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Apple Negotiates For Unlimited iTunes Downloads
Hugh Pickens writes writes "Bloomberg reports that Apple is in talks with record companies including Vivendi SA (VIV)'s Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group Corp. (WMG) and EMI Group Ltd. to give iTunes music buyers easier access to their songs on multiple devices. The deal would provide iTunes customers with a permanent backup of music purchases if the originals are damaged or lost and would allow downloads to iPad, iPod and iPhone devices linked to the same iTunes account. The negotiations come as iTunes is facing competition from new Web-based services such as Spotify Ltd., Rdio Inc. and MOG Inc. that focus on letting customers listen to songs from anywhere with an online connection, instead of downloading tracks to a hard drive. 'Long-time iTunes users know that one of the more obnoxious differences between music and app downloads on the iTunes Store is the fact that apps can be re-downloaded a seemingly infinite number of times,' writes Jacqui Cheng. 'In contrast, users can only download music tracks once — if you find yourself without backups and your music disappears, you must beseech the iTunes gods to let you re-download all your music—a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, should they hear your prayers.""
Well, since the music you download from Apple is DRM free, I would say yes.
I wish my lawn was emo, so it would cut itself.
Anyway, what I'm getting at is that buying the CD gives me something that iTunes music downloaders don't get. That is unlimited access to my music without DRM and without having to pay some online service for it.
Erm, you seem to think iTunes has DRM. It doesn't.
And unless you're stealing your CDs from Walmart, one would assume you paid something for them.
What you are getting with your CDs is the full chunk of data that you can compress to the level of your choice before putting it on your portable player. And of course a physical "backup". I used to buy used CDs for this reason, but for the most part I now am willing to trade that for convenience and lower cost in most cases, so I buy from iTunes and Amazon.
You know who lets you download your songs as many times as you want?
The Pirate Bay
Since you only have a license for the content, then there is no reason why you should not be able to re-download it again. That license that you bought and paid for should not disappear just because you didn't perform a back up. If you have a physical copy such as a CD then there should be a replacement cost, but you can also sell and give away that CD, unlike a digital purchase which is tied to the account.
Erm, you seem to think iTunes has DRM. It doesn't.
You are correct about CD rips, Amazon MP3 purchases, and newer iTunes Store music purchases. But older iTunes Store music has DRM, and the iTunes Plus deal with the record labels doesn't include converting existing m4p files to m4a. Movies on iTunes Store still have DRM because of the six major movie distributors' wishes. Applications on iTunes Store still have DRM despite some developers' wishes.
So, I take it you don't have any backup system for any of your other data, either? That'll show 'em!
Not gonna happen. I've seen people attempt to negotiate unlimited redownloads, the big four labels will balk at this like mad, and then they'll demand that this only be enabled on DRMed content, and only for a limited amount of redownloads (7 or so).
The big four labels will see this as an attempt to renegotiate the royalties, and they'll fight tooth and claw to let royalties drop further.
Experiments and other stuff
What cheaper DRM tracks? NO TRACKS on the iTunes store have DRM on them at all. Back in the day they did, then there was a time where some of them didn't, now ALL of them do not.
I don't see what's "bad" about this. It's inconvenient, I'll grant you, it would be nice if the iTunes store acted as a backup for all my purchased music, but the idea makes sense when you consider the former paradigm. If you bought a CD in the past and lost, broke or damaged it, you went and bought a new CD. Was one of the ways the music companies kept making money on old stuff. This simply extended that concept to non-physical music purchases. If you "lose" them, you have to rebuy them. Since Apple's music has been DRM free for years and it's extremely trivial to backup the music, the risk of loss actually seems much lower to me that the risk of loss for a physical CD.
I'll be happy if they change this, it will be nice to know that I have yet another layer of backup in addition to the copies on my phone, computer, laptop, and backup disk, but realistically I'm not exactly worried as things are. Anything that wipes out every copy I have of most of my music has probably destroyed a lot more valuable things as well (not to mention the music I still do have on CD).
I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
They introduced the DRM free tracks alongside the protected ones and then some time later they stopped offering the DRM protected ones. Music sold with drm will still have it unless the user upgrades it and while the price for upgrading was fairly reasonable (IIRC it was the same as the price difference at the time they were selling both) they made upgrading an all or nothing thing (I can see credit card fees would make them not want to upgrade one track at a time but still all or nothing seems over the top to me). Also IIRC tracks given away in promotions could not be upgraded.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
Yes house fires are nasty, lukilly they are rare and uncorrelated enough that insurance against them is affordable.
OTOH i've never heard of anyone insuring a media collection that requires online activation based DRM (as opposed to mere copy protection) against the provider going out of buisness and given that such an event would hit a load of people at once it would be difficult to insure against on a large scale without exposing the insurers to unacceptable risk.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
My experience represents just one customer but I have never had an issue getting Apple to reissue downloads to me after losing all my data. They happily obliged after a hard drive failure and after my computer was stolen. Shame on me for not having backups, but Apple has always been very accommodating.
Even if you dismiss the app store as being completely due to the iphones head start, Androids advantages are all subjective and nearly all are trade offs. Androids interface can be very nice and very configurable but isn't nearly as simple to use for the non technical. With iOS you dont have to depend on the phone manufacturer to feel generous and give updates, unless the hardware simply cannot support the new features with apple you just get them. With an apple device you know exactly what your going to get there is no consistent experience across android every phone manufacturer seems to do just do their own thing. As last week showed the "openness" of the platform makes it a target for malicious apps, I saw a quote last week that sums it up...Apple has a walled garden but its a nice garden with lots of pretty plants and no snakes.
But ... I bought it on my iPod! How do I make a backup of it?
You sync it in iTunes.
What's iTunes?
The software that you have to install to use the device.
Where does that install?
On your computer.
But ... my computer broke down last month and I haven't gotten it fixed!
And?
And you have to get the music back for me!
No. Backup is your own responsibility.
But how?
Through your computer and possibly by copying it to an external hard drive as well
So why didn't I get a computer and hard drive with my iPod?
Because you didn't pay for it.
But YOU should provide it!
No.
Yes!
Why?
Because it's the law!
What law?
You have to!
Does Ford also have to provide you with every single tire your car will ever need, the gas it consumes, the oil it uses, the wiper fluid etc?
Well, don't be stupid, that's not the same thing!
Why not? Compared to the price of a new car, those things are minor. Compared to the cost of your iPod the computer and backup hard drive cost more than it does.
But you have to do it for me!
That is more or less the conversation I've had with a customer who was complaining about losing the two tracks he had bought from iTunes Store, nine months earlier and hadn't ever listened to since.
Personally I don't understand why the music execs are so greedy, but then again, they're not the ones having to tell customers that they have to handle their copies responsibly. Things might have a different tune, if every person who ever bought a scratched CD or LP had called the record company instead of returning to the store.
Plus, do your homework, Apple blatantly ripped off Xerox's PARC designs for their paperless office and made it into their Lisa and Mac offerings.
If by "blatantly ripped off" you mean "paid them good money to get access to" then you are absolutely correct.
It may be 7 digits, but at least it's a semiprime
I've regularly found tracks on the Japan ITMS that are only available in DRM form.
You want to have songs on your iPod AND your iPhone? No deal! Buy it twice!
Not true at all. 100% false. Truth this is not.
I've got my songs on 3 iDevices, paid once.
Not on spotify. Spotify is essentially a net radio where you get to choose what songs you want it to play. But if it goes off the air, you don't get to keep anything just like with the radio.
Of course, it's also free with advertisements and cheap without. But it does require "always on" internet, and a fee if you want to use it on things other then PC, though fee is minimal. Of course, considering that a month of ad-free access with right to use on any device supported by the client costs about as much as one album on itunes... why should I care?
Honestly, the main reason why itunes has never taken off around here in Northern Europe is because no one buys their music anymore. You just listen to it on spotify.
And if you absolutely must, you can just record line-out. But generally speaking, pirating would probably be easier and faster.
I used to have to visit MacRumors.com separately - thank you for saving me time by cross-posting all the latest Apple scuttlebutt here!
#DeleteChrome
So you blame Apple for this... who are the people who are currently working on making the deals necessary to remove this limitation?