Say Goodbye To That Unwanted U2 Album

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Say Goodbye To That Unwanted U2 Album

Posted by timothy on Tuesday September 16, 2014 @03:13AM from the auf-wiedersehen-baby dept.

Ronin Developer writes Apple has listened to the complaints of those who object to having received a pushed copy of U2's latest album as part of their recent campaign. While nobody has been charged for the download, some objected to having it show up in their purchases and, in some cases, pushed down to their devices. While it is possible to remove the album from your iTunes library, it takes more steps than most would like to take. Apple has responded and released a tool to make it possible to remove the album from your iTunes library in a single step.

53 of 323 comments (clear)

Not good enough by PvtVoid · 2014-09-16 03:14 · Score: 5, Funny

I will not be satisfied until Apple provides a tool to remove Bono entirely.
1. Re:Not good enough by rudy_wayne · 2014-09-16 03:20 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  The most troubling aspects of this are:
  (a) Apple can push material onto your device without your knowledge or consent
  (2) It can be done in a way that is difficult to remove
  (iii) Bono
2. Re:Not good enough by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-16 03:22 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  A tool to remove a tool... interesting concept.
3. Re:Not good enough by geekoid · 2014-09-16 03:24 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  a) false. You had to have your device set to allow automatic pushes.
  2) Hardly new.
  III) That's irrelevant to what happened. You putting this here tells me the only reason you are upset is because it's a group you don't like.
  I know, I now, it's quite fashionable to hate a guy who spends a shit load of money helping people.
  
  --
  The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
4. Re:Not good enough by adamstew · 2014-09-16 03:25 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  They can not. The only people who had the album pushed to their device are those who turned on the flag on their devices to download new purchases. The only thing Apple did was flag that album as purchased for all iTunes accounts. The device then dutifully did as it was told by it's owner and downloaded all purchases.
  The album never showed up on my devices because I don't have that flag turned on.
5. Re:Not good enough by DutchUncle · 2014-09-16 03:31 · Score: 2
  
  I haven't bought music through iTunes yet, so I'm hardly an expert, but it seems to me that if I were to PURCHASE music through a DOWNLOAD service, I would want to "download new purchases". It seems, then, that this would be the normal and expected setting - unless perhaps one expects to purchase on cell data service and then download later on wifi? in which case it would seem the better solution would be an option in the service to only download big files while connected on wifi, but I know Apple doesn't seem to care about little things like how much you spend (after all, you bought an Apple product, you want coolness!)
6. Re:Not good enough by adamstew · 2014-09-16 03:36 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Apple does have that option as well. You can set a bit such that the phone will only download new purchases over wifi.
7. Re:Not good enough by _xeno_ · 2014-09-16 03:39 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  a) false. You had to have your device set to allow automatic pushes.
  Which is, of course, the default.
  And, if I'm not mistaken, Apple defaults to downloading anything less than 100MB over cellular data. Which could be quite costly to people on more expensive data plans.
  
  III) That's irrelevant to what happened. You putting this here tells me the only reason you are upset is because it's a group you don't like.
  Well, yeah, it's U2. Their music is terrible. I'd be pretty pissed if I had U2 forced on me.
  Wait, "anyone who has an Apple account?" Crap. That does include me.
  
  --
  You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
8. Re:Not good enough by chinton · 2014-09-16 03:46 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I will not be satisfied until Apple provides a tool to remove Bono entirely.
  Would that be a tool removal tool?
9. Re:Not good enough by NotDrWho · 2014-09-16 03:46 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  it's quite fashionable to hate a guy who spends a shit load of money helping people.
  No, he spends a shitload of money promoting himself and boosting his own ego and sense of self-importance.
  That's selfish, not selfless. Big difference.
  
  --
  SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
10. Re:Not good enough by spire3661 · 2014-09-16 03:51 · Score: 2
  
  The most troubling part here is that Apple thinks it can inject stuff into my curated libraries without asking. This is the end result of blending the player and the store.
  
  --
  Good-bye
11. Re:Not good enough by ConceptJunkie · 2014-09-16 03:56 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  U2 didn't used to be terrible, but at some point in the late 90s or early 2000s they seemed to start phoning it in. I haven't listened to anything new by them since then.
  I'm a pretty serious music junkie, and while I usually listen to progressive rock and jazz fusion, I liked U2's stuff starting in the late 80s and my wife brought me an appreciation for their earlier stuff. They were a talented bunch of guys who were never above reinventing themselves every couple albums, like a lot of good, creative groups. This was back in the days when a significant amount of popular music was interesting and creative.
  I'm surprised that Apple would be so tone-deaf to think everyone would automatically want this new album pushed to them. It wouldn't bother me (but I don't own any Apple devices and you couldn't pay me to use iTunes), but I can guarantee I'd want a very easy way to get rid of it if I didn't like it. I haven't spent decades curating a collection of music just to have it be carelessly junked up.
  
  --
  You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
12. Re:Not good enough by Richard_at_work · 2014-09-16 04:00 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  That's skirting around the issue - this wasn't a purchase, so it shouldn't have been distributed that way.
13. Re:Not good enough by rockout · 2014-09-16 04:01 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Apparently no one is allowed to spend a shit load of money helping people without having do-nothing assholes hate on them for it, usually by accusing them of self-promotion and ego boosting. At least be a little bit original.
  
  --
  I've learned that they're worthless, so I don't read AC comments anymore.
14. Re:Not good enough by _xeno_ · 2014-09-16 04:01 · Score: 2
  
  You can set a bit such that the phone will only download new purchases over wifi.
  And how many users do you think knew that they needed to do this prior to the album being released?
  The autodownload feature is only useful if you're completely within the Apple ecosystem and regularly buy songs from your iPad and want them to show up on your iPhone (or vice versa). If you either never download tracks off the music store or only download them on a single device (such as, say, someone who only owns the one iPhone), you'd never know that there even was an automatic download feature. (And if you're downloading them to your PC, you just sync to it and don't worry about downloading it a second time.)
  If you aren't aware there is an automatic download feature, how are you supposed to know to either turn it off or set it to wifi only?
  U2 showing up on the phone is likely the first time the majority of users even were made aware that there was an automatic download feature. Based on the articles and comments I've read, I know that there are people who only discovered this feature existed when U2 suddenly showed up on their iPhone. It may turn out to be a vocal minority, but this definitely was not something all iPhone users expected to happen.
  
  --
  You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
15. Re:Not good enough by adamstew · 2014-09-16 04:07 · Score: 2
  
  The auto download feature isn't turned on by default. It's off by default. So you'd have to know of it's existence for it to be on.
16. Re:Not good enough by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-16 04:20 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  it's quite fashionable to hate a guy who spends a shit load of money helping people.
  No, he spends a shitload of money promoting himself and boosting his own ego and sense of self-importance.
  That's selfish, not selfless. Big difference.
  You dipshit.
  Whether you agree with his politics or not, Bono is downright serious about his charity work.
  Good for him.
  Just compare him to Jenny "vaccines cause autism" McCarthy or Rosie "fire can't melt steel" O'Donnell.
  Hell, if you want a celebrity that's full of himself? Boosting his own ego? Take Kanye West. Please.
17. Re:Not good enough by gl4ss · 2014-09-16 05:25 · Score: 2
  
  a) it comes along with sync.
  and it will go away in a month as I understood? the thing is though that they just used millions of peoples paid data to do their little stunt - AND they could have made it for free to _choose_ on itunes.
  but bono, that fuckhead, didn't want it free unless it was pushed to every device.
  and it'll count as wasted storage space too. there's a difference in putting it for free to sync if you want and synching it for you. that they needed to make a tool to get rid of it just tells that it wasn't simple to get it off your shuffle list(and this from a company that prides on usability, yet even newspaper articles on it couldn't provide instructions on how to remove it from your idevice without crippling synch or it appearing on shuffle!
  thus they had to make the removal tool.
  and U2's manager commented that he had to find new ways to market.. well.. that's because nobody would've even known the friggin album about "their roots" and "the songs are about the early days" and shit like that had even come out. I certainly would not have known they had a new album.. not that I'm looking to listen to it now..
  
  --
  world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
18. Re:Not good enough by ChipMonk · 2014-09-16 05:34 · Score: 2
  
  There are ways to do it without parading your "charitable attitude" in front of the world. "Don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing," but in Bono's case, his right hand knows, and so do all of ours, whether we want to or not.
  
  So you'll just accuse me of being "jealous." If having his resources goes hand-n-hand with being such an arrogant ass, I have no reason to envy him.
19. Re:Not good enough by cyberchondriac · 2014-09-16 06:05 · Score: 2
  
  I have no idea what they sound like now, but I got tired of them in the late eighties, everything just started sounding so whiny.. almost emo. "Still can't find what I'm looking for", yadda..
  That said, I think highly of Bono, he seems a good dude, and doesn't let biases determine who he'll talk to or work with, and has done a tremendous amount of good.
  
  --
  
  Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
20. Re:Not good enough by crgrace · 2014-09-16 06:18 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  This was back in the days when a significant amount of popular music was interesting and creative.
  Also known as the days when you were most likely a teenager or young adult.
21. Re:Not good enough by ObiWanKenblowme · 2014-09-16 07:44 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  The MOST troubling part here is how disproportionally butthurt people seem to be over having a free album given to them. Also, spare me from having to read one more person prattle on about how their "curated" iTunes library has been harmed.
  
  --
  Obvious exits are NORTH, SOUTH, and DENNIS.
22. Re:Not good enough by phayes · 2014-09-16 08:44 · Score: 2
  
  I'm surprised that Apple would be so tone-deaf to think everyone would automatically want this new album pushed to them. It wouldn't bother me (but I don't own any Apple devices and you couldn't pay me to use iTunes), but I can guarantee I'd want a very easy way to get rid of it if I didn't like it. I haven't spent decades curating a collection of music just to have it be carelessly junked up.
  Fortunately, auto-downloading music is NOT the default configuration, and even for those that changed their configuration to autodownload it, removing the album is trivial: swipe each song to the left.
  So, clearly the problem isn't that the album was auto downloaded because it's sooo hard to prevent or get rid of.
  No, it's an opportunity for those who want to rag on U2 or Apple to do so & reading the comments of those to are posturing "outrage" shows that this is the case.
  
  --
  Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
23. Re:Not good enough by AmiMoJo · 2014-09-16 15:10 · Score: 2
  
  I was a teenager in the 90s and most of it was shit.
  Around 1990 a major change happened where music was written before lyrics instead of the other way around. That made songs very hard to sing, if not impossible. The vocals often had to be sampled and sequenced because live performance was impossible. As someone who likes to sing that sucked.
  1990 was also when the loudness war went atomic. Bad times.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
24. Re:Not good enough by AmiMoJo · 2014-09-16 15:14 · Score: 2
  
  Why are you defending them? Technical people like us may understand all these issues but as far as the average Apple user is concerned this unwanted album turned up and now they have the hassle of removing it. Worse still there doesn't seem to be a way of blocking Apple from adding stuff to your music library in the future. Hopefully the outrage will stop them doing it again.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Perspective by nmb3000 · 2014-09-16 03:18 · Score: 5, Insightful

It's nice Apple responded, but the outrage over this whole thing (especially for people who have already bought into the iTunes garden) seems way overblown.
Some perspective might help.

--
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
/)
1. Re:Perspective by i+kan+reed · 2014-09-16 03:23 · Score: 2
  
  As someone who really detests sweatshops, on the grounds that a safe working environment should be a universal human right, please please stop calling it slavery.
  On the one side, it invites people who don't care about the problem to argue semantics, and on the other it makes a false equivalence to real actual slavery that still exists in the world(though is universally illegal).
2. Re:Perspective by Thanshin · 2014-09-16 03:26 · Score: 2
  
  It's not overblown. People simply care more about the technology they bought than about whether some people are enslaved some thousand miles away. And you do to, so don't be a hypocrite.
3. Re:Perspective by spire3661 · 2014-09-16 03:55 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  No its not overblown. The issue at hand is that Apple thinks it can alter people's libraries at a whim. I dont WANT U2 in my collection at all. I have nothing against them, but i hate the fact that it was pushed into my face and into my library. I want my library to be composed of material I choose, not apple.
  
  --
  Good-bye
4. Re:Perspective by irrational_design · 2014-09-16 04:01 · Score: 2
  
  On the one hand it would be wonderful if there were no sweatshops. On the other hand, they do provide a job for people. I remember a number of years ago Nike had a factory in Honduras (if I remember correctly). A bunch of privileged American college-age people went down there and raised such a fuss that Nike was forced to close the factory and relocate the work elsewhere. The smug Americans celebrated their mission accomplished and moved on to their next cause. Later someone went back to Honduras and followed up with the former workers to see what had happened to them. The majority of the workers had been women and the vast majority of them had turned to prostitution after they lost their jobs. They, of course, were not happy with what the Americans had done to them.
5. Re:Perspective by Stargoat · 2014-09-16 04:06 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  If you were not an Apple user, your argument, indeed your wants, might matter. But you have chosen your "walled garden" and you must enjoy it. The theme music for your "walled garden" is the latest U2 Album. Enjoy your Bono.
  
  --
  Hoist Number One and Number Six.
I must be broken by halivar · 2014-09-16 03:18 · Score: 5, Insightful

It seems like the whole world enjoys being outraged by the pettiest bullshit (and indeed goes out of its way to FIND things the be outraged about) in a world full of very important concerns no one gives a shit about.
U2 poured 5 years of their soul into this album by JoeyRox · 2014-09-16 03:19 · Score: 2

And Apple is allowing people to remove it after 5 days. A nice example of how internet time differs from human time.
1. Re:U2 poured 5 years of their soul into this album by Thanshin · 2014-09-16 03:30 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  But it's 5 days of millions of people. So it's centuries of their souls, compared to just some years.
  U2 should pay the soul difference. Preferably not in music. Please.
2. Re:U2 poured 5 years of their soul into this album by ArcadeMan · 2014-09-16 03:33 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  That means almost five month and a half to produce a single song. In the real world where you need to do real work, you'd have starved to death long before you could finish your album.
  
  --
  Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
3. Re:U2 poured 5 years of their soul into this album by geekoid · 2014-09-16 04:34 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Modded insightful because you think making music isn't real work?
  Idiots, all of them.
  I wonder what you consider real work?
  
  --
  The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Re:Downloading music for free? Scandelous! by Dave+Whiteside · 2014-09-16 03:19 · Score: 2

https://www.techdirt.com/artic...
in 2008 it was a very different argument

--
who where what when now?
First world problem solved by Camembert · 2014-09-16 03:20 · Score: 3, Funny

What else about Apple can we now whine about? Perhaps Tim Cook's recent TV interviews?
Unfortunately by Greyfox · 2014-09-16 03:24 · Score: 5, Funny

The tool looks at the rest of your music collection while it's deleting the U2 album and judges you accordingly. "Oh, the Justin Beiber gets to stay but you're deleting the U2 album? OK I see how it is!"

--
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Re:Downloading music for free? Scandelous! by adamstew · 2014-09-16 03:28 · Score: 4, Informative

You never needed to give apple any money to get the music for free. All you needed was an iTunes account/password and you got the album for free. No prior purchase was necessary. In fact, if you sign up for a free iTunes account before some day in October, you still get the album for free...no purchases required.
Misleading links by zerosomething · 2014-09-16 03:31 · Score: 3, Insightful

Yet another /. article with links that don't actually give you any useful content. When you select the link in the text "tool to make it possible to remove the album from your iTunes library in a single step." wouldn't you expect to see an article about the tool and actually have a link to the tool? Oh no can't have that because you have to prop up what ever favorite news feed you are promoting.

--
It all starts at 0
Meanwhile.... by MAXOMENOS · 2014-09-16 03:36 · Score: 2

I downloaded the album (Free U2? Okay!) and have listened to it a couple of times in the car. It's not bad. Not exactly world-shattering --- they haven't done world-shattering in 20 years --- but enjoyable.

--
Finding God in a Dog
Re:Biggest concern is the data usage by keytohwy · 2014-09-16 03:37 · Score: 3, Insightful

If you are that concerned about data usage, I would imagine you have turned off the option to automatically download updates and purchases via cellular connection. That is, you can turn on automatic downloads, but toggle whether that is over wifi or cellular.
It's a relationship argument about control. by DutchUncle · 2014-09-16 03:41 · Score: 4, Insightful

I don't have an iProduct that got force-downloaded. Today is my anniversary (a big number). So I don't see a first-world problem; I see a relationship problem.

It's not about the album. It's about control. It's about changing the station in the car radio when someone else is driving. It's about putting up with his sports posters and her frilly pillowcases. It's about changing the address list so it's alphabetical by first name instead of last name, and rearranging the desktop to be organized horizontally instead of vertically.

I feel your pain. But I can assure you that you can get through this.
Re:Downloading music for free? Scandelous! by chinton · 2014-09-16 03:48 · Score: 2, Funny

Yet another reason to avoid iTunes...
Which one? by chinton · 2014-09-16 03:49 · Score: 4, Funny

You're going to need to be more specific about which "unwanted U2 album" you are talking about.
Re:Downloading music for free? Scandelous! by spire3661 · 2014-09-16 03:53 · Score: 3, Insightful

If I came over and starting just randomly putting books into your bookshelves that publishers paid me to do without asking you, wouldnt you rightfully be a bit upset about it?

--
Good-bye
Re:Downloading music for free? Scandelous! by geekoid · 2014-09-16 04:11 · Score: 2

You need to have automatic downloads turned on. You can also have you device only download over wi-fi.
If you are concerned about data, and you haven't used those features, then learn how your phone works.

--
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Good by rebelwarlock · 2014-09-16 04:13 · Score: 4, Insightful

People acting like users have no right to complain about free shit need some perspective.

For example, do you like tofu? No? Well tough shit, it's free, and I'm going to force feed you three pounds of it. You have no right to complain about free food. Hell, I'll opt for stinky tofu while I'm at it. Here in Taiwan, people love that shit. Everyone who doesn't thinks it smells and tastes like raw sewage.

U2 is the stinky tofu of the music industry. You have people who like them, and people who can't imagine why you would find it necessary to inflict such pain upon yourself.
1. Re:Good by Just+Some+Guy · 2014-09-16 12:04 · Score: 2
  
  For example, do you like tofu? No? Well tough shit, it's free, and I'm going to force feed you three pounds of it.
  The correct analogy would be: do you like tofu? No? Well, here's a coupon for free tofu anyway. If you like it, pick it up at the store. If not, don't. Either way. Free tofu.
  
  --
  Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
its apples device, not yours. by nimbius · 2014-09-16 04:15 · Score: 3, Interesting

Once a company can questionlessly assert the music you like, add and remove content, and that content is no longer in your immediate control, then no, its not your device. One could argue that the DRM structure imposed upon apple devices alone should be enough to convince the buyer to re-evaluate their purchase. Apple users should seriously question what it is that theyve invested in, if anything, and review the terms and conditions of their iPods, Pads, and music service to determine just what it is they dropped $200 or more on to listen to the music they like.

And if it comes to it, consider alternatives. You're the customer after all and your privacy and conditions should largely be non negotiable. Amazon sells DRM-free music, as does beatport. Use LibMTP for your mtp transfers, or better yet pick a device that hasnt adopted a slower, serialized transfer standard designed to cripple the users rights.

--
Good people go to bed earlier.
Sorry..didn't have the link before.. by Ronin+Developer · 2014-09-16 04:26 · Score: 4, Informative
Apple has now launched a tool to help disgruntled customers easily remove the album from their iTunes library.
To remove the album, users need to:
- Go to http://itunes.com/soi-remove
- Click Remove Album to confirm you'd like to remove the album from your account
- Sign in with the Apple ID and password you use to buy from the iTunes Store
Apple warned that, once the album has been removed from a user's account, it will no longer be available for them to redownload as a previous purchase. If they later decide they want the album, they will need to get it again.
The album is free to everyone until 13 October 2014, and will be available for purchase after that date.
Re:Downloading music for free? Scandelous! by SydShamino · 2014-09-16 05:06 · Score: 3, Interesting

Per Apple, this album is your own stuff. Let's flash back 20 years...
Assume you've told your maid service to always bring in the mail. One day, a U2 album arrive, unsolicited, in the mail, and the maid puts it on your CD rack.
Whether you paid for it or asked for it is irrelevant; once it shows up in your account/mailbox it was placed where it goes by your instructions.

--
It doesn't hurt to be nice.