The New York Times’ David Pogue writes of recent reports that the record companies – whose contracts with iTunes are coming up for renewal soon – “want Apple to start charging more or less than $1 for songs depending on their popularity.”

Pogue writes, “You could have knocked me over with a feather. Don’t these clowns remember their own attempts to build online music stores only three years ago? They were total, utter, complete failures. Customers wouldn’t touch ‘em with a ten-foot USB cable.”

“And why? Because their scheme was exactly what these record companies are suggesting once again: different limitations and prices for every single song. It’s idiotic to suggest that what didn’t work in 2002 would somehow work in 2006, after Apple demonstrated to the industry that a simple, unified, understandable pricing and rights structure was the only way to make music stores work,” Pogue writes.

Full article here.

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