EU May Force iTunes Store To Accept Returns

Sweet Harmony writes "ArsTechnica is reporting that the European Union may soon require online music stores to accept returns. A review of European consumer protection laws has highlighted online sales of 'digital content services' as an area where existing consumer protection laws need to be harmonized. 'The EC would like to standardize cooling-off periods along with other aspects of the EU's consumer protection laws. One of the issues being considered is whether the rules on consumer sales should apply to 'digital content services' like music.'"

Comments

Aiee

[romland]

Poor Britney.

Misclick

[Talisman]

This would be good for people like myself who accidentally bought "I Wanna Fuck You" by Noreaga & Scarlett instead of the Akwon and Snoop Dog version. It would be nice to get the money refunded, and they can gladly take that song back.

Re:Norway's not in the EU

[Lithdren]

Agreed. Consumers need to be protected, virtually no matter what it is you're buying.

Here in the US of A, many of those protections have been stripped, and you can see what is beginning to happen over here.

Why is this about "iTunes"?

[daveschroeder]

Isn't it about any online music retailer, DRM or not?

Hint: the answer isn't "because iTunes is the most popular store". When Microsoft was targeted for doing things like offering refunds for unused Windows licenses, Microsoft is mentioned explicitly because it is the only one engaged in that behavior.

So why is only "iTunes" mentioned in stories like these when in fact most (if not all - I haven't checked) also likely have similar practices?

Re:Why not?

[StarvingSE]

Because there is no physical product here, you are paying to copy some bits to your hard drive. This is what makes sales of digital content a fuzzy area. Usually you can only return an opened product if it is faulty. A digital download is never faulty. If you want to claim that you never listened to the song, how can the company tell, and how can they ensure that the file is deleted after you return it? You can't return software or music on physical media if it has been opened, why should it be any different for a download? I'd say most companies say that if you choose to download the file, it is considered "opened."

Re:Returns

[CaptainZapp]

In most EU countries there are special provisions (thus cooling off) for catalogue -, internet and housedoor sales.

You can step back from the sale and return the item within a specified time period. Depending on country: 7 - 14 days.

Maybe like this?

[EasyT]

I would imagine Apple would de-authorize that song for all your computers and prevent you from re-authorizing it. The "evil of DRM" would allow for this service to comsumers I think.

Or am I missing something?

Re:Returns

[ePhil_One]

return any online purchase within 7 working days, no need to give a reason, and get your money back. Shipping costs are yours, but that's all.

Welcome to the Itunes Euro. All songs .01 Euros with a .98 Euro delivery charge

Re:Why not?

[vadim_t]

Sure a digital download can be faulty. It can be a recording of a really bad quality, a corrupted file, several minutes of silence, the wrong song altogether, or have DRM attached that prevents you from playing it. There are probably other modes of failure that didn't come to my mind.

Re:Awesome.

[put_the_cat_out]

If you paid $9,999 for 10,000 songs, then you were overcharged!

At current $0.99 per song pricing, 10,000 songs would cost $9,900