iTunes DRM-free, but upgrading comes with strings attached

[AppleInsider]

Even though Apple chief executive Steve Jobs' long-stated desire for DRM-free iTunes music has finally been realized, some observers and users are questioning Apple for the way it's handling certain aspects of the change.

We're seeing several sources warning users about upgrading their libraries until Apple introduces more options.* (Not to mention finishing upgrading the entire catalog of ten million songs, which Apple says could take until April).

For example, my library contains 536 purchased items; only several are TV shows, or free singles and music videos of the week.* However, the home page of the iTunes Store only offers to upgrade 82 of them.

The number will rise eventually, but what really has folks disappointed is the "all-or-nothing" approach to the upgrade.* If I want to upgrade, say, my beloved purchased Athlete albums, I can only do so if I upgrade my tracks by Lindsay Lohan (don't ask) and a karaoke version of The Killers' "Mr. Brightside" I for some reason thought was a good idea at the time.**Looking back, I shouldn't have ever paid for them back then, and I'd rather not suffer insult to injury now.







Yikes.

Also: If you bought a track or two from a protected album that has now gone DRM-free, you can't complete the album unless you first upgrade those tracks.* And that means...all*of them, whether you still want them or not.

None of the promotional songs I got for free (like the Singles of the Week, or that "Back to School" cross-promotion with Facebook from a few summers ago) are appearing in my upgrade offer, although we have read reports from people who are seeing those.* iTunes uses your account's purchase history to present this "special offer", so you'll still spot songs you long ago banished to the Trash in disgust.



The motive behind Apple's moves aren't clear, but for customers' sake, many are hoping the company eventually delivers friendlier options by the time the store is completely DRM-free this spring.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[wobegon]

While I understand the frustration - fortunately I have better taste in music than the author (jk, I remember a single Jack Johnson song that I finally begrudgingly upgraded a while back on the off chance someone might see it) - who's to say whether Apple has any choice in the matter?

[F1Turbo]

I don't think this is good for one of the key reasons iTunes has been successful, simplicity.

[cazlar]

Nitpicking, but iTunes didn't offer to upgrade 82 songs, but rather 82 items (68 individual songs and 14 albums). So 223 total out of 563, roughly 40% of your music.

I agree there should be some way to pick and choose which you want though.

[YodaMac]

Not sure what all the fuss is about.

The only reason to upgrade is if you plan on illegally sharing your music with other people, right?

If your music has played fine on your iPod and Mac all this time - it still will.

If you're a true audiophile (nut), then you'd be buying physical media and ripping your own. Those few bits improvement aren't going to make your iPod sound any better in the car or jogging through noisy streets anyways, right?

I have NEVER had an issue with DRM in all the years I've been using iTunes. So what's the fuss all about?

[finnwhite]

Something I noticed (and I suppose it makes sense)...

I'm an American but I was living in Australia when iTMS came out. Actually it was out for quite a while in the US before it came to AUS, and I used my US credit to purchase from the US store (not having really read that part in the T&C that says you can't do this), and after a few purchases I bought a new Mac in AUS, and as part of the initial setup associated my Apple ID with my Aussie computer somehow from there Apple worked out I was in breach and shut down my access to those songs! I was frustrated, but as it was only a couple songs I lived through it.

Eventually iTMS came to Australia, though I think even to this day not all the major labels participate, meaning the catalog is more limited. And I purchased a good number of tracks from the AUS store. I recently moved back to the US, and switched stores. I notice that none of the songs I purchased from the AUS store appear on my upgrade list, even though many of those albums are also available in the US store. AND, those long lost songs ARE there.

So that tells me a few things, which may be well known to others and quite logical. iTunes Plus is country specific. iTMS in general might be always country specific, even if a given album is available in multiple countries, buying it in one does not grant rights to it in another (and maybe this is due to different labels or subsidiaries of labels controlling rights in different countries).

I am certain I am not the only totally legit multi-country person around (dual citizen), and it will only become more common. I wonder when the infrastructure of iTMS or indeed all digital media will accommodate this scenario....

[carloblackmore]

My Dad frequently felt compelled to admonish my childhood greediness by saying "give you an inch, you take a yard."

Never have I seen that admonishment so applicable in the computer industry as with Apple consumers. Sometimes we can really be some greedy little punks.
The iTunes Plus deal isn't perfect - but it's an improvement and a step in the right direction. I doubt that Apple is unaware of how it could be improved - so how about just sitting back and being grateful for what is currently available?

[unscriptable]

Originally Posted by YodaMac

Not sure what all the fuss is about.

The only reason to upgrade is if you plan on illegally sharing your music with other people, right?

If your music has played fine on your iPod and Mac all this time - it still will.

If you're a true audiophile (nut), then you'd be buying physical media and ripping your own. Those few bits improvement aren't going to make your iPod sound any better in the car or jogging through noisy streets anyways, right?

I have NEVER had an issue with DRM in all the years I've been using iTunes. So what's the fuss all about?

If you've ever used iLife and wanted to embed a track in a iPhoto slideshow or an iMovie, then you'd know that DRM'ed music won't work for you if you want to then share that slideshow or movie. It fails with a friendly error message when you try to export. I upgraded my music for this very reason. Now I don't have to worry when I am feeling creative.

Luckily, I only had to spend $6 to upgrade my library since most of my music is ripped off of my CD collection.

[mjtomlin]

If you REALLY wanted to upgrade just a portion of your music, you could always temporarily remove those other unwanted songs from your library. When you're done upgrading, move them back into your library.

However I agree, it would be nice if you could create a playlist and then have iTunes upgrade everything in the list.

Originally Posted by YodaMac

The only reason to upgrade is if you plan on illegally sharing your music with other people, right?

Not necessarily, if I wanted to listen to the music on my Zune or some other non-iPod player.

[McDave]

Good to see it's not just me who has nostalgic moments of weakness. Maybe the author should drag the embarrassing tunes out of his library, into a folder, upgrade the library then drag the files back in (or maybe not!). It's not very 'Apple' but given most iTunes users are Windows-based this kind of file-fiddling should be second nature.

McD

[caliminius]

Originally Posted by YodaMac

Not sure what all the fuss is about.

The only reason to upgrade is if you plan on illegally sharing your music with other people, right?

NO.

If your music has played fine on your iPod and Mac all this time - it still will.

Some people don't want to be trapped in an Apple only world (well, at least I don't). I have a TiVo, a PSP and a PS3 (along with an iPod) and I would like to be able to use any of music on any of those devices. I don't have many purchases from iTunes, but I must apparently have more than I would have thought. Yesterday, I had about $17 worth of items to upgrade. Now, it's jumped to close to $30.

If you're a true audiophile (nut), then you'd be buying physical media and ripping your own. Those few bits improvement aren't going to make your iPod sound any better in the car or jogging through noisy streets anyways, right?

Well, they should (though as you said, I'm obviously insane,since over 90% of my music is purchased on CD...the other 10% coming from Amazon's mp3 deals of the day). There's more than just the car and jogging down the street with some crappy ear buds. My iPod plays through my car's radio via the dock connector so it should benefit. And playing them via a PS3 or AppleTV should alsohave better quality.

I have NEVER had an issue with DRM in all the years I've been using iTunes. So what's the fuss all about?

Well that's good for you and all. You do realize there are more people in the world than you, right? I've stayed away from purchasing anything from iTunes because of DRM (and there were some albums I considered for the pre-order iTunes exclusive bonus tracks).

[Booga]

Originally Posted by YodaMac

Not sure what all the fuss is about.

The only reason to upgrade is if you plan on illegally sharing your music with other people, right?

If your music has played fine on your iPod and Mac all this time - it still will.

If you're a true audiophile (nut), then you'd be buying physical media and ripping your own. Those few bits improvement aren't going to make your iPod sound any better in the car or jogging through noisy streets anyways, right?

I have NEVER had an issue with DRM in all the years I've been using iTunes. So what's the fuss all about?

There's also the option of legally sharing your music. Fair use allows all sorts of options that DRM does not that are perfectly legal.

It doesn't matter though. I've tried 3 times and iTunes steadfastly refuses to actually do the upgrade, so the point is moot.

[pdiddy]

Originally Posted by YodaMac

The only reason to upgrade is if you plan on illegally sharing your music with other people, right?

No, I don't want my DRM music to not work anymore if iTunes goes under and I buy a new computer. Unlikely, but it's happened to other stores...

Originally Posted by YodaMac

Those few bits improvement aren't going to make your iPod sound any better in the car or jogging through noisy streets anyways, right?

It's a better bit rate, the sound is better regardless of whether you can hear it or not while jogging. Thirty cents per song better? Not sure...

Originally Posted by YodaMac

I have NEVER had an issue with DRM in all the years I've been using iTunes. So what's the fuss all about?

It's about what could happen. The Windows "Plays for Sure" servers were shut down, Wal-Mart's DRM stuff doesn't work anymore... Was Yahoo! the other one that shut theirs down? Can't remember.

Anyway, now that iTunes is offering everything DRM free, are they now going to shut down their "authentication" servers? At least at some point in the future I think they will, and after they do, better not buy a new iPod or computer, or the DRM'd stuff won't work on those. Sure they'll continue to work on your current hardware, but eventually you'll want to upgrade.

Maybe they'll change iTunes to ignore the need to authenticate. That would be nice of them, but they don't have to.

[chromos]

Originally Posted by mjtomlin

If you REALLY wanted to upgrade just a portion of your music, you could always temporarily remove those other unwanted songs from your library. When you're done upgrading, move them back into your library.

No, the list of upgradable songs comes from the Purchase History of the associated iTunes account, not what's in the local iTunes library.

[mjtomlin]

Originally Posted by pdiddy

Anyway, now that iTunes is offering everything DRM free, are they now going to shut down their "authentication" servers? At least at some point in the future I think they will,

FairPlay is also used with other types of content, such as Movies, Applications, etc... Apple will not be shutting down their authentication servers. The DRM is only being removed from the music. Which means this is not a tactic of trying to force people into upgrading. it is an option, just as it has always been.

[paulgreen]

Let's say that in the future (1, 2, 5 or 10 years?) Apple wants to turn off all the servers that checks the DRM on your tracks. Would they offer a free DRM-free upgrade? How long do you think Apple will bother to maintain these DRM servers? How much does it cost to run them?

Since DRM has not really been an issue to me, I won't be shelling out $ to make my 957 (and counting) iTunes tracks DRM-free.

[nagromme]

The process is very simple, and I think, fair. It doesn't offer a lot of customization, though, it's true. I don't see it as a problem except for people who buy a lot of music they don't like... a habit that carries a downside no matter what

I'm just glad that free songs don't get upgraded--that's clearly stated, and it makes sense. I don't WANT to upgrade all those free songs, I want to upgrade the songs I chose to buy--and that's how the system works.

If they offered a more complex and customizable process, I can see one song I wouldn't upgrade... saving me 30 cents. Not worth it--I'll accept the simplicity of the current system.

Also: If you bought a track or two from a protected album that has now gone DRM-free, you can't complete the album unless you first upgrade those tracks. And that means...all of them, whether you still want them or not.

You can't complete an album that you don't want all the songs from? That's OK with me

[xanthohappy]

I like having the DRM-free songs because I use Toast to make my mix CDs and I have to do an annoying burn and re-import step if I want to use my purchased music in my own mix CD in Toast.

I'd also really like the ability to choose which songs I upgrade, as I've got a few albums and tracks that I liked enough to purchase the full physical CDs of afterwards. I've also got a couple of tracks that I purchased for a one-time project or gag gift for friends that I will NEVER listen to again (they're already deleted out of my library) and I'm forced to pay for those as well if I want to upgrade my library.

[mjtomlin]

Originally Posted by chromos

No, the list of upgradable songs comes from the Purchase History of the associated iTunes account, not what's in the local iTunes library.

Yeah, actually I just noticed that and left feedback on the iTunes Feedback Page

[eric42]

Why should there be an upgrade fee at all? The music was $.99 with DRM. It is (for the most part) $.99 now that it's DRM-free but I have to pay $.30 per song because I made the mistake of giving Apple my business too early.

Seems to me it should be a free upgrade now that DRM-free is going to be the norm.

Is this upgrade fee being imposed by Apple, by the labels or both?

[federmoose]

Originally Posted by YodaMac

The only reason to upgrade is if you plan on illegally sharing your music with other people, right?

If you're a true audiophile (nut), then you'd be buying physical media and ripping your own. Those few bits improvement aren't going to make your iPod sound any better in the car or jogging through noisy streets anyways, right?

WRONG. The difference between 128 and 256 is an audible one. The diff between CD and 256 really isn't that much (in the audible range at least). Many, including myself, want the higher quality without buying physical media. Electronic media is more environmentally friendly anyways.

[Galley]

Cost to upgrade my 19,000 tracks (ripped from CDs) to DRM-free lossless = ZERO!

[KingOfSomewhereHot]

Originally Posted by YodaMac

Not sure what all the fuss is about.

The only reason to upgrade is if you plan on illegally sharing your music with other people, right?

... or perhaps I'd like to put some songs from my iTunes library on a NON-APPLE music player... say I'd rather give my kids a $29 Sansa to loose (they're kids, stuff happens) instead of a $150 iPod.

[Virgil-TB2]

I'd still like to know when the tracks will be upgraded and how we will know when they are.

I'm in the position of never having bought DRM'ed music (cause I'm a purist morally speaking), and as confusing as the "Upgrade My Library" stuff is, it's not as bad as not even knowing if you can buy stuff.

I have a whole long list of albums that I am waiting to buy but so far I've seen no movement at all on albums showing up with the "iTunes Plus" moniker. Hell, we don't even know at this point if the new tracks *will* be marked as "iTunes Plus." If everything is DRM free, it makes no sense to use the term anymore, but they *might* continue to use it anyway (although we don't know because Apple hasn't bothered to tell us.)

Has anyone actually seen a track go from DRM'ed to DRM free and does it then acquire the "iTunes Plus" label? It's been like ... two days!

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by Galley

Cost to upgrade my 19,000 tracks (ripped from CDs) to DRM-free lossless = ZERO!

Cost of ten times more space to store them ... Significant!

[Booga]

Originally Posted by Galley

Cost to upgrade my 19,000 tracks (ripped from CDs) to DRM-free lossless = ZERO!

You don't value your time at ALL? Wow, you should see a therapist about your self esteem problems.

[019870]

Upgrade my library does not include albums that I've pre-ordered with exclusive tracks (the last two Beyonce albums) as well as albums that have been edited since being released on the store (Lil Wayne Tha Carter III).

[astrosmash]

It's hard to imagine how anyone would be interested in paying to "upgrade" their existing library.

There's absolutely no point unless you're planning to migrate away from iTunes/iPod, and if you are moving out of iTunes there are plenty of alternative options that won't cost you money (just a bit of your time). It's only audio, after all, and audio is *very* easy to work with. Back in the day we actually had to manually dub music if we wanted backups; those days are long gone...

I have only four albums that could be "upgraded", and I was actually tempted to do it because $3 an album isn't expensive. But then I came to my senses. Even if it's cheap, there's no reason to spend money on something that has zero value.

[federmoose]

Originally Posted by Booga

You don't value your time at ALL? Wow, you should see a therapist about your self esteem problems.

Itunes will auto-rip and then eject a CD after it has finished. honestly, ripping from CD is easy and doesn't consume much time, and can be easily done during other tasks. cut the down the insults... all you're gonna do is instigate, which will most likely result in a warning and then a ban.

[federmoose]

For those who will complain about the cost (aka eric42):

Some people have seemingly legitimate points. They include: "Wow, I have poor timing. I bought this music yesterday when it was not iTunes plus, now I have to pay for an upgrade the next day." This is a reasonable point. But to juxtapose this argument I submit this one: One day before the CD version of your new favorite album came out, you purchase the same album on tape. Should you get a free upgrade? No. In fact, you'd have to pay full price; you wouldn't even have the option of paying a reduced upgrade fee. That people feel this entitlement towards upgrades of music astounds me.
Some may counter that argument by saying that you aren't selling something physical. I agree that the lack of a physical purchase allows for upgrades to be distributed with little cost to the distributor (and therefore discounted upgrade fees should be expected instead of full price repurchase), but there are still costs. Think bandwidth, storage space, wear and tear of read/write on server HD's, etc. While these costs might not total $0.30, Apple surely is not reaping large profits off these downloads.

For those who complain about paying for music in general, I have a different rant for you, but I'll save the other readers from it.

[federmoose]

Originally Posted by astrosmash

It's hard to imagine how anyone would be interested in paying to "upgrade" their existing library.

There's absolutely no point unless you're planning to migrate away from iTunes/iPod.

Quality, quality, quality!!! Quality is 2x for the itunes Plus. this means a lot to some people, including myself. Take any respectable sound system, and play a 128kbps track with electric guitar. It'll sound incredibly harsh and flat compared to the same itunes plus (256 AAC) version of the song.

also, there are plenty of other legit uses for upgrading (see using Toast and other apps / burning CD's) that have nothing to do with moving away from iTunes or quality as well.

[Dave K.]

If I understand everything right, I will have to re-download all of my purchased music again if I upgrade my library (since the DRM free tracks are of higher quality than my originally purchased music).

Is this correct?

[jwsmiths]

Originally Posted by mjtomlin

If you REALLY wanted to upgrade just a portion of your music, you could always temporarily remove those other unwanted songs from your library. When you're done upgrading, move them back into your library.

However I agree, it would be nice if you could create a playlist and then have iTunes upgrade everything in the list.

No - I have deleted quite a few of the songs I purchased to use in an iMovie or iPhoto project long ago but still had to pay $.30 for each of those in order to upgrade the 200+ songs I did wish to have in higher quality. It bases your upgrade offer on what songs you've purchased in total - not just those that are still in your iTunes library.

I too wish there had been a way to upgrade just a selection of songs.

[Hudson1]

Originally Posted by Dave K.

If I understand everything right, I will have to re-download all of my purchased music again if I upgrade my library (since the DRM free tracks are of higher quality than my originally purchased music).

Is this correct?

That is correct. iTunes will handle it for you and will also ask if you want to delete the original files or not.

[federmoose]

Originally Posted by Dave K.

If I understand everything right, I will have to re-download all of my purchased music again if I upgrade my library (since the DRM free tracks are of higher quality than my originally purchased music).

Is this correct?

Correct. If you have low-bandwidth, I suggest allowing the downloads to complete overnight (its gonna take a looong time). Also, check back every month until April (or is it May?), as there are still 2 million tracks which are DRM'd.

nice that apple got a majority of songs non-DRM, so that now the other 2mil songs have to be made itunes plus (who is going to buy songs that will need to be upgraded? need to stay current to be competitive).

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by federmoose

... check back every month until April (or is it May?), as there are still 2 million tracks which are DRM'd....

I'm starting to think that this no DRM is only in the USA or something.

I don't see *any* new non-DRM files, just the usual which is about 10 - 20% iTunes Plus and the majority "regular." No way is 80% of the store I'm looking at converted already as some have said, and I can't find a single DRM track that's been converted to non in two days of looking.

[walshbj]

Y'all scared YodaMac away. I don't think he thought about this very hard.

I've read that when you upgrade your library keeps track of the upgraded songs with regard to playcount, etc. Can anyone verify this??

All or nothing seems like something to get away with when you're holding all the cards...

[charlituna]

Originally Posted by eric42

Why should there be an upgrade fee at all?

because you are getting a second copy of the song. you can play both.

[federmoose]

Originally Posted by walshbj

Y'all scared YodaMac away. I don't think he thought about this very hard.

I've read that when you upgrade your library keeps track of the upgraded songs with regard to playcount, etc. Can anyone verify this??

All or nothing seems like something to get away with when you're holding all the cards...

True for 80-100% of the music. Sometimes the tags will have changed since purchase (normally only true for music purchased more than 2 years ago). Say, if the song has changed from sporting an "Alternative" tag to a "Pop" tag, the new download will not replace the old one. This case is rare, at most occurring 20% of the time.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by YodaMac

Not sure what all the fuss is about.

The only reason to upgrade is if you plan on illegally sharing your music with other people, right?

If your music has played fine on your iPod and Mac all this time - it still will.

If you're a true audiophile (nut), then you'd be buying physical media and ripping your own. Those few bits improvement aren't going to make your iPod sound any better in the car or jogging through noisy streets anyways, right?

I have NEVER had an issue with DRM in all the years I've been using iTunes. So what's the fuss all about?

Hey, count yourself lucky. But it's best to not take such a broad assumption that it's going to be for piracy. Besides, it's not that hard to pirate the DRMed file, DRM generally confounds legitimate uses too. It reduces convenience in streaming to non-Apple brand devices. Also, it removes the risk of odd errors on computers you stream music to but forgot to authorize the computer, like what Front Row gave me, it took me a while to realize that the generic error stemmed from an authorization issue. Having to manage authorizations is an unnecessary inconvenience that wouldn't happen if the tracks were bought on CD and imported. So why should iTunes tracks be any different?

Originally Posted by mjtomlin

If you REALLY wanted to upgrade just a portion of your music, you could always temporarily remove those other unwanted songs from your library. When you're done upgrading, move them back into your library.

Originally Posted by McDave

Good to see it's not just me who has nostalgic moments of weakness. Maybe the author should drag the embarrassing tunes out of his library, into a folder, upgrade the library then drag the files back in (or maybe not!). It's not very 'Apple' but given most iTunes users are Windows-based this kind of file-fiddling should be second nature.

I don't think you two read the story, because if you did, you would know that doesn't work, I can attest to that. A track downloaded to a different computer and never copied to my main computer still shows up on my list.

Originally Posted by nagromme

The process is very simple, and I think, fair. It doesn't offer a lot of customization, though, it's true. I don't see it as a problem except for people who buy a lot of music they don't like... a habit that carries a downside no matter what

I'm just glad that free songs don't get upgraded--that's clearly stated, and it makes sense. I don't WANT to upgrade all those free songs, I want to upgrade the songs I chose to buy--and that's how the system works.

If they offered a more complex and customizable process, I can see one song I wouldn't upgrade... saving me 30 cents. Not worth it--I'll accept the simplicity of the current system.

Lucky for you, but it's not just about that. What if you liked the song at first, but a few years later, are sick of it? That never happens to you? Or you bought a lot over the years, a little here, a little there, and want to upgrade in chunks to keep the cost manageable?

Originally Posted by eric42

Why should there be an upgrade fee at all? The music was $.99 with DRM. It is (for the most part) $.99 now that it's DRM-free but I have to pay $.30 per song because I made the mistake of giving Apple my business too early.

Seems to me it should be a free upgrade now that DRM-free is going to be the norm.

Is this upgrade fee being imposed by Apple, by the labels or both?

Keep in mind that it's a lot more fair than in the past in regards to media sales. If a band remastered an album, what kind of a discount to owners of previous copies of the album get? None. A remastered version of a movie, with deleted scenes or a new re-cut of a movie, or add actor commentaries, what kind of discount do existing owners get? None. There may be exceptions, but the general rule is that you don't get any credit for having bought the previous version. In most cases, you got what you paid for, you were not promised free upgrades.

Originally Posted by Dave K.

If I understand everything right, I will have to re-download all of my purchased music again if I upgrade my library (since the DRM free tracks are of higher quality than my originally purchased music).

Yes. You have to download the extra data to get the higher bitrate. Your upgrade doesn't remove the encryption from your existing file, they just send you a newer, bigger and hopefully better sounding file, but that depends on the file, your equipment and your ears.