The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
Please vote in the Forum Structure Poll. Polling will close at 2PM EST on January 21, 2025.
iTunes & EMI to offer non-DRM music? CONFIRMED PAGE 2!!!
Recoil42
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070401-emi-to-announced-drm-free-plans-tomorrow-reports.html
http://users2.wsj.com/lmda/do/checkLogin?mg=evo-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB117547255583356319.html%3Fmod%3Drss_whats_news_technology
EMI will announce on Monday that it will be freeing much of its catalog from the shackles of DRM. The Wall Street Journal, citing "people familiar with the matter," reports (sub. required) that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will be present at the announcement in London and that the music will be sold through the iTunes Store and possibly other online outlets.
The news comes less than two months after Apple published Steve Jobs' famous open letter on the issue of DRM. In his missive, Jobs laid the blame for the DRM mess squarely at the feet of the music industry and said that he would gladly sell unprotected music if only the record labels would agree.
Ok, who fucking divided by zero?
Note: Still not actually confirmed 100%. But dudes, it's the fucking WSJ reporting this. That's about as solid a source as a rumor can have.
As long as they're not charging 2 bucks a pop, you know, like a premium to not get a janky-ass-DRM version of your music... and are still charging 99c (or even $1.29 or something would be fine) oh man, I am so in.
Recoil42 on
0
Posts
One of the big four record companies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMI
I'm hyper-excited by this. DRM is what kept me from buying stuff from iTunes, so if they start getting rid of it ... well, that can only be a good thing.
I have an iPod, but I don't buy from iTunes because of DRM. When I buy a song I would like the same control over it, as if I had purchased it in physical format. Not to mention having the choice of using something other than an iPod is nice too. I'm just surprised that it's Apple who is fighting to remove the software.
I use a different program to actually listen to music on my computer, since my iTunes has a weird problem with skipping.
Those of us with multiple computers need iTunes installed on all of them and have to have the computer authorized when playing back music from an iPod, which requires internet and you can only have a limited number of computers authorized. What if I want to bring it to a friends house just to listen to a song? It's annoying. Also, in the same vein, playing the music on an Xbox is impossible if it's DRMed.
DRM is a poison and it needs to be gotten rid of.
They're most likely still going to use either AAC, or mp4 as the audio format. I'm not sure which format they use. But I'm positive they don't use mp3.
As stated above, it's more the ability to keep that copy forever, and play it on any computer you chose.
Not that I buy digital music, but anyone that rejects the devil called DRM is cool in my books.
Why? Jobs might have written a disgruntled letter but EMI are the ones that are actually freeing the catalog.
So either they'll use the MPEG 4 audio layer or... the MPEG 4 audio layer?
Even though it's still a form of mp4, isn't it still relatively closed off to other mp4 players?
No.
Yeah, no, the DRM that apple uses is closed off. Not AAC.
Huh, Wiki has failed me again.
Apple sells AAC encoded audio files. AAC is the audio codec defined in the MPEG 4 spec. mp4 is the container for mp4 content. So an AAC file is AAC encoded content in an mp4 container* (which is what Apple sells), and an mp4 audio file is and mp4 container with AAC encoded content in it. You were just saying the same thing twice.
The only reason something from the Apple store won't play in anything else is the DRM. Other than that they're standard mpeg4 files, as are anything you rip to AAC with iTunes.
*Sometime you'll see raw AAC in no containers, because at one point winamp wanted that or something, but it's completely non-standard.
To clarify, this is what lead me to believe that AAC is closed off to non Apple products.
Reading Comprehension++
If you're going for the Nano, I'd say give the Sansa a look. They're solid players, and I highly recommend them.
You already got what you paid for, with the understanding that there was DRM embedded in it. So don't complain. But added to that, not only would it be technically illegal for even Apple themselves to strip the DRM off of the songs, and how would you ensure that only the EMI files get stripped of DRM, and not others? It would be a huge programming task for Apple to undertake, and it's just not worth it.
Yeah, definitely not something that's going to happen.
Possible? Yes. Plausible? No.
I'M A TWITTER SHITTER
They could just allow you to redownload them in .mp3 format. Wouldn't be too hard at all.
Oh, and an official Linux client wouldn't go amiss either.
Oh, right, I forgot they keep track of your purchases. Durrr.
I'M A TWITTER SHITTER
Problem with that is it would open a whole other kettle of fish with everybody wanting unrestricted access to re-download all their purchases. Which they ought to offer, but don't. I guess for bandwidth reasons or something maybe, or perhaps just because.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/04/02itunes.html
30¢ extra per song? Sounds reasonable, I guess. I'll probably still stick to CDs, though.
Methinks its only a matter of time till competitors offer DRM free stuff too, and I wouldn't be surprised if, when the entire itunes library is drm free, they drop the price descrimination.
Today is a great victory for the consumer, I personally am proud of everyone involved in the industry that contributed to making this happen.
I find this amusing given your username. :P