Back in January, you might recall that Apple bent to the music industry's demand for variable pricing, ditched their flat rate $.99 per song model, and announced a system where popular tracks would go for $1.29 -- and less popular tracks would be sold for $.69. At the time, this was sold as a cost benefit to consumers, who'd get a lot of older tracks for less money.

Several months later, the new pricing has gone live. Gizmodo has dug through the iTunes store and finds, much like many people feared, that $.69 tracks to be few and far between. It would appear the music industry hasn't quite learned their lesson yet, and are more interested in jacking up prices on consumers than offering them truly compelling and inexpensive alternatives to piracy.

Those who are interested in how broadband and piracy are decimating the existing music business might be interested in this week's Digg interview with Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, who's at the forefront of navigating music through this (r)evolution. Wired News (via Techdirt) quotes Reznor, who's being lauded a genius in tech sectors simply for admitting the old music industry is all but dead:Update: It looks like Amazon and Walmart have unveiled new variable pricing plans as well.