Will you be better off under new iTunes pricing?

Apple's started getting flexible on the price you pay for iTunes downloads - but popular tracks seem to have become more expensive
Anyone logging in to iTunes to download music will have noticed a change online store: for the first time, the amount you pay will vary from track to track.
Instead of the flat 79p per song that has been iTunes' single price for the past few years, some tracks in Apple's music library are now priced differently - costing either 59p, 99p or the old 79p standard.
The change was the result of a detente between Apple and the record labels, which negotiated long and hard over how they thought iTunes should work. Thanks to the deal, Apple was given the chance to get rid of copy protection (which had irked big boss Steve Jobs), while the music industry was offered the opportunity to mix up pricing to boost profits.
It's also sparked a price war with Amazon - which is trying to take advantage of the changes to drop its prices on particular downloads and convince users to try its own service.
So, now it's all actually happening, how do things stack up? Are we simply being ripped off?
I took a walk through iTunes and Amazon to see how much different tracks cost. It turns out that if you want to download any currently popular iTunes tracks, you won't save any money on the previous prices: eight of the top 10 songs remained 79p, while two of them had risen to 99p. Meanwhile, Amazon has dropped the prices on those tracks as low as 29p to get the punters in.
ITunes users are clearly expected to pay a premium for the most popular stuff - indeed, the song that's Top 40 at the moment, Lady GaGa's Poker Face, is one of those that's gone up to 99p.
What about other tracks, though? I trawled through history to see what the prices of tracks that topped the charts in years past. These tracks would be popular, at least, but shouldn't be in as high demand as those topping today's charts.
One year ago:Estelle ft Kanye West, American BoyApple price: 99pAmazon price: 29p
Five years ago:Usher, YeahApple price: 79pAmazon price: 79p
10 years ago: Mr Oizo, Flat BeatApple price: 79pAmazon price: 69p
20 years ago: Madonna, Like a PrayerApple price: 79pAmazon price: 69p
30 years ago:Gloria Gaynor, I Will SurviveApple price: 99pAmazon price: 69p
40 years ago:Marvin Gaye, I Heard it Through the GrapevineApple price: 99pAmazon price: 69p
Now obviously, this isn't a scientific study, and it hardly plumbs the depths of the long tail – those obscure and unpopular tracks that are likely to have their prices lowered to stimulate demand.
But right now, for mainstream tracks, the results look fairly clear to me: of the seven chart-topping tracks we looked at, Apple's new flexibility on pricing means that you're more likely to be paying extra today than you were before.
In comparison, the same tracks on Amazon were cheaper in every case – bar one example where the price on both services was the same.
Looks like Amazon's price war is working. But how long will it last?