If it was free, that would be billions of free downloads, which would cost Apple a fortune. Sure, 30 cents is way higher than the bandwidth costs, but I would assume it would be too costly to do for free.
I love the way people always try to justify Apple overcharging.
Quote:
The shuffle is $49.
But the shuffle's sound quality sucks so you wouldn't tell the diff in DRM-free sound quality anyway.
It has been clear from day one that DRM itunes material won't play on non-apple players. Anyone who bought itunes songs wanting to play them on another player was making a mistake in the first place.
Right- but I forgot to read the section that stated I would be charged 1/3rd of my original cost to have the DRM removed in the future.
Right- but I forgot to read the section that stated I would be charged 1/3rd of my original cost to have the DRM removed in the future.
Under the original terms the DRM was forever. You can pay nothing and maintain that license. You now have a choice to pay for an upgraded license that has no DRM and twice the bitrate.
Now it is going to cost me to upgrade my music to remove the DRM? Thats a move I would expect out of Microsoft, not Apple. Oh well. I am going to start getting more music from emusic!
Now it is going to cost me to upgrade my music to remove the DRM? Thats a move I would expect out of Microsoft, not Apple. Oh well. I am going to start getting more music from emusic!
No Microsoft would have fought to keep the DRM. Remember this is the company that worked hard to push Palladium as the end all solution for locking content down. What Apple is offering is an easy upgrade to a potentially more accurate file with no DRM. Would I like it for free...sure but I'm not necessarily getting my nose bent out of shape because.
A. I knew the track had DRM when I purchased it.
B. I knew the track was 128kb when I purchased it.
The only thing that I ask for Apple is the ability to decide what tracks I want upgraded. I don't need freebies I need efficienty.
Now Apple have sorted out the DRM mess with the music it sells can it now turn its attention to visual content?
I would love to be able to play all my legally purchased TV shows and Movies on an Archos player but can't because of the DRM!
I can't even burn visual content on to DVD. Go figure.
This is a serious issue for me as well. I will not buy any iTunes video content again until the DRM is gone.
I don't think the studios understand that the more they do to restrict content, the more they drive the pirate market. Legality aside, bittorrents are just easier to deal with than any of the purchased download options I've seen.
I hate this all or nothing. In my case there have been many times I bough a track or album which I found I loved and then bought the real physical CD for perfect sound and package. I'd hate to have to upgrade those. Although I assume I could delete the old downloaded versions from my iTunes. If I did that would they still show up as purchased so I'd have to upgrade? But there are songs I have dowloaded and do want to keep but don't want to have to upgrade. A couple guilty pleasures.
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?
Hopefully, this is what they would do. There's likely something in the contract with the record labels.
Here's an interesting tidbit from the iTunes Store Terms of Service
"d. You acknowledge that some aspects of the Service, Products, and administering of the Usage Rules entails the ongoing involvement of Apple. Accordingly, in the event that Apple changes any part of the Service or discontinues the Service, which Apple may do at its election, you acknowledge that you may no longer be able to use Products to the same extent as prior to such change or discontinuation, and that Apple shall have no liability to you in such case"
Meaning if Apple no longer has the iTunes Store or changes something, they do not have to do anything to enable you to continue to use your DRM songs/movies.
This is a serious issue for me as well. I will not buy any iTunes video content again until the DRM is gone.
I don't think the studios understand that the more they do to restrict content, the more they drive the pirate market. Legality aside, bittorrents are just easier to deal with than any of the purchased download options I've seen.
This attitude is the main reason the labels/movie houses want DRM and a big reason why we all suffer for it, especially those who don't steal.
"If i can't get it how I want, I'll torrent/limewire it".
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!
Yes - in fact, I have several items sitting in my shopping cart that are now iTunes Plus, though when I put them in they weren't (which is why I didn't buy them then). Examples are Fairport Convention Live at the BBC, The Bridge School Concerts Volume 1, and most of the Creedence Clearwater Revival albums.
Some other things there are still not iTunes Plus, though - it's hard to believe Phil saying that 8 million are already iTunes Plus (that's 80%).
Meaning if Apple no longer has the iTunes Store or changes something, they do not have to do anything to enable you to continue to use your DRM songs/movies.
You're S.O.L.
Another good reason to oppose DRM.
And a good reason why so many are willing to pay the ransom to unlock previously purchased tracks. As regular AAC files they won't be vulnerable to Apple turning off the DRM key server.
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).
I think YodaMac's comments are pretty representative of the average user.
I would guess that 90%-plus of people who download tracks to iTunes intend only to (1) listen to the tracks in iTunes, (2) burn the tracks to CDs, and (3) listen to the tracks on iTunes devices.
Sure, some people want to listen to their downloaded tracks on a Zune or export embedded tracks that were used in an video clip created in iMovie, but that is a relatively small percentage of iTunes users.
What I'm trying to say is: The DRM stuff is very important to a small number of people, but it is not even on the radar with the vast majority of people who download tracks on iTunes.
Meaning if Apple no longer has the iTunes Store or changes something, they do not have to do anything to enable you to continue to use your DRM songs/movies.
You're S.O.L.
Another good reason to oppose DRM.
There is no business reason for Apple to do that.
I am not terribly worried about Apple calling a press conference to announce that they've decided to screw everyone who has ever bought tracks on iTS.
If they were good enough when I bought them, they are good enough now.
I disagree. When I first bought many of my songs, I rarely had the opportunity to listen to them on a computer, never really bothered to burn any to CD and used an older iPod connected to an iTrip for my car.
* iTrip = over radio
Today I am rarely without my headphones, burn many CDs and have a 32GB 2nd generation touch directly connected to my car. The difference is there. One must wonder about your method of use, your music taste and your hearing.
Good enough then, good enough now, is so definite, it forgets that we're all different.
It sort of hurts the real long term loyal customers. Cost for my library (1100 tracks) => 220 Euro. So as one might imagine => my happiness is rather contained at the moment
1. Real long term loyal customers? I'm sure you didn't mean to offend / for it to be there, but the implication is there that I'm not? I'm sorry if I've been spending too much money on the rest of Apple's products or other portions of iTunes (for me: applications, short clips and television shows). I didn't realize that one had to buy one product over another to be a "real" loyal customer.
2. Seriously though, no hard feelings.
3. I'm sorry to hear. As much as I'm arguing pro IT+, I have no idea whether I'd upgrade or not at that point.
Right- but I forgot to read the section that stated I would be charged 1/3rd of my original cost to have the DRM removed in the future.
Remove it yourself by converting to aiff (like burning to CD). Your track now is as good as when you bought it - what are you complaining about? If you want to improve the quality of the track (better sound/no DRM) then pay to upgrade). Otherwise remove the DRM yourself. Quit whining.
Yes, my argument is, in fact, that there is no physical product and that the price hasn't changed--just the format. Apple clearly has the infrastructure in place as I am constantly receiving free upgrades to my AppStore purchases.
I understand that the number of songs sold FAR exceeds the number of apps and the bandwidth requirements would be significantly higher. This could be managed by Apple, however, by imposing a maximum number of daily upgrades and bandwidth throttling.
I think they are making (or at least hoping to make) a lot more from this than you think.
Or by allowing us to redownload for a fraction of the original cost?
We have to now pay more to play our music in a non-Apple machine.
Let's be clear. You have to pay more on songs you've already bought that had DRM to rub off the DRM and increase their quality. All purchases of IT+ music in the past will work on non-Apple machines that can handle the AAC. They killed the original purchase premium on IT+ music long ago dropping $1.29 to $0.99. If you've bought any music recently, chances are at least a couple songs were IT+. You can tell the difference by looking at the "kind" in your iTunes library list. Protected AAC audio files have DRM, Purchased AAC audio files do not. This article pointed to Apple aiming towards a DRM free iTunes by April. All of that music will run on non-Apple machines that can handle AAC; you won't have to pay a dime more for that music.
Comments
Aren't the DRM free versions also higher quality?
For $0.30 they should be lossless.
If it was free, that would be billions of free downloads, which would cost Apple a fortune. Sure, 30 cents is way higher than the bandwidth costs, but I would assume it would be too costly to do for free.
I love the way people always try to justify Apple overcharging.
The shuffle is $49.
But the shuffle's sound quality sucks so you wouldn't tell the diff in DRM-free sound quality anyway.
It has been clear from day one that DRM itunes material won't play on non-apple players. Anyone who bought itunes songs wanting to play them on another player was making a mistake in the first place.
Right- but I forgot to read the section that stated I would be charged 1/3rd of my original cost to have the DRM removed in the future.
Right- but I forgot to read the section that stated I would be charged 1/3rd of my original cost to have the DRM removed in the future.
Under the original terms the DRM was forever. You can pay nothing and maintain that license. You now have a choice to pay for an upgraded license that has no DRM and twice the bitrate.
Now it is going to cost me to upgrade my music to remove the DRM? Thats a move I would expect out of Microsoft, not Apple. Oh well. I am going to start getting more music from emusic!
No Microsoft would have fought to keep the DRM. Remember this is the company that worked hard to push Palladium as the end all solution for locking content down. What Apple is offering is an easy upgrade to a potentially more accurate file with no DRM. Would I like it for free...sure but I'm not necessarily getting my nose bent out of shape because.
A. I knew the track had DRM when I purchased it.
B. I knew the track was 128kb when I purchased it.
The only thing that I ask for Apple is the ability to decide what tracks I want upgraded. I don't need freebies I need efficienty.
Now Apple have sorted out the DRM mess with the music it sells can it now turn its attention to visual content?
I would love to be able to play all my legally purchased TV shows and Movies on an Archos player but can't because of the DRM!
I can't even burn visual content on to DVD. Go figure.
This is a serious issue for me as well. I will not buy any iTunes video content again until the DRM is gone.
I don't think the studios understand that the more they do to restrict content, the more they drive the pirate market. Legality aside, bittorrents are just easier to deal with than any of the purchased download options I've seen.
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?
Hopefully, this is what they would do. There's likely something in the contract with the record labels.
Here's an interesting tidbit from the iTunes Store Terms of Service
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/terms.html#SALE
"d. You acknowledge that some aspects of the Service, Products, and administering of the Usage Rules entails the ongoing involvement of Apple. Accordingly, in the event that Apple changes any part of the Service or discontinues the Service, which Apple may do at its election, you acknowledge that you may no longer be able to use Products to the same extent as prior to such change or discontinuation, and that Apple shall have no liability to you in such case"
Meaning if Apple no longer has the iTunes Store or changes something, they do not have to do anything to enable you to continue to use your DRM songs/movies.
You're S.O.L.
Another good reason to oppose DRM.
This is a serious issue for me as well. I will not buy any iTunes video content again until the DRM is gone.
I don't think the studios understand that the more they do to restrict content, the more they drive the pirate market. Legality aside, bittorrents are just easier to deal with than any of the purchased download options I've seen.
This attitude is the main reason the labels/movie houses want DRM and a big reason why we all suffer for it, especially those who don't steal.
"If i can't get it how I want, I'll torrent/limewire it".
There's no justification for theft.
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!
Yes - in fact, I have several items sitting in my shopping cart that are now iTunes Plus, though when I put them in they weren't (which is why I didn't buy them then). Examples are Fairport Convention Live at the BBC, The Bridge School Concerts Volume 1, and most of the Creedence Clearwater Revival albums.
Some other things there are still not iTunes Plus, though - it's hard to believe Phil saying that 8 million are already iTunes Plus (that's 80%).
Meaning if Apple no longer has the iTunes Store or changes something, they do not have to do anything to enable you to continue to use your DRM songs/movies.
You're S.O.L.
Another good reason to oppose DRM.
And a good reason why so many are willing to pay the ransom to unlock previously purchased tracks. As regular AAC files they won't be vulnerable to Apple turning off the DRM key server.
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).
I think YodaMac's comments are pretty representative of the average user.
I would guess that 90%-plus of people who download tracks to iTunes intend only to (1) listen to the tracks in iTunes, (2) burn the tracks to CDs, and (3) listen to the tracks on iTunes devices.
Sure, some people want to listen to their downloaded tracks on a Zune or export embedded tracks that were used in an video clip created in iMovie, but that is a relatively small percentage of iTunes users.
What I'm trying to say is: The DRM stuff is very important to a small number of people, but it is not even on the radar with the vast majority of people who download tracks on iTunes.
Meaning if Apple no longer has the iTunes Store or changes something, they do not have to do anything to enable you to continue to use your DRM songs/movies.
You're S.O.L.
Another good reason to oppose DRM.
There is no business reason for Apple to do that.
I am not terribly worried about Apple calling a press conference to announce that they've decided to screw everyone who has ever bought tracks on iTS.
A. I knew the track had DRM when I purchased it.
B. I knew the track was 128kb when I purchased it.
That's why I never bought music from itunes (or other).
They resolved issue A. Now they need to resolve B, and I mean lossless.
Until then I will never buy music from online stores.
There is no business reason for Apple to do that.
Not very likely but it is put there "just in case". They are not obligated to continue it.
I am not terribly worried about Apple calling a press conference to announce that they've decided to screw everyone who has ever bought tracks on iTS.
But they could if they wanted to.
If they were good enough when I bought them, they are good enough now.
I disagree. When I first bought many of my songs, I rarely had the opportunity to listen to them on a computer, never really bothered to burn any to CD and used an older iPod connected to an iTrip for my car.
* iTrip = over radio
Today I am rarely without my headphones, burn many CDs and have a 32GB 2nd generation touch directly connected to my car. The difference is there. One must wonder about your method of use, your music taste and your hearing.
Good enough then, good enough now, is so definite, it forgets that we're all different.
It sort of hurts the real long term loyal customers. Cost for my library (1100 tracks) => 220 Euro. So as one might imagine => my happiness is rather contained at the moment
1. Real long term loyal customers? I'm sure you didn't mean to offend / for it to be there, but the implication is there that I'm not? I'm sorry if I've been spending too much money on the rest of Apple's products or other portions of iTunes (for me: applications, short clips and television shows). I didn't realize that one had to buy one product over another to be a "real" loyal customer.
2. Seriously though, no hard feelings.
3. I'm sorry to hear. As much as I'm arguing pro IT+, I have no idea whether I'd upgrade or not at that point.
Right- but I forgot to read the section that stated I would be charged 1/3rd of my original cost to have the DRM removed in the future.
Remove it yourself by converting to aiff (like burning to CD). Your track now is as good as when you bought it - what are you complaining about? If you want to improve the quality of the track (better sound/no DRM) then pay to upgrade). Otherwise remove the DRM yourself. Quit whining.
Yes, my argument is, in fact, that there is no physical product and that the price hasn't changed--just the format. Apple clearly has the infrastructure in place as I am constantly receiving free upgrades to my AppStore purchases.
I understand that the number of songs sold FAR exceeds the number of apps and the bandwidth requirements would be significantly higher. This could be managed by Apple, however, by imposing a maximum number of daily upgrades and bandwidth throttling.
I think they are making (or at least hoping to make) a lot more from this than you think.
Or by allowing us to redownload for a fraction of the original cost?
We have to now pay more to play our music in a non-Apple machine.
Let's be clear. You have to pay more on songs you've already bought that had DRM to rub off the DRM and increase their quality. All purchases of IT+ music in the past will work on non-Apple machines that can handle the AAC. They killed the original purchase premium on IT+ music long ago dropping $1.29 to $0.99. If you've bought any music recently, chances are at least a couple songs were IT+. You can tell the difference by looking at the "kind" in your iTunes library list. Protected AAC audio files have DRM, Purchased AAC audio files do not. This article pointed to Apple aiming towards a DRM free iTunes by April. All of that music will run on non-Apple machines that can handle AAC; you won't have to pay a dime more for that music.