I bought the MP3, let me take it anywhere I want

skulldriveshaft

Every song I have ever bought on iTunes is now in an UNprotected AAC format thanks to JHymn.

You can read about it right here on Gizmodo, just search JHymn.

Bruhaha

There are many honest people out there who will pay for their music, and legitimately want merely to transfer music from their PC to their portable player; I support this right without question. But, there are also many (more?) people who think nothing of swiping tunes without regard for the artists' time and effort. The scary part (from the artists' perspective) is that many people who have no experience other than the digital world of music don't even consider it to be theft, and seemingly do not even debate its consequences.

Please don't slam me as some sort of extremist. I am not; I merely see both sides of this debate. I hate the fact that if my DVD gets a scratch on the play surface, I am screwed unless I have taken the steps of purchasing backup software and spent the time to do so. On the other hand, if the piracy rates remain too high, the content producers will have to cut back in quantity and quality.

In this case, it will be fascinating to see if this sea change results in a net positive or negative for consumers & producers alike.

heyitstodd

PhaseIV

twoohfour

MacBandit

All iTunes Plus tracks are DRM-free. That's part of the plus.

someToast

johnnyabnormal

OmegaRed59

johnnyabnormal

On the other hand, it truly sucks that they're only giving the non-DRM'd tracks to Amazon, which only sells to US customers. Given the state of online music retail outside the USA -- a choice between iTunes and DRM-choked Windows-only subscription services -- the rest of the world is going to have to continue to wait for Universal and Sony to cut the same deal with Apple.

carlfish

Dawn

Now if only they'd stop funding the RIAA, so that organization would shrivel up and die...

ideaman2020

@s017jrs: That's just funny.

stratboy

Kaiser-Machead

For the millionth time, AAC is not an Apple proprietary format. Zunes and Zens play AAC. That's about, what, 95% of the market that plays AAC? Wow, soooo locked in.

The problem is the DRM, which the labels are forcing on Apple in a petty move to knock them down a peg.

Thataboy

EnochLight

2. Right, so what's changed? Nothing. Why are people saying this will be some great competition to Apple?

Noobs-R-Us

R2B2

s017jrs

image18301

2. DRM-free MP3s will play on any device that supports MP3s—like the iPod—no matter where you buy them from, including Amazon.

matt buchanan

dagamer34

2. Why are people so happy that Amazon is selling DRM free music? Are you going to listen to it on a Kindle? As far as I can tell iPods are still the dominant device and will be for some time. Am I missing something here?

3. DRM free music will play just as well on iTunes and iPods so what's changed? Again, am I missing something here?

Noobs-R-Us

MrBlahBlah

matt buchanan

wjousts

1. Buy songs through iTunes (mp4), get locked into Steve Job's closed world (iTunes/iPod).

2. Buy songs at Amazon (mp3), play them on every device and music player in existence.

So, given that choice, why would a consumer choose iTunes (after they've used their gift cards and realize there are better alternatives)?

Phineas J. Whoopie

When will you people learn that Jobs is not the messiah? That BS letter he wrote was nothing but a PR move to make himelf and his company look better. I'd just about bet money that he didn't even write that thing himself.

The music companies were going to figure out eventually that locking their users into Apple's iTunes monopoly was just as bad as locking them OUT of it by going with other DRM formats. Many people have been saying for a long time that DRM is generally treating your consumers like criminals (even the ones who legally purchase the music). The RIAA didn't need Jobs to figure this out for them.

Had anyone besides Jobs written that ridiculous "open letter", people would barely have batted an eye at it this long after it was released.

shifuimam

I want my $40 back!

:)

Big Jim Slade

bbfreak

Jon R.

stratboy

Kaiser-Machead

I was tired of buying/storing cds. Finally, a big thanks to the music killing music industry - enjoy my money, but please don't forget to feed the content creators.

***I'll still use torrents as my "radio" to see if I even like a particular artist/album/song. Broadcast radio is dead. XM/Sirius are not much better.

When I do like something I found via torrents, I like to reward the artist....but I will never ever never ever nevuh evuh nebber ebber NEVER EVER, under any circumstance, purchase DRM laced music.

stratboy

***I'll still use torrents as my "radio" to see if I even like a particular artist/album/song. Broadcast radio is dead. XM/Sirius are not much better.

When I do like something I found via torrents, I like to reward the artist....but I will never ever never ever nevuh evuh nebber ebber NEVER EVER, under any circumstance, purchase DRM laced music.

stratboy

s017jrs

By making the labels sign contracts they didn't like with the ever-popular iTunes, the only way the labels could get out of them without losing a big market (iPods) was to release DRM free music.

Have to admire the talent of Jobs to squeeze a business harder than it liked to be squeezed. It was either give up a lucrative market (iPods) by not going with iTunes, or going with a big market and signing Apple's unpleasant iTunes contract.

I guess they call Job's "call to freedom" as the third unpleasant option.

So they could choose:
* iTunes and iPod (crappy iTunes contract)
* Windows Music Stores (Zune only, or non-Zune but little market)
* DRM Free

Guess choosing the latter hurt a lot less than losing a lot of customers (facilitated by Amazon, but that's good - competition is great).

Yes, Amazon succeeds where eMusic "fails" by simply being big and having a lot of brand recognition. The music industry knows that's the only player who could conceivably compete with iTunes. Alas, they have unfavorable conditions (no DRM).

Thanks Amazon, for being a huge giant company that is ballsy enough to make a DRM free store. Thanks Apple, for squeezing record companies so hard that their only chance in competing would be to accomplish what everyone wanted. No thanks to the record companies, who held out so long.

I do wonder, should the iTunes store close, how quickly the labels would leave Amazon...

Worf

chillywilly

Now, mp3 dmr free songs is great an all, but the quality is just ok.

I use to love allofmp3.com.

I got to choose my encoding and my bitrate.

That is the way it should be, until then we are just buying crappy bitrate songs.

deepdish

graviton

Phineas J. Whoopie

also does anyone know which was more pro drm before the merger sony or bmg

utube2007

I still hate sony for installing that root kit on my machine.

But I'll give them points for pulling their heads out of their asses at least half-way.

coolpengwn

And DRM is long from dead, it still plagues video downloads.

Roflcopter_Down: Wants you to follow HIM!

Ibstrange1

chrisaroz

chillywilly

Kaiser-Machead