Isn't this kind of pointless, it being on the Internet and all?
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 02:23 (twenty-two years ago)
no, becuase if you didn't have a credit card registered in the usa you couldn't use it before
one thing that i find a bit annoying is the prices. The pound to euro echaneg rate hs been pretty stable at 1.5 for the past year. using this, 0.99 euros should be 66p, not 75p. using the (admitidly too high) dollar rate of 1.8, 99 US cents translates to 55p. So, basically the british punters are bing ripped off. Considering the current euro dollar rate, so are the fench and german ones to, albeit to a lesser extent. i realize that echnage rates are tricky and it would be impracticle for the price to fluxuate up and down, but even assumong that a fair long term exchange rate is 1 dollar = 1 euro = 0.66 pence, the brits are being ripped off whereas the french and germans are being charged about right.
so why is this - like Naive said, its the internet so the cost of providing the service in the uk is really no greater than in the us. web hosting and labour costs must be pretty similar, assuming that it isn't all hosted in the us anyway. so, why is the price higher? is it just a case of rip off britain, or are the royalty rates higher in the uk than the us, france and germany? what's intersting is that the pres coverage has so far focussed on brit indie labels (including XL and Domino, i think), not signining up coz the terms were to bad, so that would point to the royalty issues not being the reason. It has also meant that none of the coverage i have seen has challenged the high uk prices
― Robin Goad (rgoad), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 06:55 (twenty-two years ago)
The report I just read focussed on Radiohead not signing up because they wanted people to have to listen to all their bad tracks too.
― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 07:11 (twenty-two years ago)
Wondered if the higher UK price has to do with VAT.
66p + 17.5% VAT = 78p (ish)
― steve w, Wednesday, 16 June 2004 10:58 (twenty-two years ago)
rate in france seems to be 19.8%, so no excuse there
rate in germany seems to be 16%, so no excuse there either
― Robin Goad (rgoad), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 19:12 (twenty-two years ago)
perhaps VAT doesn't apply to online sales in France and Germany?
― carson dial (carson dial), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 22:16 (twenty-two years ago)