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Cellphone Songs Overpriced?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the squeeze-em-till-the-money-stops-coming dept.

Carl Bialik writes "Sprint's music store, the first major legal music-download service accessible from cellphones, is charging $2.49 per song because the recording industry and the wireless carriers are engaging in 'a dangerous fantasy,' according to the Wall Street Journal. From the article: 'Since people will pay $2.49 to download a snippet of a song, there's no reason they won't pay that much to download the whole thing. It's an enticing prospect, but one based on the idea that ringtones and downloads are similar. They're not; customers don't see them the same way and won't pay the same price for them, and no amount of wishful thinking will make them change their minds.' Last week, Journal tech columnist Walt Mossberg also criticized the pricing: 'For that kind of money, you'd better really, really, really want to download that new Kenny Chesney song, RIGHT NOW, before you can get to a computer.'"

3 of 270 comments (clear)

  1. They should follow the Slashdot model.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    ...where you download the same damned song over and over and over again....but it's FREE.

  2. I for one... by RealisticCanadian · · Score: 0, Troll

    tell our new cell-phone-music-pandering overlords to kiss my royal @$$

    Who's with me?

    --
    A couple fans told me that my last journal entry was mint; give it a shot. Hope you like.
  3. Re:Voltaires' Bastards by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 0, Troll
    We are not just wallets to be picked clean in the most expedient way; perhaps it is time to remove the fictional person status from corporations, and make some other legal arrangement that would involve more of an explicit social contract.
    Huh? If you think $2.49 for a song on your mobile is too expensive, simply don't buy it. This works well enough; there's no need for silly "social contracts". Better yet, hop over to Itunes and get it for $.99, then download it into your phone. You have a choice, use it.
    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...