The move, part of a new "variable-pricing" strategy that will also lower the price of selected songs, is an attempt by the music industry to wring more revenue from digital downloads in the battle to offset declining CD sales. In January Apple announced several changes to the iTunes Store.

Beginning Jan. 6, all four major music labels -- Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI -- along with thousands of independent labels, began offering their music in iTunes Plus, Apple’s DRM-free format with higher-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding.

Now iTunes customers can also choose to download their favorite songs from the world’s largest music catalog directly onto their iPhone 3G over their 3G network just as they do with Wi-Fi today, for the same price as downloading to their computer. In January, Apple said that , beginning in April, based on what the music labels charge Apple, songs on iTunes will be available at one of three price points: 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29, with most albums still priced at $9.99.