Apple Announces Changes to iTunes Store

[MacJoe]

upgrade includes defective tracks and refunded tracks

My upgrade, should I proceed with it, would include tracks and albums that I purchased, discovered defects in, deleted from my computer, and got refunds for from Apple. At least one of the tracks still has the defect as evidenced by its presence in the track's preview on iTunes. I purchased these albums as CDs from other sources and ripped them myself. I'm (somewhat) okay with having to pay for "upgrades," but I can't justify paying again for defective tracks. There really should be an alternative to the "all or nothing" upgrade path. Apple really didn't think this through well enough.

 

[theBB]

My tab so far is $17.40 for the upgrade. If it was up to me I would not upgrade maybe $3 worth of these songs, but the difference is not that big. When EMI songs first started showing up, I though after some time Apple will let us upgrade by song, but it did not happen, so I doubt it will happen now. I don't know if this is part of the deal they made with RIAA, but this is how it is right now.

In any case, think these upgrade offers are for limited time. I ignored the first batch when EMI first started offering them and after a few months those tracks have disappeared.

I am happy to report that all of the songs I checked are still on sale for 99 cents. However, none of the songs I checked from Atlantic Records and Warner Bros were "Plus." Is it possible WB Music is still holding out on iTunes?

 

[dwman]

Didn't get a chance to read the entire thread, so not sure if this was asked, but what about songs you downloaded for free? Do you have to pay the 30 cent upgrade fee for those as well?

 

[zacman]

Didn't get a chance to read the entire thread, so not sure if this was asked, but what about songs you downloaded for free? Do you have to pay the 30 cent upgrade fee for those as well?

Free songs are not qualified for the itunes plus upgrade.

 

[Parky]

1. It is REQUIRED by law for accounting purposes for Apple to charge for iPod touch updates that include new features. For the iPhone it is not because of ongoing subscription costs.

You are incorrect about the iPhone subscription costs. The free updates for the iPhone are not because users are paying a subscription to the phone company. It is because Apple are deferring the revenue from each iPhone sold. They get the full payment for the iPhone when it is sold BUT they only recognise 1/24 of that money as revenue each month for 24 months. They spread the revenue they receive across the 24 month period so that they are then legally allowed to give free updates as the product is still being paid for.

It is nothing to do with 'subscriptions'.

 

[dwman]

Free songs are not qualified for the itunes plus upgrade. Though if you only want to get rid of the DRM there are some programs available for MacOS and Windows.

Thanks Zacman, I suppose I could always burn it to a CD and re-rip as an MP3 at some point to get rid of the DRM.

 

[teme]

1. It is REQUIRED by law for accounting purposes for Apple to charge for iPod touch updates that include new features. For the iPhone it is not because of ongoing subscription costs.

2. It is REQUIRED by all the music companies that Apple charge for converting previously purchased iTunes DRM tracks to non-DRM. ie. you knew when you were paying 99 cents that you were getting 128 bitrate and DRM... so why should they (not Apple, the record companies) give you 256 bitrate and no-DRM without a charge?

3. Apple held the line on 99 cents for 6 years and CLEARLY wanted the price to stay at 99 cents but for the first time ever they were losing songs and buyers to Amazon's store (where everything is DRM free). The music companies refused to give all DRM free music to iTunes without a higher pricing structure and Apple finally had to give in. Sadly I do think any popular music is going to be $1.29 but at least it is double the quality and DRM free so you can play it on a Zune, an iPod, on 30 computers, on anything...

1. I have never believed that, because there wasn't anything official statements. If Apple can't add additional features to iPod touch, why Sony can add brand new features to PSP without any charge or subscription? And anyway, if that's reason is actually true, Apple could have charged something like 1-2 dollars, not 20 dollars.

2. Can I get your source for that argument? I haven't read that anywhere else than in your comment.

3. I understand that the higher price point is required by record companies. I accept it, although I think I will not support it.

 

[teme]

Yes, how dare a corporation want money from their customers.

Did new buyers get to use the product for as long as you have? No. Stop whining. Upgrades make sense. If you didn't want to pay, why didn't you wait?

The first sentence of my earlier post was explained in other sentences of the same post. Well, anyway... many companies actually sometimes give something without additional charge for their customers, for example software and hardware updates (probably because they are thankful for customer buying their products and want to continue keep customers happy by adding new stuff). This makes customer appreciate the company and feel good about the purchase. Nowadays it seems that Apple is asking for payment all the time, and they are not giving anything free. I understand that they can charge for everything and want more money, but would it be too much to ask that sometimes a customer who has supported Apple and bought from them gets something without additional charge? For example music tracks which are already paid once or software update when I have already paid 400 euros for hardware. Like most of us here, I really do like Apple, but it doesn't mean that I have like everything they do.

 

[ojwk]

Poor bitrate has been the only thing preventing me from downloading music. I import off CD at 256 so I guess I'll be switching.

 

[one1]

Still a rip-off...Amazon is cheaper

Acting on a tip from the podcast MacBreak Weekly, I have used the amazon script in iTunes for a while now and it makes all the current Apple DRM news basically moot.

http://www.advantageousmp3.com/mac/

Basically just browse iTunes like normal, but when you go to purchase the song select it and hit that option to be taken to Amazon instead of iTunes for the download.

 

[Parky]

1. I have never believed that, because there wasn't anything official statements. If Apple can't add additional features to iPod touch, why Sony can add brand new features to PSP without any charge or subscription? And anyway, if that's reason is actually true, Apple could have charged something like 1-2 dollars, not 20 dollars.

Yes there were official statements, it was very specifically mentioned in one of the recent Apple Financial update conference calls. It has also been very clearly stated in many articles. Do your research.

 

[teme]

Yes there were official statements, it was very specifically mentioned in one of the recent Apple Financial update conference calls. It has also been very clearly stated in many articles. Do your research.

Okay, thanks for the further information about this subject.

 

[JPS2008]

One other comment on this. For probably the last six months or so I have stopped buying DRMed songs from itunes. Only itunes plus when available. When necessary I've used Amazon at times.

There are some cases where I've bought some compilation Compact Discs with not only songs I wanted but also songs I've already purchased from itunes. Because of this I've had the opportunity to reimport these songs unencoded. Thus I've been weeding out DRM files where possible.

The thing that I object to now is that after going to all this trouble of weeding out DRM files, if I upgrade my library, I'll be forced to pay again for versions of songs that I've already discarded and replaced with non-DRMed versions myself. This is not acceptable.

I understand that Apple would prefer to have the customer upgrade all their songs at once rather than bit by bit (in part to avoid small credit card transactions). But I do think they need to allow some latitude in terms of the user only upgrading the songs they want to (either because they choose not to upgrade particular songs or in my case, I've already upgraded it in a different manner.)

I think one potential solution might be to allow the user control over which songs are to be upgraded, but they must be done in something like 50-song increments etc. (unless the number of outstanding songs is less than 50, in which case you'd have to do all of them.)

 

[ipedro]

Apple to Remove DRM for FREE?

It's becoming clear that once Apple "upgrades" this big wave of iTunes users looking to get "iTunes Plus" tracks for 40¢ a piece, they won't want to maintain an expensive DRM system for those who haven't upgraded.

They can't just shut it down either because the iTunes pioneers are legit owners of the rights to play those songs that they legitimately purchased.

iTunes Plus is going to become the norm rather than the exception so we'll probably stop hearing the iTunes Plus term and stop seeing the plus sign next to each song because they would all have it. DRM'd songs in your library will probably show a lock instead.

This all leads to the conclusion that Apple will eventually upgrade all remaining users to non DRM tracks for free, probably with the introduction of a new iTunes version that when installed, would go through your library and update the DRM'd tracks.

While I see the benefit of removing DRM from my music right away, I've been just fine with it because I don't share my music and it works well with syncing tracks between my Mac, iPod, iPhone and tv.

So I can wait Apple out on this... it won't take long.

 

[Hutch1]

I am glad to see that iTunes is now all iTunes Plus. I have been hoping that it would expand for a long time.

I am also glad to hear that some songs will be as cheap as $0.69 in April. I wish that some apps in the App Store could be that cheap. Does anyone think that could be a possibility for the future?

Some are they are free. Music has nothing to do with apps, there is a lot more people with their hand in the music cookie jar.

 

[essinger]

1. It is REQUIRED by law for accounting purposes for Apple to charge for iPod touch updates that include new features. For the iPhone it is not because of ongoing subscription costs.

This is false. A company can give a free update to consumers anytime it wants. What it can't do is promise a future upgrade as an enticement to buy a product now, and then not set aside the earnings required to pay for said upgrade.

As far as I know Apple only had to do this once, with the Airport base station, because it announced a future upgrade would be available to a new standard, but went ahead and declared all the earnings anyway.

 

[Hutch1]

This is false. A company can give a free update to consumers anytime it wants. What it can't do is promise a future upgrade as an enticement to buy a product now, and then not set aside the earnings required to pay for said upgrade.

As far as I know Apple only had to do this once, with the Airport base station, because it announced a future upgrade would be available to a new standard, but went ahead and declared all the earnings anyway.

I get updated feature on my Garmin GPS all the time and it years old and they are always free.

 

[Hugh]

Cr-rom?

Seriously with all the releases today I have to wonder just how big of a hard drive I will have to upgrade to. The thing is iTunes Plus was what I limited myself to in the past, so this will open a huge library of new tunes. That and I'm more inclined lately to download movies and TV shows. All in all though the upgrade cost won't kill me as my iTunes collection is small at the moment. For you others I'd have to wonder if mass upgrading would make sense and offer any real advantages.

Due to this storage demand I'm looking for internal solutions for MBP. Considering both bigger hard drives and CD drive replacement. Of which the CD drive replacement seems to offer the biggest benefit. That is if the vendor can be found.

The other option would be a Drobo or similar unit to stash stuff in. That unfortunately only works at home.

Dave

Why would new to upgrade the cd-rom drive? Isn't already a superdrive?

Hugh

 

[jbembe]

Total Bs

What a load of complete crap!!!!

Why should I have to purchase an upgrade for EVERY song I've purchased simulataneiously???

1. Several of the tracks I am most interested in upgrading do not show up on my upgrade page even though they are available from iTunes.

2. At least 10$ worth are songs I purchased for an album that I later bought and own on CD. What the hell do I need a 30cent upgrade for something that I own the original full quality song for!?

3. Several are songs that I never listen to.

So, 45 bucks to upgrade a select portion of the songs, many of them I don't care about. THIS IS TOTAL BULL.

THey better change this stupid policy of having to upgrade the whole thing at once!!!!!!!:

 

[Dmac77]

What a load of complete crap!!!!

Why should I have to purchase an upgrade for EVERY song I've purchased simulataneiously???

1. Several of the tracks I am most interested in upgrading do not show up on my upgrade page even though they are available from iTunes.

2. At least 10$ worth are songs I purchased for an album that I later bought and own on CD. What the hell do I need a 30cent upgrade for something that I own the original full quality song for!?

3. Several are songs that I never listen to.

So, 45 bucks to upgrade a select portion of the songs, many of them I don't care about. THIS IS TOTAL BULL.

THey better change this stupid policy of having to upgrade the whole thing at once!!!!!!!:

And if they don't what are you going to do? Sue Apple, and the big 4?

Don

 

[jbembe]

And if they don't what are you going to do? Sue Apple, and the big 4?

Don

Well, I can keep my money and take my business elsewhere. It'd be cheaper to purchase the songs I really want better quality on over again than to hit the upgrade my library button.

 

[Trajectory]

If the iTunes Store price changes and upgrade costs are ticking you off, there's always Amazon.com, their albums are usually a dollar or two cheaper anyway.

 

[Vip]

People Power

I say everyone boycott the upgrade. It is far better than suing anyone and it hurts more!

If everyone did this as a matter of principle, it could just make Apple and more specifically the Music Companies sit up an listen.

We have paid once, why again for the same thing.

...

 

[rhett7660]

I say everyone boycott the upgrade. It is far better than suing anyone and it hurts more!

If everyone did this as a matter of principle, it could just make Apple and more specifically the Music Companies sit up an listen.

We have paid once, why again for the same thing.

...

I hope you never buy a remastered CD or DVD. Because you know you should get that one for free too since you already own the first edition.

 

[Vip]

I hope you never buy a remastered CD or DVD. Because you know you should get that one for free too since you already own the first edition.

This is hardly remastered, some of the songs i bought last week. Weak argument mate!