Some of our readers who recently ordered a video iPod from the French Apple Store recently received a surprise email from customer service:
Following the changes announced by the commission of Albis concerning the removal
of the copyright tax on audio players using a hard disk or flash memory, Apple is pleased
to announce the new taxes for the iPod range. As a new owner of an
iPod 30 Gb or 60 Gb and because of these modifications, we are able to give you a refund.
We have not yet received any information on the possible refunding of the tax from an iPod nano.
[see the
the article below for information on the tax drop]
As promised, the
Apple Store in France has lowered the price of iPods using flash memory.
The 2 Gb nano has been reduced to 222,99 Euros (tax included) and the 4 Gb to 277.01.
[UPDATE]
The iPod Shuffle has been lowered to 106.99 Euros (tax included) for the 512 Mb and 142 Euros (tax included) for the 1 Gb.
Apple also lowered the price of the iPod, they are now sold for 325 Euros (tax included) for the 30 Gb and 446 Euros (tax included) for the 60 Gb.
Context:
In France, on all media, there is a tax, because private copy is considered
an exception to the strict copyright law, and the right-holders have argued
that they are entitled to compensation for this exception.
The tax on flash memory used to be proportional to the size of the memory,
without any capping. It led to a tax of 50 euros (!) on the 4gb nano. This
tax was heavily debated over the last months. And has been amended. So all
these prices changes are for France ONLY, of course.
Like they did in the US, Apple has launched a
contest for the
iTunes Music Store in Europe. The person who downloads the 100 millionth song wins:
- One 17-inch iMac G5 to command an entire world of music, photos, movies and DVDs, all from your sofa with Front Row and the new Apple Remote.
- One 30GB iPod to take your music collection with you wherever you go.
- 10,000-song Gift Card for the iTunes Music Store to buy all the songs you want and fill up your new iPod.
- Two Tickets for you and a friend to see Robbie Williams live in concert on his 2006 tour
