# Do iTunes Ever Go On Sale? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 8, 2010, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393 "2010-12-08T11:45:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/1 "2010-12-08T11:45:57Z")
Being new to iTunes, I was just wondering if they have sales or deals or any type? I thought there’d be experienced “iTuners” on the SD who’d know if there are and when they most commonly appear… ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/2 "2010-12-08T12:56:47Z")
Never via the iTunes site. However, you can get iTunes gift cards at a discount. Costco always has them bundled for around $52 for 4 $15 gift cards, IIRC, but they tend to run out of these at the holidays. However, this week through 12/11 Target has four $15 ($60 total) gift cards on sale for $48. (See page 14 of their weekly Ad here: [Weekly Deals In Stores Now : Target Weekly Ad](http://weeklyad.target.com/target/default.aspx?ref=nav%5Fweeklyad&action=entryflash) ) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/3 "2010-12-08T13:40:51Z")
[Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) has deals and sales on its music downloads. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/4 "2010-12-08T14:58:54Z")
They have deals on stuff like TV shows or movies. Usually nothing good; typically the kind of stuff you’d find in the “bargain bin” at [your local media store]. They do occasionally have discounted music, usually seasonal stuff. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some kind of discount on Christmas albums around now. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/5 "2010-12-08T16:41:47Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) has deals and sales on its music downloads. Yeah, Amazon puts whole albums on sale for $5.00 (normally $8.99+) and it’s usually good stuff too. I’ve bought several albums of bands I had meant to check out for a long time but didn’t feel like spending $9 on the unknown. If you buy MP3s from Amazon they’ll send you a mailer when they have a $5 album sale. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/6 "2010-12-08T17:09:40Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Yeah, Amazon puts whole albums on sale for $5.00 (normally $8.99+) and it’s usually good stuff too. During the Black Friday/Cyber Monday week they had daily selections of albums for $1.99, including some classic stuff like _Dark Side of the Moon_ and recent hits like Train’s last album. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/7 "2010-12-08T18:53:13Z")
Not that this counts as a deal, iTunes has three free songs every week (single of the week, spanish single of the week, discovery download) - you can find those on the home page of the store if you scroll to the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/8 "2010-12-08T20:19:36Z")
If you want cheap deals, I definitely recommend Amazon over iTunes. They even have [a twitter feed](http://twitter.com/#!/amazonmp3) to announce deals. I’ve only subscribed to it for about a week and I’ve gotten probably 10 free mp3s in that time. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/9 "2010-12-08T21:49:20Z")
iTunes does do specials on certain albums - on the Australian store front page (and I assume other countries as well) they have a little section down the bottom that says “Special Price”, where some albums are discounted. It’s never actually a good deal because the albums are still overpriced even when discounted, but it is, technically, a special. They will also sometimes discount an artist’s back catalogue when they have a new release out - for example, the new Black Eyed Peas album comes out this week, so iTunes are doing a thing where you can get their old albums for $9.99. ---
**Author:** ![Monkey\_Chews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Monkey\_Chews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey_Chews)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/10 "2010-12-09T00:07:20Z")
> [@multimediac17](#): > > They will also sometimes discount an artist’s back catalogue when they have a new release out - for example, the new Black Eyed Peas album comes out this week, so iTunes are doing a thing where you can get their old albums for $9.99. And yes, $9.99 does unfortunately qualify as cheap here. Albums on iTunes in Australia are usually $16.99 or $17.99, or even $20.99 for the “deluxe editions” with a few bonus tracks. It’s ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/11 "2010-12-09T00:18:02Z")
And considering how close the American and Australian dollars are these days, it makes the difference in price between the two stores - for exactly the same product - all the more frustrating. ---
**Author:** ![Pigs\_in\_Space](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@Pigs\_in\_Space](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pigs_in_Space)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/12 "2010-12-09T03:06:25Z")
Just to be clear, if you buy from Amazon, the songs will magically appear in Itunes. I don’t think you can watch videos from Amazon on your Ipod, though. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/13 "2010-12-09T13:08:17Z")
> [@Pigs\_in\_Space](#): > > Just to be clear, if you buy from Amazon, the songs will magically appear in Itunes. I don’t think you can watch videos from Amazon on your Ipod, though. Seriously? I’ve never bought from Amazon because I didn’t know how to add them to my iPod. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/14 "2010-12-09T19:52:47Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > Seriously? I’ve never bought from Amazon because I didn’t know how to add them to my iPod. Yeah, you have to download an Amazon app for it, but then it just sends your music straight to iTunes. I’ve only used the iTunes store in the past because I’m lazy and I already use iTunes for my iPod, but I recently tried Amazon because they had a $3 mp3 coupon on Cyber Monday and - they’re not paying me for this - it seems to have a better selection. Out of curiosity, I looked up a Colombian band I heard on NPR awhile ago that wasn’t on iTunes, and they were on Amazon. They also had some terrible Bulgarian pop I couldn’t find on iTunes, which was awesome. ---
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/15 "2010-12-09T20:07:18Z")
Link for free albums (mostly samplers) on amazon: [http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A318774011%2Cp\_n\_feature\_browse-bin%3A625150011&pf\_rd\_p=497095671&pf\_rd\_s=right-4&pf\_rd\_t=101&pf\_rd\_i=678551011&pf\_rd\_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf\_rd\_r=12GWV7A3V1MKSTG9TMGW](http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A318774011%2Cp_n_feature_browse-bin%3A625150011&pf_rd_p=497095671&pf_rd_s=right-4&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=678551011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=12GWV7A3V1MKSTG9TMGW) Link for free individual songs (also usually includes all the songs on the free albums, individually): > **[Amazon.com. Spend less. Smile more.](https://www.amazon.com/)** > > Free shipping on millions of items. Get the best of Shopping and Entertainment with Prime. Enjoy low prices and great deals on the largest selection of everyday essentials and other products, including fashion, home, beauty, electronics, Alexa... I check these links once a week or so. They generally post new albums on Tuesday though not always. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/17 "2014-10-12T23:57:15Z")
Starbucks also has free download cards for new music available regularly. I’ve discovered several new bands that way. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-itunes-ever-go-on-sale/563393/18 "2014-10-13T02:48:18Z")
Awhile back Itunes made a big deal of announcing that while some (newer, more popular) songs would now sell for 1.29 (up from .99), older ones would be marked down to .69. However, the .69 songs seem to be few and far between. Amazon has long had much better deals. If you have the patience to sort through all their free song listings, you can find whole free albums, sometimes of good stuff (not just label samplers, though occasionally they are worthwhile, especially the classical ones).