Gone are the days of basically ninety-nine cents for any song at iTunes — Apple today has revealed a new iTunes pricing model that will make some songs cheaper, and, unfortunately for consumers, will make some songs more expensive.

Songs from iTunes will now be offered through a three-tier pricing system — some songs with be only 69 cents, others will remain at the standard 99 cent price, and others still will be bumped up to 1.29 per song. How Apple will determine a song’s worth has not yet been released, however I would imagine popularity would have something to do with it.

Will paying an extra thirty cents on some offerings hurt iTunes? I think that will depend on how many songs come at the new, higher price, but it would make me think twice before purchasing.

Also, iTunes is removing the copy protection from its library of music, which is being applauded by those who would like to easily transfer their music to any source they see fit.