Phil Schiller recently announced that the iTunes store was going fully DRM-free, and for whatever reason, people are still finding something to complain about.
First off, Apple is charging 30 cents a song to upgrade to a DRM-free library. Does it suck? Is it annoying? Sure, but people need to calm the f down. I mean, first of all, this isn’t new as Apple already offered this service for songs from EMI’s catalogue. Second of all, if it’s too much money, then just don’t do it. And I imagine if it was REALLY that big of a deal, users would have already bought DRM free tracks from Amazon, or simply not even messed with iTunes in the first place.
On the flpside, some are now predicting (for the billionth time) the downfall of iTunes and the iPod. A recent article from CNET recently posed the question, “Now that its DRM advantage is gone, what’s stopping you from buying competing products from iRiver, SanDisk, and others?”
Umm, DRM wasn’t the reason why the iPod/iTunes became so successful. The seamless integration between the hardware and software is what helped the iPod become so popular, and the songs just happened to be wrapped up in DRM.
And as for giving users the option to use non-Apple mp3 players with iTunes, I’d bet good money that anyone who isn’t a fan of the iPod is most definitely not a fan of iTunes. If anything, no drm restrictions will probably help Apple as it will bring back a number of people who have been slowly migrating over to Amazon to purchase their music.
On a related note, check out this amusing piece of satire from MacComedy. The title alone is hilarious. “People with six or more computers rejoice over iTunes DRM changes”.
No DRM is cool. Take it for what it’s worth, and stop complaining!
January 8th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Sounds good.
However,I do hope Apple gives more options on upgrading my original purchases. I have over 800 pieces of music in my itunes library,and I’m counting the money that will cost if I update all of them!
$0.3*800=$240…
luckily,a media converter is much economical.So,I still use software to help me:
http://www.flash-on-tv.com/media-converter.html#141
I’ll just wait for Apple to carry out more actions.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:39 am
Does media converter DRM removal increase the quality of the songs? Didn’t think so. I’m not going to pay a cent for DRM removal. I’ve been begging for the chance to give away my money to someone for 256 kps AAC sound.