iTunes lowers prices in Britain after European Commission complains

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has agreed to lower its iTunes prices in Great Britain to align them with its prices in the rest of Europe, settling an antitrust case brought by EU regulators.

According to The New York Times, "The European Commission accused Apple last spring of unfairly charging British consumers more than their counterparts in the euro zone for tracks from iTunes, the dominant online music vendor. British consumers typically pay 79 pence, or $1.55, a song while iTunes stores in the euro zone charge 99 euro cents, or $1.46."

Thank goodness the European Commission is there to put a stop to consumer gouging like that! On a slightly more serious note, I consider myself as pro-consumer as it gets -- but do people really need the government stepping in to tell companies to lower their prices on song downloads by 9 cents? Plus, exchange rate fluctuations could make this ever more complicated. Downloading music in Europe could turn into the new FOREX.

In any case, government intervention on something as trivial as this is almost as silly as congressional hearings about Roger Clemens' use -- or lack of use -- of steroids.

Don't our elected and appointed officials have anything better to do? Perhaps issues like this keep them from messing up anything more important.