Hasta La Vista DRM on iTunes Ping!
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Posted on 01/06/2009 7:47:51 PM PST by SamAdams76
Apple Inc. is dropping the digital copyright locks from most of the songs it sells through iTunes, a move that could prove to be a death blow for the music industry's attempts to control how consumers buy and listen to music. With the revolutionary iPod and the iTunes music store, Apple rewrote the rulebook for the music industry as labels struggled to adjust to the new digital reality of file-sharing and copyright violations brought about by the Internet. Today, Apple is the largest retailer of music in the U.S. with more than five billion songs sold and many will see the company's abandonment of digital rights management (DRM) technology as further proof that digital copyright locks do little to prevent illegal file-sharing...
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
Certainly I will be.
Does that mean that stuff I bought before will be unlocked?
the last shred of respect I had for apple is dangerously frayed.
Since I have downloaded 871 DRM-infested songs off iTunes since 2005, I will probably need to fork over $261.30 additional money to get my entire collection DRM-free.
Just another reason why I never liked Apple. They handcuffed users that bought and paid for songs off of iTunes but were stuck with it being on that device only. Does that make sense in this day an age? It’s like in 1979 going out and buying a cassette of the Police but only being able to listen to it on your parents home stereo and not your own boombox.
Rhapsody is still a much better deal.
That is the gayest thing (yes, in the bad way) that I have ever heard. I am so glad that I switched to amazon.com for my digital downloads last year.
If you can burn the DRM infested songs to a CD, then you can use a program like Audiograbber to rip the tracks back into MP3 format, sans restrictions.
Unlike analog recording, degradation is minimal to nonexistant.
-Eric
/cheers
Tech PING!
I hope so. I was stupid enough to buy a new W2K-basd computer and the DRM pretty much ensured that direct synchronization wasn't going to happen. because I am so stupid to buy a new computer.
Add to that the bloatware and stupid non-intuitive interface for O/2007 and everyone on the planet can and should hate ms viscerally.
Why are you blaming MS? The article is about Apple FINALLY deciding to stop screwing customers.
I get most of my tunes from eMusic. That amounts to about thirty cents a track but you are pretty much limited to indie labels. Still a lot of good music there to be found.
I’m glad to see this. I may go back to buying music from iTunes. I had switched to Amazon.com’s service, because it works with iTunes and provides DRM-free MP3s.
I found that Amazon lets me download stuff DRM free, straight into my iTunes liberry if I want, for .89 or .99 per track. Great deal, no hassle.
If you can burn the DRM infested songs to a CD, then you can use a program like Audiograbber to rip the tracks back into MP3 format, sans restrictions.Actually, you can do all of this with iTunes (and have been able to for a while). Just burn an audio CD (Make a backup, iTunes calls it) then rip it as MP3 or AAC.
Does this mean all the tunes I paid for and have not been able to download to CD will now be downloadable? I confess I’m a little confused. When I first downloaded songs I could copy them to disc, then a year or so ago I downloaded a bunch of tunes and no more copy to disc.
I think that there is already software on the inter-net that will help you download music from your ipod to another computer. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’ve been looking at it.
Just google ipod download from second computer, or something like that. That’s how I found it.
Apple iPod implementation on a MS platform. I am skeptical that Apple can do a proper job in MS of DSM.
U C?
..then why’d you bring it up?
If you want to take the time, just get a recording program (like the free Audacity) set the record to "What you hear" and then play a song in something like media player and record with Audacity at the same time. Then stop recording, trim your recordings beginning and end to your liking and, wala, DRM-free song. Best to record as a wave then convert to an Mp3 at whatever bitrate level you would like. Yes that would be time-consuming but in a night you could get a good 15 songs an hour done.
mark
ping
That’s great, but you lose all the metadata. All you have are a bunch of MP3s without the artist and track info. The time involved in re-tagging songs makes any burn and re-rip or re-record technique impractical for any large music library.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Yes. And you can re-download any purchased music at a higher bit-rate without DRM without further cost.
How is it that it's APPLE that is at fault for the demands and requirements of the record labels? Apple is the business that finally got them to first offer legal digital downloads, then Jobs went on a campaign to get them to offer them without DRM and got them to sell some for 30¢ more... and now finally, they have agreed to drop the DRM completely... and YOU blame Apple?
Absurd.
Apple Derangement Syndrome
There are actually several internets, one with DRM and several DRM free. I generally locate my tune using the superior indexing of the DRM world and then switch to the free side for downloading.
Yeah, as I type in this response on my Mac Book Pro, I have Apple Derangement Syndrome. Rrrrright.
PING
Actually, I was looking at software which would allow you to download music from your Ipod to a second computer, either to back up your whole Itunes list on another computer, or simply be able to add to it from a second computer.
The IT at my husband’s office erased his I-tunes.
If you blame Apple for the demands and requirements of the owners of the copyrights, the record labels, and state that it's Apple that is "screwing its customers," then yes, you must suffer from Apple Derangement Syndrome. You've swallowed the bilge that Apple is responsible for DRM. You are misplacing the blame... and the fault.
In what other way has Apple "screwed its customers?" Have YOU personally been screwed by Apple? How?
Speaking for myself, I have never felt the need to have automated info like album art, track info, artist, etc. I simply label the song with the artists name, the track number and then the track name. The bitrate and length can be seen by windows (via folder details or holding mouse over track) or on most mp3 players the tracks artist, name and length are shown.
I have over 5,000 mp3s and I can find any given one in ten seconds by my simple filing system.
I have found metadata overrated and essentially unnecessary. Taking the time to label tracks shouldn't be a chore if the music is good.
The only thing that ticks me off about this is that Apple gave in to tiered pricing for music. From what I’ve heard, the prices, set by the industry, are going to be .69, .99, or 1.29 a track.
Wonder what is going to go for .69 a track?
Mrs. Schwimmer's Kindergarten Class sings The Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera... ;^)>
Slim Whitman's cover version of "Candy Man."
Anita Bryant "Sings"!
Theme from "HR Puffinstuff"
And I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface of all the wonderful music that will soon be available on the cheap.
I own an Apple ipod nano and they being Apple want you to install iTunes to be able to sell you music. I opted to setup my Ipod like a thumb drive so I can do with my music as I wish. Previously when I installed (and later deleted) the iTunes bloatware, I was handcuffed into whatever the proprietary coding did to my iPod and could not transfer songs to and from it WITHOUT the iTunes software. I hate proprietary software and the reasons behind it. I own several San Disk mp3 players and NONE of them attempt this kind of hijacking bs.
Exactly. I did that dozens of times.
Glad to see Apple come to its senses here.
>>The IT at my husband’s office erased his I-tunes.
I can’t say I blame them. It’s a nasty piece of bloatware that no corporate IT type wants messing up machines in his care.
IT techs love MS for their guaranteed full time jobs. I have 5 Macs and no IT techs. My computers work without much ado, and keep me working full time!!! < p>Macs work, while PC's jerk!
Apple was always opposed to the price increase. As the article points out, the labels were willing to provide DRM-free music if Apple would agree to a mixed pricing structure, which Apple refused to do. Only when Apple started getting beaten down by Amazon and Rhapsody did it cave.
It'll be great for folks (like me) that like music that isn't all that popular these days. My iPod playlist consists solely of music with "twang," and I doubt that too many Jerry Jeff Walker songs are going to fetch a $.99 price tag.
Anyhow, I had XM and when it did the format change, I lost my station--America 10--and I've found that Slacker.com offers dynamite music, all for free, and if you download the station to your portable device, you can take it with you. Not bad.
Apparently you can re-download non-DRM versions of your purchased songs when they become available.
Non-DRM songs are AAC, playable on any AAC-capable player.
Rewrite: Apple was finally able to strong-arm the labels into letting them stop screwing customers.
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