Apple letting the Indies downMore kerfuffle in the land of digital downloads, with independent labels in Europe complaining that Apple's iTunes store is neglecting them in favour of the major label players. Acts like Franz Ferdinand, The Kills and Elvis Costello are currently unavailable via the online music store. This article from the Guardian outlines some of the labels' frustrations, which are summed up by Harry Martin of Domino Records...

"It is simply bewildering that a company that is perceived as championing this new technology doesn't make it a priority to align itself with record labels in the independent sector."

Although, on a purely parochial level, we could point to Apple's use of Steriogram in the company's USA marketing campaign is a step in the right direction. I suppose they are on a major though...

Anyway, all this comes on top of some more European headaches for the iTunes enterprise, where the Consumers' Association is complaining that the country-by-country pricing scheme the store has in place is in contravention of EU fair trading laws. British customers are paying 17% more for their tracks than their European counter-parts, and because users are locked into buying tracks from their own country's iTunes store, the Brits are crying foul.

At least the new iMac looks pretty.
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