UK group accuses Apple of unfair download pricing
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LONDON A British consumers&#39; lobbying group has complained to the Office of Fair Trading about prices on Apple&#39;s iTunes online music download service.
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Apple President Steve Jobs  reiterated his commitment to charging the same price for iTunes  downloads across Europe as his lawyers defended the company on  Wednesday against allegations its prices are not uniform.
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Apple is facing questions over user data placed in DRM-free tracks sold through iTunes.
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A watchdog group asks a consumer-protection agency to look into the higher price of songs on Apple's British version of its iTunes service. Wendy M. Grossman reports from London.
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Britain's music fans will pay 10  percent less for downloads from Apple's  iTunes stores  within six months, the European Commission said on Wednesday.
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UK watchdog the Office of Fair Trading is investigating claims that Apple is ripping off its UK customers. The investigation follows a complaint that UK customers were having to shell out more for the reassuringly
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Instead of &quot;Think Different,&quot; perhaps Apple Computer&#39;s slogan should be &quot;Price Different,&quot; says a group of disgruntled UK music fans.
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The UK&#39;s Office of Fair Trading is conducting an investigation following a letter of complaint from the Consumers&#39; Association pointing out that Apple&#39;s iTunes online store sells a digital
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Not in the UK, still more expensive. Whodathunkit? Apple has responded to the launch of Amazon's DRM-free music download store with a price cut to its own iTunes Plus.â¦
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A consumer's group said Wednesday it has complained to government regulators about the cost of downloading music from Apple's iTunes system.    British buyers are charged 79 pence, or $1.41, for one track, while customers in France and Germany pay euro0.99, or $1.21...
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Apple Inc. has agreed to scrap its online pricing policies across Europe for its iTunes music downloads
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A U.K. consumer watchdog office is investigating claims of unfair pricing practices.
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Apple&#39;s iTunes Music Store is causing a bit of a stir by refusing to sell the charity Band Aid song &quot;Do They Know It&#39;s Christmas?
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British consumer watchdog group Consumers&#39; Association, publishers of Which? magazines and books, on Wednesday announced that they&#39;ve written to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) alleging that Apple may be
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The great unbundling A new report suggests that Apple and Tesco, not P2P file sharers, should take the most blame for the woes of the British music industry.â¦
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British music fans will pay less for  downloads from Apple's  online iTunes store after Apple  Chief Executive Steve Jobs reached a deal with the European  Commission.
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(InfoWorld) - Just because three major online music retailers bind their music stores to specific portable players doesn't make it acceptable, a Norwegian consumer group leading the charge against Apple's DRM (digital rights management) policy says. "ITunes Music Store and others are unfair to consumers no matter how many download services follow the proprietary approach," wrote Torgeir Waterhouse, a senior advisor at The Norwegian Consumer Council, in response to a letter written by Apple CEO Steve Jobs andÂ posted on the Apple Web siteÂ on Tuesday. Jobs examined why DRM exists and discusses alternatives to the current set-up in his open response to calls for Apple to allow users to buy songs from the iTunes store and play them on any device. Norway's consumer representative hasÂ threatened legal action against AppleÂ for violating Norwegian law by limiting iTunes customers to playing their music only on iPods. Consumer groups in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, France, and Germany haveÂ joined Norway's complaintÂ against Apple. Jobs points out that Microsoft and Sony also sell music that can only be played on their players, supporting a model that serves customers well with choice and a continuing stream of innovative products. He also suggests that groups like Waterhouse's "redirect their energies" toward convincing the music labels to sell music without DRM, technology that aims to restrict how buyers can copy or use the music. The four biggest record labels forced Apple to employ a proprietary DRM system as a condition of the agreement that allows Apple to sell their music, he said. Ideally, he said, the labels wouldn't require DRM. "This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat," Jobs wrote. While Waterhouse agrees that the record companies carry some fault for the situation, the iTunes music store and others like it are ultimately responsible. "They're still the company that's selling music to the consumers and are responsible for offering a fair deal according to Norwegian law," he said. Still, with his letter, Jobs' appears to have stirred up some additional pressure on the record labels to change their DRM policies. EMusic.com Inc., which claims to be the second largest music download site, only sells DRM-free music from thousands of independent labels. But the site would like be able to sell music from the four biggest labels. "We are hopeful the remaining four will one day join [the independent labels] by licensing their complete catalogs and reap the benefits of consumer demand," David Pakman, president and CEO of eMusic, wrote in a response to Jobs' letter. Even though Jobs didn't hint that a solution might be impending, Waterhouse appeared to see a glimmer of hope. "If this means that Apple is willing to the kick the lock in technology from the [iTunes/iPod] combination this is really good news -- news that should be put into action as soon as possible to bring us all one important step closer to a well functioning digital society," he wrote.