English beat: Consumer group raps iTunes pricing

Grok Headline matches for English beat: Consumer group raps iTunes pricing

iTunes pricing unfair, says British
consumer group

iTunes pricing unfair, says British
consumer group 09/15/2004 11:05 AM
British consumer watchdog group Consumers' Association, publishers of Which? magazines and books, on Wednesday announced that they've written to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) alleging that Apple may be unfairly pricing songs sold through the UK version of its iTunes Music Store. But they appear to be one of the few people who think so, if the comments of the organization's own head of policy is any indication.

Consumer watchdog hits out at iTunes
pricing

Consumer watchdog hits out at iTunes
pricing 09/15/2004 01:30 PM
vnunet.com Sep 15 2004 5:11PM GMT

Consumer Group Calls for Probe of
'Rip-Off' ITunes

Consumer Group Calls for Probe of
'Rip-Off' ITunes 09/15/2004 11:26 AM
Apple’s British iTunes customers are paying 17 percent more per song than other iTunes users. This is according to a statement made on Wednesday by a European consumer watch group - The Consumers’ Association. They want Apple to lower the prices and bring it into line with it's other global stores.

Not too long ago, Apple launched its successful iTunes music store overseas (in June), slowly expanding its online music stores market share. The pricing was setup to be very similar to that used in the United Sates - 99c / song. In Germany and France songs are 99 euro cents per track, and 79 pence per track in the UK. The Consumers’ Association claims that British iTunes customers are paying 17 percent more than other overseas countries (Germany, France), which they believe is unfair for British consumers to pay. Until sufficient evidence is produced that Apple is ripping off its British customers nothings going to happen.

What's odd about this story is that iTunes is in fact cheaper than a majority of its rivals online music store. When compared to Napster, iTunes is more than 20 percent cheaper. However, that said, Apple can't use the traditional argument / excuse for this - costs are specific to countries, and thus prices are; the operation is done online, and centrally. The argument doesn't hold for the "e-business" example. Until Apple starts making serious money on the store, it's unlikely to give in to any price pressure. That said, the EU might take interest in a similar manner to their investigations into car companies doing similar pricing schemes in the 90s.

View: More Information | Apple.com

Read full story...

Consumer group requests investigation
into iTunes UK price disparity

Consumer group requests investigation
into iTunes UK price disparity 09/15/2004 09:45 AM

Consumer Group Calls for Probe of
'Rip-Off' ITunes (Reuters)

Consumer Group Calls for Probe of
'Rip-Off' ITunes (Reuters) 09/15/2004 09:15 AM
Reuters - Apple Computer Corp. is charging its British iTunes customers 17 percent more per download than its European customers, a consumer watchdog group said on Wednesday.

Church Group Raps Bush on Clean Air Act
(AP)

Church Group Raps Bush on Clean Air Act
(AP) 04/22/2004 04:00 AM
AP - A national group of Christian leaders is sending a scathing letter to President Bush to coincide with Earth Day, accusing his administration of chipping away at the Clean Air Act.

Church group raps Bush on Clean Air Act

Church group raps Bush on Clean Air Act 04/22/2004 07:52 AM

BT launches consumer VoIP with landline
pricing

BT launches consumer VoIP with landline
pricing 07/15/2004 08:55 AM
ZDNet UK Jul 15 2004 1:15PM GMT

iTunes under fire over UK pricing

iTunes under fire over UK pricing 09/15/2004 05:36 AM
Apple's iTunes music download service is accused by the Consumers' Association of overcharging UK users.

SCO Group announces it has acquired
copyright to the English language

SCO Group announces it has acquired
copyright to the English language 12/07/2003 07:08 AM
actually show proof

news.com.com/2100-7344_3-5114689.html?tag=nefd_top
track this site | 3 links

Can Microsoft Beat iTunes With a Store
of Its Own?

Can Microsoft Beat iTunes With a Store
of Its Own? 08/30/2004 09:54 AM

Direct and Related Links for 'Can Microsoft Beat iTunes With a Store of Its Own?'

Free registration is required to read the article. “When Microsoft unveils its online music store later this week, the first song offered should be Dave Brubeck’s “It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again.” For Microsoft, taking a trail blazed by others - then trying to dominate the market - is a familiar tune. With the opening on Thursday, Microsoft will land itself in a market that Apple Computer pioneered more than a year ago with its…

M-Beat 2.5 iTunes controller released

M-Beat 2.5 iTunes controller released 08/16/2004 06:43 AM
The Little App Factory has released M-Beat 2.5, the latest version of its popular iTunes controller...

M-Beat 2.5 controls iTunes from menu bar

M-Beat 2.5 controls iTunes from menu bar 08/16/2004 10:33 AM
The Little App Factory on Monday released M -Beat 2.5, an application that allows the user to control iTunes using one-click menu items, hot keys and floating windows. The update added several new features such as a search window for fast song switching, retrieval of cover art via the Internet and more. The update also includes numerous enhancements and bug fixes. M-Beat requires Mac OS 10.2 or higher; a demo is available from the company's Web site.

British Music Fans Decry ITunes Pricing
(PC World)

British Music Fans Decry ITunes Pricing
(PC World) 09/17/2004 06:29 AM
PC World - Consumer group complains of higher prices in U.K. than elsewhere in Europe.

Napster & Yahoo! Execs Say Subscriptions
Will Beat iTunes

Napster & Yahoo! Execs Say Subscriptions
Will Beat iTunes 01/04/2005 03:28 PM
Mac Observer Jan 4 2005 6:34PM GMT

Consumer group sues over copy-protected
CDs

Consumer group sues over copy-protected
CDs 01/05/2004 12:19 PM
ZDNet Jan 5 2004 10:56AM ET

Consumer group sues over copy protected
CDs

Consumer group sues over copy protected
CDs 01/05/2004 12:19 PM
CNET Jan 5 2004 10:53AM ET

Consumer Group Wants More Cows Tested,
Tracked

Consumer Group Wants More Cows Tested,
Tracked 12/29/2003 08:09 PM
Reuters via Wired News Dec 29 2003 6:34PM ET

TECHBITS: Wireless dial-up, iTunes
pricing, Spam patents, Web on TV, Text
messaging stamps

TECHBITS: Wireless dial-up, iTunes
pricing, Spam patents, Web on TV, Text
messaging stamps 09/15/2004 05:24 PM
San Francisco Chronicle Sep 15 2004 9:10PM GMT

Consumer group blasts cell phone
lockdown

Consumer group blasts cell phone
lockdown 06/08/2004 03:17 PM

Think tank, consumer group object to
telecom mergers

Think tank, consumer group object to
telecom mergers 03/24/2005 08:14 PM
WASHINGTON - Proposed telecommunications mergers between Verizon Communications and MCI and between SBC Communications and AT&T will limit consumer choices and could create a near duopoly that squeezes out smaller carriers, representatives of the American Antitrust Institute (AAI) and Consumers Union said Thursday.

J.P. Morgan, Bank One To Launch Consumer
Internet Group

J.P. Morgan, Bank One To Launch Consumer
Internet Group 04/25/2004 02:56 AM
Wall Street Letter Apr 25 2004 6:10AM GMT

Innovo Group to Participate at the Piper
Jaffray Consumer Conference

Innovo Group to Participate at the Piper
Jaffray Consumer Conference 06/05/2005 11:54 PM
Market Wire May 26 2005 10:03AM GMT

Consumer group challenges telcom
practice of "locking" phones

Consumer group challenges telcom
practice of "locking" phones 06/07/2004 08:42 PM

Consumer group sues cell phone companies
for 'locking' handsets

Consumer group sues cell phone companies
for 'locking' handsets 06/08/2004 03:37 PM
SiliconValley.com Jun 8 2004 6:50PM GMT

UK institutes ridiculously difficult
English-proficiency test for
English-speaking immigrants

UK institutes ridiculously difficult
English-proficiency test for
English-speaking immigrants 08/22/2004 07:30 AM
Cory Doctorow: Immigrants to the UK from English-speaking countries such as Canada and Australia must pass an English proficiency test in order to gain UK citizenship. The test is apparently very stringent:

According to one report two Australians, including a knight who has lived in Britain for 44 years and a writer with a degree in English, have been rejected under the new rules.

Link (via Fark)

Digital Chosunilbo (English Edition) :
Daily News in English About Korea

Digital Chosunilbo (English Edition) :
Daily News in English About Korea 07/13/2004 08:23 AM
3 Megapixel cameratelefoon .. chosun

english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200407/200407110024.html
track this site | 5 links

U.K. Group Complains of Higher ITunes
Cost

U.K. Group Complains of Higher ITunes
Cost 09/15/2004 02:59 PM
Techzonez Sep 15 2004 6:50PM GMT

Cymfony Launches Digital Consumer
Insight to Analyze Blogs, Message
Boards, Discussion Forums and Other
Consumer-Generated Media for Market
Intelligence

Cymfony Launches Digital Consumer
Insight to Analyze Blogs, Message
Boards, Discussion Forums and Other
Consumer-Generated Media for Market
Intelligence 02/01/2005 09:20 PM
Breakthrough Solution Helps Fortune 1000 Companies Understand, Measure Digital Influencers and Gather Market Intelligence from Blogs, Discussion Forums, etc. [PRWEB Jan 25, 2005]

EC raps MS over interoperability - again

EC raps MS over interoperability - again 03/19/2005 02:46 AM
Not keeping its promises

Matt Haughey raps it out....

Matt Haughey raps it out.... 07/23/2004 04:34 AM

TiVo: you can only innovate if the NFL and MPAA say so

Today's Washington Post carries a jaw-dropping article about TiVo's latest fight [via waxy]. Tivo ToGo was announced at CES in January of this year, with a planned Fall release, but if the Movie Industry and the NFL get their way, it will never see the light of day.

What is most shocking about the objections is that TiVo ToGo is an already crippled version of something TiVo hackers and users of software PVRs like Windows Media Center and Snapstream have been doing for years now. See that huge ugly plastic dongle pictured in the upper right? That's your user "key" that makes sure only your TiVo programs can play on your PC or laptop. I haven't seen or tested this functionality out, but I'm sure those programs are encrypted to the point that they are unplayable on any device that doesn't also have the hardware key plugged in. I wouldn't be surprised if the video format is a proprietary one as well. TiVo is also talking about adding a show swapping feature, which is great news, but you will have a limit of ten other devices that you can share with (ReplayTV used to let you swap with an unlimited amount of other users, which got them sued until they went bankrupt and removed it).

Simply put, compared to how Microsoft's offerings work, and a slew of small software packages for the PC and Mac that record TV, the TiVo ToGo feature is a crippled lockbox. You won't be sharing shows on Kazaa anytime soon with TiVo ToGo features.

The NFL and MPAA are attacking both the show extraction feature, claiming it will allow programs to propigate online, and the show sharing features, claiming TiVo owners will share them with more than their friends. Their nightmare scenario is that maybe, possibly, someday someone you don't know might ask for a copy of an obscure program you happened to have recorded and saved. Oh, the horror of it all!

For no other reason than it points out how insane this is, here are some priceless quotes:

TiVo was one of 13 companies that asked the FCC for approval, arguing that its copy-protection system met the requirements. The Motion Picture Association of America, Hollywood's lobbying arm, and the NFL then filed objections to TiVo's plan.

First off, how much does is suck that TiVo can't just think of new features and build them, but they have to ask for permission from the FCC? Can't a company innovate without asking everyone if it is ok first? Also, why is the MPAA and NFL going after TiVo when Microsoft's Media Center Edition allows you to not only share your programs with other PCs and laptops, but it also spawned an entire market for portabl e TV devices like this one? Where were the movie industry goons when those products were announced and released?

This other quote puts a light on how screwed up the NFL is:

The NFL, meanwhile, is concerned that a user could send a copy of a game to someone in another time zone, where the game is blacked out.

Only the NFL would go so far out of their way to make sure their most ardent fans can't see the football games they want to see.

I sincerely hope TiVo weathers this legal storm, the products are already loaded with enough protection to keep the movie industry's worst fears from taking place, though I suspect if the show sharing features get into TiVo, the maximum number of shareable devices will most likely be something like 3 other boxes instead of 10.

[PVRBlog ]

Stowe raps it out - "it's about the
Context of SNS!"

Stowe raps it out - "it's about the
Context of SNS!" 06/22/2005 02:41 AM

Stowe Boyd has an excellent rap on "Social Networks: Boring, Broken or off-track?".

He points out that many people feel that keeping their profiles up to date is tedious and boring at best and that big players like 6A should start building SNS features into their blog tools.

I hope most people know how MySpace got there:

- by focusing on music
- by throwing Raves and parties
- by providing lots of coolio, compelling activities for mating kids to keep themselves busy.

But be clear - MySpace is a dating site. Everything that Jonathan Abrams wanted Friendster to be - MySpace is. But that's a fairly limited context - for the rest of us.

Social Networking systems need to apply themselves to niche targeted audiences. That's where they'll monetize.

WTO raps EU over sugar subsidies

WTO raps EU over sugar subsidies 08/04/2004 08:49 PM
EU subsidies given to sugar producers violate trade rules, a draft World Trade Organisation ruling says.

Novell raps SCO claims

Novell raps SCO claims 02/11/2004 04:21 PM
The software maker offers new evidence regarding the SCO Group's Unix rights and demands that the company drop its suit against IBM.

UN raps Iran over nuclear stance

UN raps Iran over nuclear stance 06/18/2004 06:17 AM
The UN nuclear watchdog says Iran has failed to co-operate fully with an inquiry into its nuclear activities.

Phil Torrone raps out NetFlix 2.0

Phil Torrone raps out NetFlix 2.0 07/19/2004 01:22 PM

This is brilliant.... I sure hope Chris Darner is listening. This is exactly what I was telling Chris the other day (well my version of it - but Phil hits it right on the head!)

And thanks to Engadget for providing this to us!

Netflix, Open up or die…

Posted Jul 19, 2004, 4:43 AM ET by Phillip Torrone
Related entries: Features

For the gadget lover, the DVD is often the end result of what we do with these super-light laptops, LCD TV screens, brushed metal- translucent exteriors and one of the main reasons companies continually push the capabilities of devices, to watch movies. Since 1999 I have been a member of Netflix in some way, and I am worried, I am worried Netflix isn’t going to make it.

Now, this isn’t an article about Netflix going out of business, this is about Netflix “making it” and by that I mean, making a platform and community, something Blockbuster and Walmart can’t do.

Netflix backgrounder…

Netlfix started in 1999, and according to their fact sheet page, they reached 2 million subscribers faster than AOL.

For $21.99 a month, you can rent as many DVDs as you want via the website, keeping 3 out at a time. The benefits are:

- no late fees, no due dates and you have access to around 20,000 titles.
- The DVDs are sent out via Postal Mail, usually
get to you in a day or so and when your done, you put it in the same envelope it was sent in, bang- you’re done.

Two giants enter

Well, after 5 years of Netflix humming along, Blockbuster and Walmart jumped in to the online movie rental biz.

Wal-mart, the world’s largest retailer, offers 3 DVDs out for $18.76. They don’t have as big of a selection of DVD as Netflix, and of course, it’s Wal-mart, the same Wal-mart that has banned selling certain CDs being sold in their stores and “offensive” magazine like Rollingstone and Cosmopolitan. For now, Wal-mart won’t make a big deal out of having some “questionable “movies, after all- they need to build a subscriber base, but once they have that, expect to see them not carry certain DVD titles that they deem offensive. In fact Wal-Mart who has over 10% of the domestic CD sales even gets publishers to make a special “sanitized” version for their megastores, a “Wal-mart cut” of a movie
might be coming soon.

Next up is Blockbuster, they just released their “public beta” site earlier this month.
Blockbuster has about 48 million members for their over 8,500 physical stores, they rent DVDs, videos and game titles. Blockbuster’s pricing is $19.99 for 3 titles, with a selection of 25,000 (according to their website) and as a bonus 2 free in-store rentals per month. Anyone can sign up now during this public
beta.

The 2 in-store rental thing is a big deal, there are lots of time when you don’t front load your Netflix playlist and just want to rent something that just a came out. Also, Blockbuster has video game rentals in-store, it’s only a matter of time until they use their online video rental site to rent out video game titles. There is a service now called gamefly which does that now, Blockbuster might be hanging back to see how they do.

Blockbuster has also had some controversy with censoring what movies can be rented, there’s even a “Boycott Blockbuster” movement that come and goes every so often.

And don’t forget, Blockbuster is owned by Viacom, who owns and operates about 1,400 movie screens, Paramount Pictures, Paramount theme parks, many broadcast television and radio stations (Infinity Broadcasting) , outdoor billboards, cable channels, two broadcast networks, and Simon & Schuster books.

So there’s the overview of the other guys, Wal-Mart as usual has the lowest price, but not the best selection and Blockbuster having a slightly lower price with the added bonus of 2 rentals from their stores per month. They all mail the DVDs out and for the most part, the services seem pretty similar.

That’s the problem, sameness.

Netflix present

Last week Netflix got

slammed in the market, share dropped almost $9 (or 28%) to $23.02 on NASDAQ.

Analysts sited fulfillment expenses as well as an incredibly high cost per new customer ($35.12). That means it costs over $35 bucks to get a new customer on average, and that’s up from $30 from the second quarter of 2003. Add to that, they’re reporting this is going to go up even more ($37 to $39) as they increase their marketing spend, on TV, TV? They also mentioned spending more on online ads, which we think is a good idea, but it’s all about being surgical and going where the most likely new customers are going.

I am a Netflix customer and I know that it’s the best service with the best selection out there, but that doesn’t mean anything, a lot of people are going to go after price (Wal-Mart) and a lot of people are going to hammered over the head with the reach and marketing Blockbuster has (plus the in-store rental deal). When everyone does the same thing, price tends to win, so Wal-Mart might make some gains this year.

But isn’t what Netflix did pretty novel? Almost patent worthy? Netflix does in fact have a patent, in fact there were tons of stories about “the patent” but none of them actually said what the patent was.

So I looked it up, there might be others, but the one I found was the patent on the envelope used. That’s right, that self-addressed envelope that Netflix uses is patented, I am pretty sure Blockbuster, Wal-Mart and even Gamefly uses the same thing, so maybe Netflix will cash in on that later, but that’s not hard to get around.

Here

< br /> it is.

Netflix future

So as a customer, a marketer and a developer…I ‘m going to outline what I think Netflix needs to do. Yah, Blockbuster and Wal-mart could do this too, but they’re too big, but hey- If they pull this off, that’s cool too.

Open up. Google did it, Amazon did, Apple did it, Netflix— expose your API so people out there can use www.netflix.com  the way they want to, in new ways, in ways you haven’t imagined. What do I mean by that?

RSS Feeds. See that little XML or RSS button on every site out there? That’s RSS feed, the quickest way to deliver updated information to folks. No one wants to log in to the Netflix site all the time, let folks subscribe to RSS feeds that have new releases, reviews and more. Netflix has a newsletter, sure, but that stopped getting to me about 2 years ago when I started using spam filters.

My DVD “playlist”. If you go to TextAmerica, or use BlogRolling, millions of people add can add a link to their site(s) which is updated from someplace else. For Netflix, it would work like this. A blog site, like this one, or a personal one could easily add their DVD list, what they’re watching, what they’ve watched, and what they’re going to watch. Technoraiti tracks about 3 million blogs, these people all index really high in all the things your focus groups are likely telling you. Give them the tools they need to distribute your message for free.

There’s a reason Apple make the playlist feature, folks upload their playlists, send to friends, everyone has a music mix their proud of, it’s really important that Netflix let’s folks expose their movie list.

Let people add items to my playlist, have “always send me new popular releases” each month, things like that really matter.

Integration with Moviefone and Fandango would also be possible. If you’re like me, when you buy a ticket to see a movie, you’re likely going to one day rent that movie - with an API that others can use, that would all be possible when
you buy your movie tickets online.

Social Networks. If the Netflix API was exposed when Friendster, Orkut and all the other social networking sites were released, it would have been easy for millions of people to add their movie list (past, present and future to their profile). Heck, in ALL of these social networking sites they have “Favorite movies”. Heck, I might even go visit a pal if I knew they had a specific movie at their how, now that’s some real peer-to-peer networking in action.

AOL Netflix Buddy. People IM more than they email now, there are lots of reasons for that, from Spam to more computers being on all the time. So why wouldn’t Netflix have buddy anyone can add to their buddy list where they can query the Netflix database and also rent from there. Then they could even send it along to a buddy on their list. Again, this is part of the “Open up” theme, Netflix needs to provide ways
for folks to use its service in ways like this.

Here’s an example: Add “RecipeBuddie” to your AOL/iChatAV list and tell it you have chicken, it’ll give you a bunch of recipes and links to products to buy as well.

One year, $199. One month $19.99. The economics of this are tough, but Netflix has gotta stay below the $20 mark per month and they’ve gotta have a deal per year. It’ll lower
churn and keep the price sensitive folks from getting sticker shock. Or hey, at least give this deal to people who have
been a member for at least a year.

No TV ads. That’s right, don’t spend money on TV in the traditional sense. 30 second ads aren’t going to reach the
best prospects, really. Sponsor a show and make it “commercial free” so it’s more like a DVD.

If it cost Netflix $35 to add 583,000 trial users (as reported) that means they spent $20,405,000 in marketing (at least). That’s some good media buys.

With the summer movie season here, it’s cheap and easy to get some movie slides in specific markets around the USA before the movie comes on. And if Netflix needs to do TV in some way, do a 30 second commercial before a movie, they have those now. It’s a great surgical way to educate folks on what Netflix is while their in the movie mood.

Community. Netflix needs to get their best customers on an advisory board, maybe even pick some well known folks out in the web world and have them out. What Netflix can’t do is piss off their biggest fans,
like this guy.

Wal-Mart and Blockbuster will totally own the whole “ignore the customer” thing with their girth, but Netflix, you can
be different, you can be something that folks can rally around. Sponsoring blog sites and sites that talk about movies
wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

Netflix as a platform. Last up, the big one.
Anyone can call up Amazon and make a deal to re-brand their platform (like Target has) same goes for google, Amazon
made a deal with them to use google’s search for A9, Amazon’s search engine. If Netflix made the move to make their
system a plaform, anyone could come along and rent any type of DVD media. Video games, specific movies, instructional
courses, you name it- it’s possible. And in the end, Netflix makes money while still sticking to their core
business.

More?

Sure, there’s lots more which would really get Netfix away from the pointless street brawl they’re in with the 2 big
guys—from leading the charge in downloadable movies, to partner deals with iTunes + Netflix integration, to working out
a system of movie viewing on the new Portable Video Players— all these things will happen in time, maybe with Netflix,
hopefully not Wal-Mart, but probably Blockbuster.

No matter what, Netflix can open up and should—what’s the point of all this unless more people can share their favorite movies with each other, in better ways, using all of what technology has to offer. Movies are just as much a part of our lives as childhood memories and shape our culture, even defining it at times, it would be good to see the company that has fueled my movie addiction for the last 5 years continue to do so in amazing ways for more people.

---

Phillip Torrone can be reached at his personal website www.flashenabled.com

[Engadget]

France raps 'US Aids blackmail'

France raps 'US Aids blackmail' 07/13/2004 03:25 PM
In a veiled attack, President Chirac takes issue with bilateral trade deals that deprive poor states of drug production rights.

Russia raps UK over unruly exiles

Russia raps UK over unruly exiles 09/16/2004 07:16 PM
Moscow summons a senior UK diplomat to complain about the activities of London-based Russian exiles.

Ruling raps broadband definition

Ruling raps broadband definition 08/13/2004 12:26 PM
The UK's ad watchdog rules over which net connections can be described as full speed broadband.
Grok Description matches for English beat: Consumer group raps iTunes pricing
GrokA matches for English beat: Consumer group raps iTunes pricing

English beat: Consumer group raps iTunes pricing

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