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I've got some issues with the iTunes Music Store. Now, when Apple first launched the store, I had some issues then, too. I wrote an article in May of last year taking a satiric look at the music that Apple was offering in the iTunes music store. The point was that they were only selling the stuff you can hear fifteen times a day on any given pop radio station. Where was the good stuff? Where was the music that wasn't being crammed down our throats by the Man? Where was the spirit of rock and roll?

It's over a year on, and things are looking better. Imagine my shock to find that not only does Apple have the fantastic indie band Metric featured in their store, but that they were actually advertised on the splash screen; that a special mix of their song "Dead Disco" was (and still is) available as an iTunes exclusive. Cool.

And yet...well, before I get any further, I should make it quite clear that I dig the iTunes Music Store. I've used it a bit in the past, and I'll use it again. Unfortunately, I'm not using it the way I would like to, and I don't blame that entirely on Apple. I have a feeling they may be trying too hard to please the enemy.

The most obvious problem is that the payment scheme is wildly inconsistent. For example, let's take a look at a couple albums a guy like me might be inclined to purchase. The Spine, the new album by They Might Be Giants, sells for the traditional $9.99. It has 16 songs and comes in at 35:55. In fact, at the iTunes music store, it contains one extra bonus track, bringing us to a total of 17 songs and 38:12. Pretty good deal for $9.99. That's what we like about iTunes. But then, I might also want to purchase Queen's Flash Gordon. Flash has 19 songs (with the godawful "Flash's Theme" remix by Mista Lawnge) and clocks in at 41:43. That's about 3 1/2 minutes shorter than the They Might Be Giants album. The price for Flash Gordon? $18.81. Two more songs, 3 1/2 more minutes, and nearly $9 more expensive. Why? For some reason, all Queen albums are actually charged per song, instead of per album.

This, of course, makes absolutely no sense. Why would I pay nearly $19 for a Queen CD I could buy at Best Buy for about $14.00. Even within the Queen catalog at the iTunes Music Store, does it make sense to charge $17 for Flash Gordon while The Works, which is over 55 minutes long (13 minutes longer than Flash Gordon, is only $11.88. And if you remove the somewhat useless bonus tracks (although i recommend you keep "I Go Crazy"...it rocks in a way that Queen hadn't rocked since 1978), you can still get 37 minutes of music for only $9.90.

Did all of that make sense? If not, we'll have to figure out who to blame. Obviously, Apple wants to charge $9.99 per album. When they're allowed to, they do. So, who's to blame for this? Hollywood Records? I don't think so. I checked two other artists on their label—Hilary Duff and The Polyphonic Spree—and albums by both artists cost only $9.99 despite having more than ten songs.

Is Queen to blame? Perhaps. The band is now selling downloads from their official website, so maybe they want people to pick up their catalog there instead. If any Brits would care to compare the price of the Queen catalog in iTunes to the Queen download service, I'd be curious to hear the difference.

Regardless of who's fault it is, it's messy. I'd like to see this kind of thing cleaned up (the least they could do is charge by the length of the album, not by the number of songs), but that's not at the top of my requests for iTunes. Oh, and I should stress that these are requests. This is my wish list. I'm not the type of fake internet journalist to to arrogantly claim that what I want is what Apple needs to do. If none of this happens, that won't mean the downfall of Apple and the destruction of the iTunes Music Store. Having said that...

1. International Music

CDs that are available to me in th U.S., I buy. What I hate doing is spending $35.00 to have a CD imported from Japan. As Apple continues to open iTunes Music Stores outside of the U.S., I see no reason that they can't make those songs available to U.S. customers. Even being able to get some hard to find British imports would be cool.

2. B-Sides

EPs and iTunes exclusives are cool and all, but there's a wealth of great material out there as B-side singles; old B-sides, not the new ones popping up in iTunes. As Apple continues to bring us artists' back catalogues, hopefully they won't ignore the harder to obtain B-sides and bonus tracks. My Oasis collection won't be complete, after all, until I can get my hands on their excellent cover of "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away."

3. Lose the DRM

Or, at least make it manageable. If Apple wants to restrict the number of times I can copy a song, fine, but make sure I can copy it with more than just iTunes. After all, it's not like there aren't ways around this, anyway, as I explain here.

4. Continue What They're Doing

That may sound at odds with what I've said so far, but honestly, the route they're taking so far has been the right one. As I see it, the only thing that can slow them down will be the RIAA...not because the iTunes Music Store isn't helping them, but because they aren't the ones controlling it. Although I'm not a proponent of illegal downloads, I'm no fan of the RIAA either. If I want to copy the music I buy, that's fair. If I want to give those copies to my friend, that's fair, too.

I look at it this way. When I first got into Queen, I bought the album A Night At the Opera on LP. Deciding later that I wanted a high quality portable copy, I bought the cassette. When the CD was finally released, I bought that, too. Although CDs are cheaper to make that either LPs or cassettes, I paid more and I didn't complain because the quality was better. Queen has now released A Night At the Opera on DVD-A, and I've purchased that as well. Four times I have paid for the exact same album because the RIAA keeps embracing new media formats. What's fueling this? Do you think it's better sound? Of course not. It's profit. Lord knows there's little new music of worth out of there, and the RIAA apparently knows that, too, so they find us ways to keep selling us the same old stuff.

No sympathy. No sympathy at all. If I've purchased the same song four times (even more, when you consider the multiple greatest hits albums and video compilations on on which the song's packaged), then I have the right to give it out to three other people. Does that give me the right to share it on a peer to peer network? No, but why should I be punished for the indescretion of a few?

And so, that's it for iTunes Music Store scrutiny this year. Hopefully, I'll have fewer requests next year. As iTunes continues its dominance and continues to make improvements, I'll be right there with them. In fact, you know that They Might Be Giants bonus track I mentioned is on The Spine? I didn't know that was there until I researched this article. I have some downloading to do.