Does anyone else think...?

[bluesman87]

iTunes and the new drm-free songs are a joke. I was excited for the drm-free tunes but the fact that i either have to upgrade my whole library or none at all is ****ing absurd. I couldn't care less to upgrade queensryche but i would love to upgrade my smashing pumpkin stuff. And who is the increased bit rate for? Audiophiles? It seems to me that if you are really into song quality then the iTunes store is the last place you would go. I am not being a troll, i just think that this whole update and package to upgrade your songs is meaningless press. Since when is it all or nothing with apple? I thought that was the whole point of this company, to supply alternatives to restrictive media. This seems pretty restrictive right off the bat. Am i missing something?

[jeremy.king]

Originally Posted by bluesman87

iTunes and the new drm-free songs are a joke. I was excited for the drm-free tunes but the fact that i either have to upgrade my whole library or none at all is ****ing absurd. I couldn't care less to upgrade queensryche but i would love to upgrade my smashing pumpkin stuff. And who is the increased bit rate for? Audiophiles? It seems to me that if you are really into song quality then the iTunes store is the last place you would go. I am not being a troll, i just think that this whole update and package to upgrade your songs is meaningless press. Since when is it all or nothing with apple? I thought that was the whole point of this company, to supply alternatives to restrictive media. This seems pretty restrictive right off the bat. Am i missing something?

I don't think its a joke, its a compromise to satisfy users who didn't want the constraints of DRM. The beauty is you don't have to buy DRM free (and higher quality music). Since when is having options a joke? I don't quite understand whats restrictive about DRM free songs?

It's similar to hard cover vs. soft cover books. Why buy a hard cover, its the same contents as the soft cover but it costs more?!?!

In any case, you have options other than iTunes, so if you don't like it - boycott with your wallet and use some other service.

[carfac]

I think the problem is the upgrade is an all or nothing proposition- you cannot cherry pick which to upgrade. Since I buy CDs and not iTunes at 128bps, I do not know...

[theBB]

Once the pace of over-enthusiastic iTunes fans upgrading their whole libraries goes down, I am pretty sure Apple will give the option to upgrade individual songs. I don't think it will leave money on the table by not serving people who may want to upgrade a few songs here and there, but would never pay to upgrade their whole purchase history.

[jeremy.king]

Originally Posted by carfac

I think the problem is the upgrade is an all or nothing proposition- you cannot cherry pick which to upgrade. Since I buy CDs and not iTunes at 128bps, I do not know...

Oh...now I understand the "restrictiveness." That does sort of suck.

[bearda]

Originally Posted by carfac

I think the problem is the upgrade is an all or nothing proposition- you cannot cherry pick which to upgrade. Since I buy CDs and not iTunes at 128bps, I do not know...

That is my #1 problem, at the moment. I have a couple songs I want to upgrade, but my wife doesn't care about audio quality so I really don't see a reason to upgrade most of her tracks. If I had just bought my music on my account I'd be fine, but I feel like I'm being penalized because I've bought more. What a way to treat loyal customers.

The system just isn't well thought-through, though. I figured I'd try picking up an iTunes Plus track just to see if I could tell a difference. I had turned on the iTunes Plus option when 7.2 came up before I found out about the all-or-nothing pricing so it showed up in my cart, I clicked buy, and got an error. Item no longer available. Just for kicks I tried disabling iTunes Plus and buying the normal version and it worked perfectly. Turning on iTunes Plus actually prevented me from buying the song at all.

iTunes Plus seems like a great idea, but piss-poor execution on Apple/EMI's part.

[PSPFourLife]

Well, would you like DRM filled 128-bit rate songs? Or, free from DRM and 320 bit-rate songs?

[bearda]

Originally Posted by PSPFourLife

Well, would you like DRM filled 128-bit rate songs? Or, free from DRM and 320 bit-rate songs?

I'd like the higher-quality (not too concerned about the DRM part, anyway), but if my wife doesn't care and can't tell a difference it's a waste upgrading her music. I'm fine with paying to upgrade the music I think would benefit from the added quality, but I'm not about to pay to upgrade the tracks that wouldn't benefit.

I thought the new songs were 256kbit, not 320.

[PSPFourLife]

Originally Posted by bearda

I'd like the higher-quality (not too concerned about the DRM part, anyway), but if my wife doesn't care and can't tell a difference it's a waste upgrading her music. I'm fine with paying to upgrade the music I think would benefit from the added quality, but I'm not about to pay to upgrade the tracks that wouldn't benefit.

I thought the new songs were 256kbit, not 320.

I wasn't positive. That was the first number that came to my mind.

But, yeah. I agree. If you can't tell a difference, I'd just wait.

[Draythor]

In future could you possibly give a hint in the thread title as to what the thread is likely to contain?
Sorry to have to rant!
I've never felt the need to have the bit rate upgraded. I'm more than happy with a 128 AAC. MP3's sound a little gritty but I've never had any sound problem with AAC.