Comments on: Sources: Apple, music labels talk DRM-free songs

More than a year after iTunes began offering DRM-free music from EMI, Apple is in talks to acquire MP3s from the other top three music labels.

[thebendds]

Are you talking about non-DRM'd MPEG-4/AAC music files or MP3's? It seems odd that Apple would switch over to MP3 when almost the entire iTunes Store distributes MPEG-4 audio and video.

[sandonet]

Hi Bends,

that's a good point. I don't know whether my sources were just throwing out MP3 as a way to describe unprotected music. I also don't know whether any deal would include transferring older music to non DRM music. I'll try to find out. GS

[the Otter]

I was thinking the same thing?especially since MP3s can?t include a lot of information that AACs can (e.g. album artwork, etc.).

[whiterabbit--2008]

Because of the ubiquity of mp3 there is a false perception of m4a/aac being a proprietary Apple standard. The iTunes DRM (FairPlay) is indeed proprietary, however the non-DRM m4a or MPEG-4 audio was created by the same organization responsible for MPEG-2 audio (also known as mp3).

It wouldn't make any sense for iTunes to go back to the older mp3 technology.

[texaslabrat]

@whiterabbit:

Interesting point, though you're off on one minor point: "MP3" is actually MPEG1, part 3. Just fyi. We could split hairs over how AAC is also defined under MPEG-2 (part 7) in addition to MPEG-4 (part 3) that most people are familiar with in regards to your comment about "the same people who made MPEG2"..but that's mostly a semantics issue IMHO unless one compares feature-by-feature in a given application. The minor technical error in no way detracts from your main point about perception....and with that I wholeheartedly agree. AAC is a superior codec in almost every conceivable way over mp3..except the most important one: public perception and acceptance (and as a corollary universal playability of mp3 versus slightly more limited hardware support for AAC).

[texaslabrat]

Argh...I meant MPEG-1 LAYER III, not part 3. Anyway, the point was that it's part of the MPEG-1 spec, not MPEG-2 spec. Curse you, lack-of-edit-post-button!

[texaslabrat]

LOL I need to Learn2Proofread.

Last one, I promise...I *meant* first specified in the MPEG-1 spec (and hence the "3" in mp3 refers to the Layer III of the MPEG-1 spec) thus defined as a MPEG-1 codec. Gah. I need some caffeine or something.

[shadowself]

Personally, I don't care that much about DRM. Would I prefer no DRM? Yes. But I expect the iTunes store or some other successor from Apple to be around for a long, long time.

However...
I won't buy any music from any online store unless it is losslessly compressed (CD quality or better). I know many people claim they can't tell the difference, but there are those of us who do hear a difference. Thus, lossless CD quality or better or no sale.

[mackenzie2881]

I agree fully. Why can't itunes sell tracks in Apple Lossless?

[AppleSuxLeo]

With big HDD and big pipes today , this makes sense.

[chrisx1]

Lossless massive downloads from the internet? Buy a CD instead.

[gggg sssss]

of course you know thatyour CDs are already worse than 96khz they were mastered in dont you? So why not hold out till you can get 96khz from teh itunes sture LOL

[James7777777]

I think they should focus on their quality problems first. iTunes music is terrible quality and the cheap headphone jacks on apple devices just exacerbates the problem, add in the earbuds distributed and you have a perfect trifecta of bad sound music.

[gggg sssss]

you alss obviously buy monster (tm) cables believing that gold plating makes electricty flow better LOL a 1/8 jack works as well as anything alse at the milliampo current levels involved in headphones

[Ted Todorov]

"the cheap headphone jacks on apple devices" -- I don't know about iPods, but all Apple computers have optical digital out (a.k.a. TOSLINK) which allows you to send the music for D to A conversion using your fancy receiver. The results are better than any CD player, IF you start with Apple Lossless audio. Thus I agree with the previous posters that iTunes should start selling Apple Lossless.

Record companies: I and many others will greatly increase out buying if we are offered Apple Lossless!

[mackenzie2881]

That's why I bought some Senheisers.

[Penguinisto]

Ditto here (The Sennheisers for home use)... it's kind of funny at first to see a big set of headphones plugged into a tiny Nano, but the sound is frickin' terrific!

[AppleSuxLeo]

http://www.amazon.com/MP3-Music-Download/b?ie=UTF8&node=163856011

[kelmon]

Whizzy - now sell them outside the bloody USA.

[mmntech]

It's good news that the music industry and tech companies are finally ditching DRM. The whole thing was more trouble than it was worth, especially considering how many digital media devices a lot of people have today. Now, if only we could get the movie industry to do the same. That could take a while...

Personally, I've never bough music from iTunes or any other digital download service. All CD and LP rips, even on my iPhone. More flexible that way and naturally DRM free.

[AppleSuxLeo]

http://www.amazon.com/MP3-Music-Download/b?ie=UTF8&node=163856011

[shusseina2]

In Australia Sony already offers DRM-free music through bandit.fm

http://bandit.fm

While navigating the site is nothing like the iTunes Music Store it has one very compelling feature, users can sample complete, full length music tracks and videos, something that I wish iTunes had.

[dragonsky1]

It's not surprising, and I imagine DRM free music will show up on itunes within the next year. The record labels tried to get people to use other stores by offering DRM free music on them, but not on iTunes. After several months of this, their strategy has not paid off. More people are still using iTunes, and I don't know anyone who buys from Amazon MP3. As for the Zune, well.. I work at Best Buy and the twelve stores in our district have only sold a collective of about 12 over the past four months. The local Walmart hasn't sold one in weeks. I'm sure the numbers will pick up over the holidays, but the Zune will never be a big danger to the ipod.

[someToast]

This article's from 2008, right?

Apple's sold DRM-free music (iTunes Plus tracks) for over a year and a half.

[DrtyDogg]

From the EMI music label only, acounting for less than 1/4 of total music sales.

[Calvin_L]

Apple's flagship product (the iPhone) could only be found at a few large retailers, which includes AT&T, Best Buy, and Apple Stores. Now, it looks like the crew is adding a new member to their team, Wal-Mart. According to the article, Wal-Mart is rumored to be offering the iPhone's 4 GB model by December 15th, for the price of $99. This would allow holiday shoppers a chance to buy before Christmas. Other rumors, however, place the release date to December 28th and instead of the 4gig model it is expected to be the 8 GB models, which said to be sold at $197. As usual, Wal-Mart?s ambition to provide consumers the lowest prices on consumer products and merchandise will of course kick in. Rumor has it that they will have the iPhone on the counter for two dollars less than any other retailer, which may not seem like much of a discount. But when you think of it, any savings is better than no savings at all. Obviously, Apple wants to take advantage of the daily foot traffic at each of Wal-Mart?s locations, but will not want to overstep its other established retailers by undercutting them. Since their sales have not been where they would like them to be, Wal-Mart will most likely make a good profit from the deal since it will help boost their consumer electronic sales. They are taking major steps and have brought in a third party to help educate their staffs and consumers on the latest technologies regarding this purpose.

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