Yesterday Apple announced a replacement of the hard-drive based iPod Mini by a flash based iPod Nano with similar capacities.

But new iPod, new taxes in France. There have been some complaints about the iPod-dollar being 60% more expensive than the real USD. First the the iPod price in France include 19.6% VAT, which allow us to account roughly 20% of difference with the displayed price. In US or Canada, the displayed price does not include tax. But there is also something interesting: the "tax" for private copy is also completely different. According to hardware.fr, the "tax" on a 4GB hard-drive iPod Mini was 9.57EUR, while on a 4GB flash iPod nano, it is 51.44EUR because it is flash memory. Do you find that fair?

For once Apple is not to blame. Lobbies are.

Fortunately in Canada, the levy has been declared void, and you can even get a refund.