Apple Announces DRM Free music from iTunes

[Kionon]

For obvious reasons, relevant to our interests:

http://www.macrumors.com/2009/01/06/app ... nes-store/

MacWorld was full of AIDS and Fail with this, announcements of iLife and iWork updates, and the 17" MacBook Unibody... and pretty much nothing else.

No wonder Jobs was like, "Screw you guys, I'm going home."

One amusing MacWorld factoid, and perhaps the most amusing of all, is that apple stock jumped 4% based solely on the fact that the market decided Jobs wasn't going to die.

[xexyzl]

The day I buy music on a digital distribution service is the day Compact Discs are pronounced dead. But hey, good news for all you hipsters I guess.

[BasharOfTheAges]

Do we blame Norway for this?

[guardiansoulblade]

The music may be DRM free, but they're gonna hike the prices of certain "older" songs, too. Sticking with Amazon MP3.

[The Origonal Head Hunter]

Do we blame Norway for this?

Should we blame the government?
Or blame society?
Or should we blame the images on TV?
No!
Blame Canada
Blame Canada
With all their beady little eyes
And flapping heads so full of lies
Blame Canada
Blame Canada
We need to form a full assault
It's Canada's fault!

[Niotex]

The day I buy music on a digital distribution service is the day Compact Discs are pronounced dead.

x2 =|

[Castor Troy]

But compact discs are dead.

[Otohiko]

But compact discs are dead.

x2

I've just flat-out stopped buying the beasts, with wildly exceptional cases where the music is unavailable legally in download format.

CDs were made obsolete by vinyl before they even came out, though. The only CDs worth it nowadays are those that come with extra stuff. Otherwise vinyl had always beat it both as a format for quality and for artwork. And if you buy digital music (and CDs aren't any less digital than .mp3 or .flac), you might as well just go digital and not waste resources on that teeny 12cm sleeve.

I don't use iTunes however and never plan to. Support your local neighbourhood independent download service!

[JudgeHolden]

But compact discs are dead.

X3

[Qyot27]

Hmm, does this mean all the music will be in 256kbps Plus standard, or will the same 128/256 thing apply? Seems like a dumb question considering that 256 has always been tied to DRM free as far as history goes, but I'm not going to automatically assume that.

They had better include all those free songs in the upgrade option this time too, even if only as a notification so you could buy them full-price. They've been kind of hit-and-miss concerning that in the past (they publicly state the free weekly promotions don't get listed, but there's been more than one time I've found them in my upgrade list at the same 30% rate as the others).

But at least this means not having to use Requiem anymore (unless the Video purchases don't count in this), and if that's true, it means I don't have to make a point of using a version-old iTunes any longer.



I don't mind the pricing change - I used Plus prior to the shift to $0.99, so paying $1.29 for some doesn't phase me (and I think it's an acceptable price to pay for not having DRM on the files anymore). The $0.69 ones more than make up for some being more expensive, at least on a store-wide level.

And I still buy physical CDs - it's just that I do so when I'm certain of the album or artist (not to mention that lately it's been more obscure stuff, but that's neither here nor there). As well as the fact that if possible, I prefer lossless. Apple would have to start selling ALAC tracks to make a [very small] dent in my decision to buy physical discs (of course, there's also the point of having it physically being a reason unto itself, and that can't be replaced by even an ALAC store).