Fab Four price check: iTunes versus Amazon

Last Tuesday’s announcement that Apple would (at long last) carry The Beatles on iTunes probably struck you as either A) apparently earth-shattering news in the world of clickable music or B) fairly anticlimactic since you long ago found alternate ways (ahem) to transfer the Fab Four’s repertoire onto the ol’ iPod. But either way, the Beatles’ entree to iTunes is proving nothing but beneficial. In an effort to stay competitive after last week’s news, Amazon.com slashed the prices on all of its Beatles items. Sure, with Amazon, you have to wait for the actual discs (discs?) to arrive in the mail, but truly devoted budgeters can parlay this price war into some serious savings. Here’s how the two online vendors stack up.

These are the iTunes vs. Amazon prices for the Beatles’ 13 studio albums, plus three compilation records and a box set. Winners in orange.

The Beatles Box Set
iTunes: $149.00
Amazon: $129.99

Past Masters
iTunes: $19.99
Amazon: $11.99

The Beatles 1962–1966 (The Red Album)
iTunes: $19.99
Amazon: $12.99

The Beatles 1967–1970 (The Blue Album)
iTunes: $19.99
Amazon: $12.99

The White Album
iTunes: $19.99
Amazon: $11.99

All the other studio albums (Please Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night, Beatles for Sale, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road, Let it Be)
iTunes: $12.99
Amazon: $7.99

Get the hint? Amazon comes out on top across the board. The most cost-effective purchase of the bunch is the Beatles Box Set (a $19.01 price difference between iTunes and Amazon), which gets you all 13 studio albums, the Past Masters compilation CD, a live album and a disc of documentaries (and—for the packaging-obsessed—it looks pretty sleek).

The three compilation albums average a savings of between $8 and $7 on Amazon and 12 of the studio recordings punch in at a $5 difference (The White Album boasts a savings of $8).

Even with Amazon.com’s shipping (at the very least, $2.98 per item for standard 3-5 day delivery), the mega-retailer comes out ahead. But your best bet is to buy in bulk and get the free shipping on all orders over $25.

Of course, for some iTunes silver lining, there is that downloadable instant gratification thing, and Amazon doesn’t quite do the trick if your computer’s missing a CD (CD??) drive.

Here’s the Fab Four’s stuff on Amazon, and here on iTunes.

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Katie Calautti :

View Comments (5)

Josh says:

Nov 24, 2010 at 1:32 pm

I don't know that I've heard anyone say they thought the availability of the Beatles on iTunes was earth-shattering news. Like you said, anyone who wanted to listen to the Beatles on their Apple device imported the music into iTunes a different way long ago.
Jonathan Berk says:

Nov 24, 2010 at 1:50 pm

Ok, so maybe nobody really saw this as earth-shattering. It's just that Apple made a freakin' commercial about the release. So it must have been important to somebody out there.
admin says:

Nov 24, 2010 at 2:17 pm

Josh you should put that news sense to work on behalf of the financially challenged and write for Brokelyn. faye@brokelyn.com
Conal Darcy says:

Nov 25, 2010 at 12:38 pm

Saving $20 on a box set means you have to spend a few hours ripping it to your computer.
Liz says:

Dec 4, 2010 at 1:41 pm

I borrowed a friend's CDs and spend an evening watching a movie on the couch while putting CDs in one-after-one on my laptop. I've had all of the Beatle's albums for a while now and it didn't cost me anything.

The cheapest thing to do if you don't own any Beatle's and neither do your friends for some reason would be to split the cost of the box-set on Amazon as many ways as you can (Get your 30 closest friends in on it) and then pass them around to rip it onto your itunes.