Variable Pricing Debuts at the iTunes Store

As expected, variable pricing debuted on the iTunes Store on Tuesday. The new tiers are $0.69, $0.99, and $1.29. What I didn't expect was how hard it is to find $0.69 songs.

There are a couple of "Great Songs at a Great Price" links on the front page of iTunes that link to Rock and R&B songs at $0.69, but if you just look for them, it ain't that easy to find.

For example, I would have thought that old Michael Jackson song "Beat It" would be at least $0.99, or even $0.69, but nope, it's $1.29. The same with other old (yet classic) song. It's not even strictly based on popularity either, as some of the above songs in the "bargain" range are quite popular, in terms of iTunes' popularity index.

Much like trying to discern why certain apps are booted from the App Store, I guess we will be wondering the same thing about variable music pricing on iTunes. Or we could just hop over to Amazon MP3, I suppose.