Upgrading to a DRM-free iTunes library will cost you
Apple's Macworld updates
Here's a basic rundown of everything Apple announced Tuesday. For more details, read our summary here.
iTunes
DRM-free and cheaper songs
MacBook Pro
New 8-hour battery
iLife '09
Photo geotagging and music lessons
iWork '09
Online syncing, Keynote Remote
Updated at 4:30 p.m. PST with details on the file formats Apple is using.
Apple and the three largest music labels didn't take any half steps in walking away from copy-protection software at Macworld 2009 Tuesday.
Apple could have announced, as expected, simply that the iTunes Store would begin offering songs stripped of digital rights management from now on. Instead, the country's largest music retailer secured licenses that will enable users to upgrade their existing DRM-wrapped music and strip it of the controversial software--but it's going to cost them.
An Apple spokesman offered more details: Users of iTunes can now upgrade their music libraries with a click of a button. For an additional 30 cents per song, a user can receive a DRM-free version of their existing tracks at a 256-kbps bit rate.
The iTunes files will still be in Apple's preferred AAC format, not the more widely supported MP3. But as Matt Rosoff points out, a lot of recent digital music products do support the AAC file format, including Sony's newer Walkman players and Microsoft's Zune and its next version of Windows Media Player.
Starting Tuesday, Apple will offer 8 million DRM-free songs and will add another 2 million by April. The hold-up for the remaining songs is due to licensing issues, according to my sources.
I'm not going to gripe about that. Those kinds of details work themselves out, and it's impressive that Apple and the major labels--Universal, Sony BMG, and Warner--worked out a deal for the 8 million.
With the move, Apple's iTunes is also making its strongest foray into interoperability. From now on, iTunes' music should play on any digital player, meaning iTunes users don't have to worry about their music libraries being locked out of some future digital music player.
Apple had already offered DRM-free music from EMI, the fourth-largest music label, at a higher bit rate for a premium price.
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. He is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sandoCNET. 
People keep saying to just burn to a CD and rip them again b/c it WORKS and iTunes has no problem finding all the correct information for all the songs. I did this and had to use 30-35 CD-Rs and there were only a handful of songs where I had to manually find the info and that was because they were obscure tracks.
Quit drinking the Apple iTunes kool aid...
Wow...
I think I'm blushing now.
"..or it could cost you $0.00 if you rip them to CD and them re-import them back into your library. "
That requires a LOT of CD's in my case. I'd be looking at 5-6 spindles of CD's to fully convert. Now add to that all the time to burn the CD's and then rerip them. Now I'm looking at months of nonstop work.
No thanks, I'll just stick to any of the other alternatives out there. Thankfully I buy my music from Amazon and other DRM free sources so I won't have to deal with the CD burn/rerip argument. What a hassle that would be. It just isn't a workable solution.
For those songs, or some that were inadvertantly deleted, it'll be cheaper finding the ones I'd like upgraded on Amazon, and pay PER SONG, which is the "RIGHT THING TO DO".
Thanks, Apple for AGAIN, NOT doing the "Next Right Thing"!
I may upgrade so there are no issues when I switch back to Windows in a month or so.
$630.
THANK YOU FOR REWARDING YOUR FREQUENT CUSTOMERS ITUNES!
Thankfully, DRM stripping software only costs $30, and it costs nothing to take my business to Amazon.
I am a Mac user and have several iPods in the family, but we buy from Amazon since those songs are MP3 and therefore almost universal.
AAC is the latest version of MP3 - its the successor format. If you're buying & preferring MP3 over AAC then frankly you need educating. AAC is higher quality at less file size. Almost everything that plays MP3 plays AAC. Even if you do have some out of date player that only plays MP3 you can convert AAC files to MP3 in about 3 seconds flat.
No thanks to Apple's format, for all you know after you get done buying the rights to the music you've already bought they'll change to another next great thing and there you'll be.
Stick to the tried and true mp3 format. If you want your music to be cd quality, buy the cd, don't believe the hype that AAC format is any better.
You need some education.
You obviously thought the price was worth it when you bought before today's announcement. I think what you're experiencing is called "buyer's remorse", something experienced by just about everyone in their lives.
Take heart. You've been enjoying that music all this time for a fair price. Now you can get other features added to the same music for a little extra - or not. It's up to you.
1) All files are at least 256K, meaning they're quality is at least twice as good as iTunes
2) They are, and have been, DRM free. I can put them on whatever device or PC I want to
3) They're at least a dime less then iTunes. 89 cents is the norm.
4) Every Friday Amazon puts some really good albums out for $5.
There's one downside I can see:
1) sometimes there's a really obscure song or group that I can find, but can find on iTunes.
All in all, I'm glad that I haven't had to use iTunes for anything in 2008. The software, the DRM stuff and Apples 800 pound gorilla attitude all made want to stop using ASAP, and amazon made the decision easier then ever.
It doesn't matter how high the MP3 bitrate goes, it lacks any frequency higher than 16K, period. Even LAME Encoding still can't save the details. Sorry, Classical in MP3 is barely acceptable.
Now the only justification for buying from Amazon is their price still cheaper.
But one wouldn't even consider AAC offer from iTMS? Really?
I am pretty sure there is some hacker software that can remove that DMR for free.
As for my collection, most are rip from my CD, so all DMR free.
2% from apple...which I don't care much about.
10% from amazon...which is DMR free and cheaper.
Go amazon man.
89cents a song and no DMR...better than apple and their $1.29 a song without DMR
or 99cents with DMR...
either way, amazon is a better deal.
DRM- Digital Rights Management
Not trying to be a pain, but I run track and I'm a tech fan, therefore that pushes my buttons .
Even someone as old as I am, can tell the difference between an MP3 at 256kb
and PCM.
They embed a means of tracking the source of every MP3 file downloaded through iTunes, so
those of you thinking about sharing a track or two with friends, better think again. This has
been known for a long time. They aren't doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, and only time will tell what other suprises they have in-store.
The free market is a myth.
BTW: your thinking of the mp3pro format, there's no tracking ability in regular mp3 files.
If you're going to lecture everyone about how bad their hearing is...at least recommend a service that is far superior and better priced...instead of drinking the Apple kool aid.
If i were an itunes customer, which I'm not, I'd swallow hard and begrudgingly pay the $0.30.
What's one major factor that makes other superior services superior? For many of us, it's some combination of bitrate, price, and format (drm-free MP3).
"yeah rite, u need 2 just stop drinkin the apple koolaid, bro."
Not so helpful.
Just went to Target and most new albums downloads are now being sold at $12.99. Just $3 higher than a standard PCM CD. I wonder what the bitrate those are at and will they also be DRM free. What would Apple charge for stripping DRM from a $12.99 album, which at last look had 17 tracks, including a bonus music video? How much is it to strip DRM from an entire almbum? How much for the music video? Or is there ONE price on an entire album rather than track by track? I hope they did this thinking in advance. There is no sense in making tracks DRM free when the album issue hasn't been addressed.
I'm also one of those who has played 128Kbps and 256Kbps tracks on my stereo and did an A / B comparison. Awful. Then tried 320Kbps, much better, not quite there, but close. The whole idea is that an iPod is designed to be used with headphones, and cheap docking desktop stereo units.
But HiFi systems is a different matter altogether. I'd rather buy a full CD and cut from that in MP3 or AAC format at 320Kbps. Have been doing my own conversion of my CD library. Haven't asked iTunes to find artwork and all that. How much does iTunes charge for that? Or better put, how many will they allow for free before they charge for that service? Apple is not clear on that.
What I worry about is that Apple is using the RIAA AudibleMagic to find the name and artwork for that tract, and then imposing the DRM limit on those that I cut from my own. They simply said that PURCHASED tracks will be DRM free for a price, but what about my own CD tracks imported that I ask Apple to get the artwork for me? That is still a gray area. Not one gray area but one of many considering all they can do in iTunes.
Speaking of iTunes, I wish they could have kept the iPhone and iTouch junk out of it. and provide another means for them. The iTunes software is getting very bloated. Now with the new pricing, you can bet the Genius function will pull in the most expensive tunes to be sold first before catalog tunes.
Let's have a little more transparency here. Apple i<object> owners deserve it. Not drips and drabs of things and find out others by complete surprise.
DRM is/was this century's 8-track tape.
- by AppleSuxLeo January 6, 2009 11:38 PM PST
- As usual Apple costs more. Amazon`s "premium songs" are .89 (many are less) and many full length albums are only $5
- Like this Reply to this comment
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (57 Comments)Funny how Apple tries to make you feel good as they are ripping you off ;) Oh thank you Mr Apple for letting me remove my DRM for 30 cents. Never used iTunes , never will. Mac experts have called it a "bloated , monolithic spreadsheet"