Amazon, Rhapsody, and others go the variable pricing way

Thought you could avoid paying $1.29 for the most popular songs on iTunes by jumping to Amazon, Rhapsody, or Napster? Think again.

Just hours after iTunes switched Tuesday from a flat 99-cent pricing policy for all its tracks to a "variable pricing" scheme ranging from $1.29 to $0.69, the other big online MP3 stores—including Rhapsody, Napster, Wal-Mart and yes, Amazon—have all followed suit.

About eight $1.29 tracks were listed on Amazon's top-100 MP3 list Wednesday morning, along with a few 79-cent songs.

That's not nearly as bad as the situation on iTunes, where about 40 of the top 100 iTunes tracks are now priced at $1.29.

Over at Rhapsody, though, about 35 of its top 100 tracks are now $1.25, while more than 70 of Napster's top hundred are a buck twenty-nine. [Update: The folks at Napster just gave me a call, questioning my count of 70 $1.29 tracks—and indeed, for whatever reason, there are now just 37 of the pricier songs listed. Whether something changed on Napster's site or I got the count (way) wrong is an open question, but anyway, that's the latest.]

The situation's a bit better at Walmart.com, where just nine of the top 100 tracks are above 99 cents—and at $1.24, the pricier songs are a few pennies cheaper than the competition.

Pricing is also a bit difference comparing across albums; for example, seven of the 15 tracks on "The Fame" by Lady GaGa are $1.29 on iTunes and Rhapsody, while Amazon and Walmart have each song priced at 99 and 94 cents, respectively. Meanwhile, just two of the 13 tracks on Britney's "Circus" are $1.29 on iTunes, compared to 12 of 13 on Rhapsody.

Still, discrepancies aside, it's looking pretty clear that the era of variable music pricing has arrived—for everyone, not just iTunes.

And if you're thinking that maybe one online music store will have an edge over the others in terms of pricing, well ... remember that the new pricing scheme is barely a day old, meaning that the competing music catalogs may still be in the process of being updated. It'll probably take a week or so for the situation to settle, at which point we'll have a better idea where the best deals are to be had. Stay tuned.

Correction: In my original post, I wrote that the pricier tracks on Napster sell for $1.25; in fact, they go for $1.29 each, same as on iTunes. Sorry for the mix-up.