Apple last week drew the ire of the charity War Child when the British iTunes Music Store sold its benefit album Help: A Life in the Day for two pounds less than the standard price. According to an article at The Register, the iTMS was forced to withdraw the album and reissue it at the higher price after War Child complained.

War Child exists to benefit children in war-torn countries, and charity representative Julian Carrera told reporter Andrew Losowsky: "In terms of pure volume, iTunes has really come to the party -- and will generate huge sales and profits, which will go straight into our projects in war zones."

However, the British iTMS continues to sell singles from Help: A Life in the Day for 79p, 20p less than War Child charges on its own Web site. Mr. Losowsky said that Apple wouldn't say if it will make up the difference, as the company did last December with the re-recorded "Do They Know it's Christmas?" single from Band Aid. Apple sold that single for 79p and donated the difference to the Band Aid charity, which had declared a �1.49 standard price.

As Mr. Losowsky notes in his article, Apple initially refused to make up the difference with the Band Aid single, "until someone in its PR department pointed out that refusing to help starving Africans, or to stock the current number one single, might not win over prospective customers." So far, Apple has avoided a similar PR blunder with the War Child album.