a new album or a single track which is why I like Rhapsody. The new U2 album? Heard it on Rhapsody - and I didn’t pay an extra penny. Classic Van Morrison live album? Heard it on Rhapsody and didn’t pay any extra.

iTunes did a great thing when they launched and had pricing at an easy to understand and calculate $.99 per song for everything. Variable pricing will be a rat hole of confusion and online tools to scope out the best price for a particular song which takes away from the fun of discovery.