Travel Technology - Apple cuts copy protection and prices on iTunes

SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple Inc. closed its final appearance at the Macworld trade show Tuesday by cutting the price of some songs in its market-leading iTunes online store to as little as 69 cents and disclosing that soon every track will be available without copy protection.

FULL STORY HERE http://www.miamiherald.com/156/story/839929.html (http://www.miamiherald.com/156/story/839929.html)

It's about time!!!^^^

Too late. I'm using Amazon and haven't had iTunes on my computer for over a year.

It took a formidable competitor for Apple to finally change its tune. Finally.

Too late. I'm using Amazon and haven't had iTunes on my computer for over a year.


I'm with you on Amazon.

Ever since I lost DRM-protected songs I paid for (technically, it was my fault for not backing up the files, but who wants to bother with that), I've refused to play the DRM game.

Two questions:

1. Does this mean that if I was to download, install and use iTunes now, it would no longer engage in the Spanish DRM Inquisition when assessing my extensive library of tracks, but would manage them sensibly and without hassle?

2. Is Apple releasing a version of iTunes that is JUST iTunes, and not all the other apps and whistles that clog up any box it is loaded onto?

I'm also a converted Amazon user, but I find it frustrating that music imported from Amazon into itunes isn't ordered properly. If I purchase a 12 track album on Amazon and sort by "Date Added" in itunes, the first track is #12, then #11, etc.

The workaround within itunes is to sort by album; is there a systemic way to change the import behavior?

According to what I read in the WSJ today, it will cost 30 cents per song already in your iTunes library to get rid of the copy protection!

According to what I read in the WSJ today, it will cost 30 cents per song already in your iTunes library to get rid of the copy protection!

This really bothers me. I've got hundreds of songs I bought for .99c that will probably be .69 under the new system and I am expected to pay .30c to get a DRM free version. I was hoping Apple would offer a free or less expensive way to remove DRM from my entire itunes.

Yep, 30 cents a track or 30 percent of the album price for the "privilege" of removing DRM from the tracks you already own.

Apple should really be ashamed. And that's another good reason to stick with Amazon and stay away from iTunes.

amazon downloads ^^

According to what I read in the WSJ today, it will cost 30 cents per song already in your iTunes library to get rid of the copy protection!that's not right and further ensures my commitment to never give apple another penny.

however i have only downloaded 1 track from itunes. i'm weird like that. at some point i really need to start digitizing all my vinyl. took me 6 months with cds and those aren't in real time.

anyone notice that the latest update to itunes removed the ability to not have the track numbers added to tracks? that was really annoying to me as i've no desire to have the track numbers (i assume that's what meta data is for)?

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I still buy from iTunes because they offer content that can't be found on amazon. I hope DRM-free will also apply to content from other countries.

Is there any indication iTunes will also lower the price of its audio books? That's mostly what I use my iPod for - and because of their prices I usually just go to the library and check out audio books there and rip them to the iPod.

Two questions:

1. Does this mean that if I was to download, install and use iTunes now, it would no longer engage in the Spanish DRM Inquisition when assessing my extensive library of tracks, but would manage them sensibly and without hassle?

2. Is Apple releasing a version of iTunes that is JUST iTunes, and not all the other apps and whistles that clog up any box it is loaded onto?

no and no.

-David

no and no.

-David

Thank you for the cues.

So in summary the Amazon tool (for tracks purchased online) and something like Anapod (for tracks ripped from CD library) continue to be the better choice for music management.

I haven't used iTunes since it first came out for Windows. Anybody know the bitrate of the MP3's they are selling? Or is it just DRM-free AAC? Their stuff used to be 128kbs, which was marginally acceptable. The Amazon stuff is WAY higher bitrate, and sounds far better. And cheaper. Maybe iTunes increased their quality over the years?

Thank you for the cues.

So in summary the Amazon tool (for tracks purchased online) and something like Anapod (for tracks ripped from CD library) continue to be the better choice for music management.

Well, your choice there. I use amazon with itunes. It's also seamless, with the amazon applet.

The ipod touch and iphone can't be managed by most third party programs because they don't show up as a disk drive. All the others work with those third party programs. I have an ipod touch.

-David

I haven't used iTunes since it first came out for Windows. Anybody know the bitrate of the MP3's they are selling? Or is it just DRM-free AAC? Their stuff used to be 128kbs, which was marginally acceptable. The Amazon stuff is WAY higher bitrate, and sounds far better. And cheaper. Maybe iTunes increased their quality over the years?

IIRC, the DRM free stuff will be 256kb AAC.


What’s so special about DRM-free tracks anyway? Why should I care?

Two big things: iTunes Plus tracks are encoded at 256-kpbs, twice the bit rate of standard iTunes tracks; and no DRM means you can play your files on as many Macs or PCs as you want.


http://www.macworld.com/article/138000/drm_faq.html

-David

In Germany the regular iTunes songs used to be 128kbits whereas they had iTunes Plus version at 256kbits without DRM.
I hope everything is now at 256 kbits. Other competitors here in Germany often offer 320kbits ...

Apple should really be ashamed. And that's another good reason to stick with Amazon and stay away from iTunes.

I'm not a huge fan of Apple, but I do like my iPod. However, blaming Apple for this is probably misplaced. Apple is just selling the music, and the people setting the rules are the record labels.

It was Apple that got the labels to agree to sell in this way in the first place - it was Apple that blazed the train that others have now been able to follow. Similarly, with DRM, and it's removal - it's not Apple that sets the terms.

I haven't used iTunes since it first came out for Windows. Anybody know the bitrate of the MP3's they are selling? Or is it just DRM-free AAC? Their stuff used to be 128kbs, which was marginally acceptable. The Amazon stuff is WAY higher bitrate, and sounds far better. And cheaper. Maybe iTunes increased their quality over the years?

FWIW, 128kbps AAC is significantly better than 128kbps MP3. AFAIK, Apple have never sold any MP3s.

Is there any indication iTunes will also lower the price of its audio books? That's mostly what I use my iPod for - and because of their prices I usually just go to the library and check out audio books there and rip them to the iPod.

Well, stolen audio books are always going to be cheaper than ones you've paid for....

Well, your choice there. I use amazon with itunes. It's also seamless, with the amazon applet.


Same here.

I'm 100% DRM-free and don't have any problem using iTunes to manage unprotected tracks. Wal Mart's MP3s also have a plug-in that will put them automatically into iTunes.