3 ms·

Apple brings back DRM to songs re-downloaded from iCloud

11 points by nextparadigms 15y ago

mentat 15y ago
So, if you bought a song and didn't pay to upgrade, it's not upgraded. This doesn't seem surprising to me. If you paid to upgrade and suddenly it'd DRMed again, that would be an issue. Which of these two is it?
- ugh 15y ago
  The first.
ugh 15y ago
Apple doesn’t bring back DRM. You bought a song. You delete it. Apple now allows you to download that same song (i.e. an identical file) again. That’s all there is to this story. The respective agreements with the music labels probably prevent Apple from doing anything else. How you could complain about that I don’t know. Could Apple have forced the music labels to make even more concessions? Maybe. Would such a detail have been worth it? Probably not.
YooLi 15y ago
Seems more like an implementation detail than a "we're trying to sneak DRM back on you" thing. If the users had paid the $0.30 to upgrade the track to DRM-free, they wouldn't be getting a DRM track. When they purchased the tracks for $0.99, they had DRM. Now new tracks generally go for $1.29 with no DRM. There is no way to skirt the $0.30 fee for a DRM free track. The $0.30 is the record labels' tax on everyone for the small percentage who share their music.
- ugh 15y ago
  Nah, music generally costs $0.99 ($0.69 and $1.29 are also possible at the labels’ digression) but that’s really irrelevant.
TomOfTTB 15y ago
I don't think the iTunes Plus fee of $.30 to upgrade a DRM track to a DRM-free track is that unreasonable. I paid it when it was first offered and now I can re-download DRM-free versions without a problem. So from my perspective it would be unfair to me if people who didn't pay it could now download DRM-free tracks (short of Apple giving me a refund) Regardless of how you feel about DRM the reality is anyone buying from iTunes back then knew what they were getting into (or should have known).
glhaynes 15y ago
For free, Apple now allows you to redownload exactly what you bought years ago an unlimited number of times (songs which, at the time you bought them, were only downloadable once) - and it's portrayed as Apple punishing people? This is stupid.
modeless 15y ago
I'm guessing Music Match will use DRM too. How else would they have gotten the labels to agree to it?
- TomOfTTB 15y ago
  Edit: I guess it was spelled out. See other reply.
- ugh 15y ago
  Match is DRM free. Read the slide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYANRyLubTs&t=2m25s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYANRyLubTs&t=2m25s But here is an interesting question: Will that help you in any way? If iTunes Match only works on iOS devices, i.e. those low quality files you ripped or pirated ages ago stay on your PC and are not updated – the updated files are only pushed to all your devices running iOS – then those DRM free AAC files won’t do you much good. To my knowledge there is no non-jailbreak way of getting to the music files on your iOS device.
  - modeless 15y ago
    Cool! Thanks for the link to the slide; I didn't watch the full presentation so that detail escaped me. As for your question, iCloud is for Macs and Windows too, not just iOS. Unless you have another link to a slide saying otherwise, I'd assume iTunes Match will download its un-DRM'd files to every computer you own.
- ryannielsen 15y ago
  From http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/06/what-you-need-to-know-about-itunes-match-your-questions-answered.ars http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/06/what-you-need-to-k... "If there is a match found in the iTunes Store catalog, that track is automatically and immediately added to your iCloud store in 256Kbps, DRM-free iTunes Plus format. Even if you have a crappy 128Kbps mp3 rip, if iTunes Match can identify it, you'll immediately have access to the iTunes Plus version." "If you don't renew the yearly $25 subscription, your iCloud store goes away. iTunes purchases will still be available to all devices, and anything that you have downloaded from iCloud to you devices you keep. This includes iTunes Plus versions you have chosen to replace older, lower quality rips in your main iTunes library. Apple explained that replacing those lower-quality rips is optional."

11 points by nextparadigms 15y ago

So, if you bought a song and didn't pay to upgrade, it's not upgraded. This doesn't seem surprising to me. If you paid to upgrade and suddenly it'd DRMed again, that would be an issue. Which of these two is it?

ugh 15y ago
The first.

ugh 15y ago

Apple doesn’t bring back DRM. You bought a song. You delete it. Apple now allows you to download that same song (i.e. an identical file) again. That’s all there is to this story. The respective agreements with the music labels probably prevent Apple from doing anything else. How you could complain about that I don’t know. Could Apple have forced the music labels to make even more concessions? Maybe. Would such a detail have been worth it? Probably not.

YooLi 15y ago

Seems more like an implementation detail than a "we're trying to sneak DRM back on you" thing. If the users had paid the $0.30 to upgrade the track to DRM-free, they wouldn't be getting a DRM track. When they purchased the tracks for $0.99, they had DRM. Now new tracks generally go for $1.29 with no DRM. There is no way to skirt the $0.30 fee for a DRM free track. The $0.30 is the record labels' tax on everyone for the small percentage who share their music.

ugh 15y ago
Nah, music generally costs $0.99 ($0.69 and $1.29 are also possible at the labels’ digression) but that’s really irrelevant.

TomOfTTB 15y ago

I don't think the iTunes Plus fee of $.30 to upgrade a DRM track to a DRM-free track is that unreasonable. I paid it when it was first offered and now I can re-download DRM-free versions without a problem. So from my perspective it would be unfair to me if people who didn't pay it could now download DRM-free tracks (short of Apple giving me a refund) Regardless of how you feel about DRM the reality is anyone buying from iTunes back then knew what they were getting into (or should have known).

glhaynes 15y ago

For free, Apple now allows you to redownload exactly what you bought years ago an unlimited number of times (songs which, at the time you bought them, were only downloadable once) - and it's portrayed as Apple punishing people? This is stupid.

modeless 15y ago

I'm guessing Music Match will use DRM too. How else would they have gotten the labels to agree to it?

TomOfTTB 15y ago
Edit: I guess it was spelled out. See other reply.
ugh 15y ago
Match is DRM free. Read the slide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYANRyLubTs&t=2m25s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYANRyLubTs&t=2m25s But here is an interesting question: Will that help you in any way? If iTunes Match only works on iOS devices, i.e. those low quality files you ripped or pirated ages ago stay on your PC and are not updated – the updated files are only pushed to all your devices running iOS – then those DRM free AAC files won’t do you much good. To my knowledge there is no non-jailbreak way of getting to the music files on your iOS device.
- modeless 15y ago
  Cool! Thanks for the link to the slide; I didn't watch the full presentation so that detail escaped me. As for your question, iCloud is for Macs and Windows too, not just iOS. Unless you have another link to a slide saying otherwise, I'd assume iTunes Match will download its un-DRM'd files to every computer you own.
ryannielsen 15y ago
From http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/06/what-you-need-to-know-about-itunes-match-your-questions-answered.ars http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/06/what-you-need-to-k... "If there is a match found in the iTunes Store catalog, that track is automatically and immediately added to your iCloud store in 256Kbps, DRM-free iTunes Plus format. Even if you have a crappy 128Kbps mp3 rip, if iTunes Match can identify it, you'll immediately have access to the iTunes Plus version." "If you don't renew the yearly $25 subscription, your iCloud store goes away. iTunes purchases will still be available to all devices, and anything that you have downloaded from iCloud to you devices you keep. This includes iTunes Plus versions you have chosen to replace older, lower quality rips in your main iTunes library. Apple explained that replacing those lower-quality rips is optional."