The End of DRM in iTunes?

aphex

Moderator<br>All Things Apple
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Link to NYT

Most companies can barely get anyone to pay attention to news releases when they have them. Apple, of course, has spawned a whole industry devoted to speculating about when it might have something new to say.

For the last few weeks, there has been brewing speculation about a big announcement soon. And Apple Insider has intercepted a message from Mike Shinoda, a member of the band Linkin Park, to its fans.

In addition to a show at Madison Square Garden, he wrote, ?look forward to a special show that we?re doing in NYC in conjunction with Apple?shh?it?s a secret??

Apple is expected to have new laptops in the hopper that contain the latest generation of Intel chips. It has also promised a software development kit for the iPhone this month.

If indeed it has Linkin Park on the program, that would imply a music announcement as well. At some point, Apple needs to work out deals to get rid of digital rights management limits on all the music it sells. But some labels, notably Universal Music Group, have wanted to give Amazon.com a head start in selling unrestricted MP3 files to build it into a competitor to the iTunes Store.

Apple thankfully doesn?t use a three-ring circus to announce every little microscopic change in its product line, such as the drop in price on the one-gigabyte iPod shuffle from $79 to $49. (A new two-gigabyte version is $69.) But there may well be some molehills unveiled with monumental hype.

What would you like to see Apple introduce (that it probably won?t)?

Fingers crossed that this pans out. Currently I end up searching for songs on iTunes, then buying them from Amazon, but if DRM gets fully dropped on iTunes I likely come back. Even though many songs are $0.10 cheaper at amazon, i much prefer the iTunes interface for browsing/listening.
 

Parasitic

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Aug 17, 2002
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Originally posted by: Kmax82
Yea.. hopefully it'll be retroactive, and it will convert all of your current albums into drm free m4a.

That might be kinda tough wouldn't it?
Edit: although what would be nice is to allow you to redownload all the songs you bought from iTunes...Zune Marketplace has had that feature awhile, and with DRM or not it makes migration to a new computer a hell lot easier.
 

JackBurton

Lifer
Jul 18, 2000
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Come on people, get with the program, iTunes has been DRM free for a looooong time. I thought this was a geek forum. You guys disappoint me. That's like saying, "hey, I wish DVDs would come without protection so I'd be able to convert it to DivX." Come on people, let's get with the program.
 

aphex

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Originally posted by: JackBurton
Come on people, get with the program, iTunes has been DRM free for a looooong time. I thought this was a geek forum. You guys disappoint me. That's like saying, "hey, I wish DVDs would come without protection so I'd be able to convert it to DivX." Come on people, let's get with the program.

Sorry, should I clarify the title, The legal end of DRM in iTunes?
 

erikistired

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Sep 27, 2000
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Originally posted by: Parasitic
Originally posted by: Kmax82
Yea.. hopefully it'll be retroactive, and it will convert all of your current albums into drm free m4a.

That might be kinda tough wouldn't it?
Edit: although what would be nice is to allow you to redownload all the songs you bought from iTunes...Zune Marketplace has had that feature awhile, and with DRM or not it makes migration to a new computer a hell lot easier.

naw, they keep a history of your purchases. when itunes plus was introduced it was able to go thru and tell me what songs could be updated (for .30 each or something). honestly i don't care if it ever changes, i have a mac and an ipod, so i don't have a need for drm free music. if it's that big of a deal i can always just buy a cd.
 

JackBurton

Lifer
Jul 18, 2000
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Originally posted by: aphex
Originally posted by: JackBurton
Come on people, get with the program, iTunes has been DRM free for a looooong time. I thought this was a geek forum. You guys disappoint me. That's like saying, "hey, I wish DVDs would come without protection so I'd be able to convert it to DivX." Come on people, let's get with the program.

Sorry, should I clarify the title, The legal end of DRM in iTunes?

Sure.
 

aphex

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Originally posted by: MrChad
How is this different from iTunes Plus?

iTunes plus is only available on a selection of tracks for $1.29.

iTunes going DRM Free would mean their entire catalog would be open and would be available for the standard $0.99
 

Oil

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Aug 31, 2005
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Originally posted by: aphex
Originally posted by: MrChad
How is this different from iTunes Plus?

iTunes plus is only available on a selection of tracks for $1.29.

iTunes going DRM Free would mean their entire catalog would be open and would be available for the standard $0.99

iTunes Plus songs are all $0.99 now or at least all that I'm seeing right now
 

Kadarin

Lifer
Nov 23, 2001
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Originally posted by: OSx86
Originally posted by: aphex
Originally posted by: MrChad
How is this different from iTunes Plus?

iTunes plus is only available on a selection of tracks for $1.29.

iTunes going DRM Free would mean their entire catalog would be open and would be available for the standard $0.99

iTunes Plus songs are all $0.99 now or at least all that I'm seeing right now

Correct. iTunes Plus was changed to $0.99/song a number of months back.
 

aphex

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Jul 19, 2001
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Originally posted by: Kadarin
Originally posted by: OSx86
Originally posted by: aphex
Originally posted by: MrChad
How is this different from iTunes Plus?

iTunes plus is only available on a selection of tracks for $1.29.

iTunes going DRM Free would mean their entire catalog would be open and would be available for the standard $0.99

iTunes Plus songs are all $0.99 now or at least all that I'm seeing right now

Correct. iTunes Plus was changed to $0.99/song a number of months back.

Wh00ps! lol, well there is still the issue about the entire catalog as opposed to a specific selection, right? ;)

My bad..
 

aphex

Moderator<br>All Things Apple
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Jul 19, 2001
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Originally posted by: aphex
Originally posted by: MrChad
How is this different from iTunes Plus?

<edited out for my idiocy>

iTunes going DRM Free would mean their entire catalog would be open and would be available for the standard $0.99

 

erikistired

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Sep 27, 2000
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Originally posted by: Kadarin
Originally posted by: OSx86
Originally posted by: aphex
Originally posted by: MrChad
How is this different from iTunes Plus?

iTunes plus is only available on a selection of tracks for $1.29.

iTunes going DRM Free would mean their entire catalog would be open and would be available for the standard $0.99

iTunes Plus songs are all $0.99 now or at least all that I'm seeing right now

Correct. iTunes Plus was changed to $0.99/song a number of months back.

they still charge .30 a track to upgrade previous purchases tho, go figure.
 

Wonderful Pork

Golden Member
Jul 24, 2005
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well, Linkin Park performed last night at Apple's SOHO store, and no announcements were made.

Maybe no super-secret event after all...
 

Pabster

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
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Originally posted by: aphex
Originally posted by: MrChad
How is this different from iTunes Plus?

iTunes plus is only available on a selection of tracks for $1.29.

iTunes going DRM Free would mean their entire catalog would be open and would be available for the standard $0.99

That used to be true. They dropped Plus tunes to $0.99 after Amazon's MP3 Store launched.

And 256k AAC > 256k MP3 :)
 

Illusio

Golden Member
Nov 28, 1999
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It'd be nice if it was dropped. We all share our itunes collections through the network here at work and its annoying not to be able to play random songs because of DRM.
 

randomlinh

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
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I would like to see it. I too like the whole iTunes experience better. But as it stands, it's Amazonmp3 for me... even for itunes plus stuff, out of pure principle.

Apple would most likely have to concede to the variable pricing model though. I'm not much of a fan of it if they go above 99 cents for popular/new songs. Otherwise, it'd be great. I really don't buy the "consumers confused" bit. They won't care so long as it's reasonable. Apple has done it w/ movies, so we'll see.