Opinions - Whats the future of iTunes, is it future proof

Who can tell. My first music was on vinyl and reel-to-reel tape. Certainly, I think tangible media (CD, DVD, etc.) will cease to exist in favor of on-line/HD/SSD storage. I've always had to either repurchase media when new formats are developed, or transferred old media to the new format.

If a new media truly becomes the STANDARD, transfer your old media to the new format ASAP. I am going to have to pay someone to digitize several old Hi* video tapes as my camcorder broke.

iTunes is not a format. It is a Media Store.

yea, my guess is that digital media will be a lot more future proof as it's independent of distribution media. There will probably always be better and better formats...but chances are, computers and future players will be able to play today's formats long into the future.

The real problem with iTunes is DRM. DRM can kill future proofing REAL fast. If Apple ever got into trouble and went out of biz...all of your iTunes media would be useless, as its only playable on Apple equipment...

dmm219 said:

The real problem with iTunes is DRM. DRM can kill future proofing REAL fast. If Apple ever got into trouble and went out of biz...all of your iTunes media would be useless, as its only playable on Apple equipment...

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That's why it pays to upgrade all of your music to DRM-free.

eawmp1 said:

That's why it pays to upgrade all of your music to DRM-free.

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Thats great for music...but doesn't help at all yet for tv shows or movies..

iTunes Plus music is definitely future proof as it is DRM free, but just about everything else they sell has DRM, which is definitely not future proof.

here is my two cents-

The future digital video s will depend on one occasionally ignored fact- ISP speeds and pricing. Right now most places make getting 15+ MB downloads (essentially needed to download near HD quality movies) incredibly cost prohibitive. Untill that happens, all the things we want in our downloads (1080p video, home theater audio) won't happen if it takes 3 weeks to download.

With itunes music being DRM-Free, I think music on iTunes is safe. However, I don't know the future of video DRM. That future is much bleaker. I really don't know-the only people that will decide that are the studios themselves. They have to decide that they want to embrace it; until then we will be stuck with DRM in our video sales.