Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iTunes Plus Upgrades Now Available on a Per-Track Basis
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Even when Amazon sells the same song for less? Why? It's not like iTunes offers any huge advantage other than being slightly more convenient. But when you are talking .99 vs 1.29 for the same non-DRM'd 256kbps song it doesn't make a whole lot of financial sense. For every 3 current songs you buy on iTunes you could have bought 4 on Amazon.
I understand too. They are a bunch of self-entitled whiners. Like you said, people got what they paid for the first go around and now they are complaining that there is something better and they don't get it for free. I'd like to live on that planet.
Rather than grousing people should be "happy" Apple is letting people upgrade rather than telling people to rebuy all there songs again. That is what most media companies do when there is a new format. I think you explained the situation perfectly though.
WAH WAH WAH. I want a free upgrade. Grow up people. They are not forcing you to upgrade its an OPTION.
Now I understand what people are saying that the 0.99 + 0.30 = 1.29 and someone is getting that today for 0.99. Well you know what, thats life. If I buy a car and it has a cassette player for 10k and a few months down the line they release the new model with a CD player and at 9k should I get money back and free upgrade? No life isnt like that.
When you bought it you understood it had DRM on it and was happy with the 128kbps quality. Just because its been updated doesn't mean your entitled to a free upgrade, at least they are giving you the option? They have to pay for bandwith and stuff.
Now I don't want any of this fanboy stuff because I am not a fanboy of any means. I love apple and apple products but they have big flaws as well, they are not perfect. But people need to realise this is a business, they are not forcing you to pay more money, you were happy when you bought DRM music so why shouldn't you be now? Come on people see the real world!
Now I understand what people are saying that the 0.99 + 0.30 = 1.29 and someone is getting that today for 0.99. Well you know what, thats life. If I buy a car and it has a cassette player for 10k and a few months down the line they release the new model with a CD player and at 9k should I get money back and free upgrade? No life isnt like that.
When you bought it you understood it had DRM on it and was happy with the 128kbps quality. Just because its been updated doesn't mean your entitled to a free upgrade, at least they are giving you the option? They have to pay for bandwith and stuff.
Now I don't want any of this fanboy stuff because I am not a fanboy of any means. I love apple and apple products but they have big flaws as well, they are not perfect. But people need to realise this is a business, they are not forcing you to pay more money, you were happy when you bought DRM music so why shouldn't you be now? Come on people see the real world!
I personally don't have a problem with paying for the upgrade, to me it's like paying for an upgrade version of software. If a developer charges $10 for an app and offers a $5 upgrade fee for the previous version most of us would probably pay it if we wanted the better features, and not whine about how we're being ripped off. If the $5 (or in this case, 30¢) isn't worth it to you then don't upgrade.
What I did have a problem with was Apple making you buy the whole enchilada at once. Now that they fixed that I'll be upgrading my entire library (little by little).
What I did have a problem with was Apple making you buy the whole enchilada at once. Now that they fixed that I'll be upgrading my entire library (little by little).
Well, they have to add your email to the song somehow.
So they add your email address to the id3 tag??
Wouldn't it be cheaper to simply burn the tracks to a CD them rip them back off the CD? Blank CD's are much cheaper than 30 cents per song and you can fit quite a few on 1 CD.
Oh geeze, come on, this was always going to happen people. They watch the huge money spike when they launch the feature, waited until the curve straightened out then made the switch for another spike. Probably after April when non-DRM is standard and only a few people are still upgrading their mp3s, around the same time they remove all the pluses from the store they'll make it free.
Quality will suffer. You are burning 128kbps songs to a CD, then ripping them again. The end result will actually be worse than 128kbps.
Tax?
So it's been a little while since I bought anything from the iTunes store, but I don't remember there being tax. Just now I upgraded one of my songs for $0.30 and I was charged an additional $0.02 tax. How long has tax been a part of the iTunes store, or is this a new thing?
So it's been a little while since I bought anything from the iTunes store, but I don't remember there being tax. Just now I upgraded one of my songs for $0.30 and I was charged an additional $0.02 tax. How long has tax been a part of the iTunes store, or is this a new thing?
Good deal. There are a handful of albums I have that are worth upgrading, but the old sound quality is just fine for listening to a lot of my albums on my iPhone. Apple just got $30 from me today they wouldn't have gotten if they would have stuck to only giving me the option of upgrading the whole library.
Wise move.
Wise move.
*I* don't have to upgrade, *YOU* don't have to like my opinion about the upgrading
I'm beyond unhappy that they waited 3 weeks after this major iTunes Plus story-wide upgrade that they make it ala carte. My bill for upgrading my library has cracked $400 thanks to being a good customer of the store's prior format (iTunes minus) and giving it lots of business. They should have announced this and implemented it WITH the huge update. I certainly would have waited had I known this option was even on the table as a possible option one day. The money they made comes at the expense of customer service, goodwill, and future potential business from this customer.
I'm sure there will be those who will say "you didn't have to upgrade" which, yeah, I know. Thanks, coach. I'm just saying that the better a customer you've been for them, the more of a burn this move is. Considering the DRM keeps me from using the music I bought from playing over my media streaming solution as well as any other non-Apple hardware, there are several hundred dollars of tracks I wouldn't have minded paying to upgrade to get more flexibility in how I use them. It is an overdue revision of what was already a poor policy, and choosing this point in time to do it is just a further example of how sometimes they really slap their customers around.
I have little doubt that part of this is a response to our nation's economy and the realization the people would much rather buy new tracks than upgrade the old ones, so they better make it a more user-friendly option. I have let them know that for the extra step it takes to import into iTunes, the Amazon MP3 store has never given me issues like this, and so they will continue to be the first place I check for stuff. Quite often brand new things are SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper than iTMS... The new Coldplay EP, $6 on itunes, was $0.99 for over a week on Amazon. Several of their new releases this week are $3 - $6, as opposed to the usual $9.99. I thought the flexible pricing plan was now being implemented at the iTMS, funny how the prices aren't adjusting to compete with Amazon.
iTunes is the new Wal-Mart/Best Buy of music. And that's from a guy with, like I said, $400+ spent there on UPGRADES ALONE. Customer service and friendliness is a secondary concern.
I'm beyond unhappy that they waited 3 weeks after this major iTunes Plus story-wide upgrade that they make it ala carte. My bill for upgrading my library has cracked $400 thanks to being a good customer of the store's prior format (iTunes minus) and giving it lots of business. They should have announced this and implemented it WITH the huge update. I certainly would have waited had I known this option was even on the table as a possible option one day. The money they made comes at the expense of customer service, goodwill, and future potential business from this customer.
I'm sure there will be those who will say "you didn't have to upgrade" which, yeah, I know. Thanks, coach. I'm just saying that the better a customer you've been for them, the more of a burn this move is. Considering the DRM keeps me from using the music I bought from playing over my media streaming solution as well as any other non-Apple hardware, there are several hundred dollars of tracks I wouldn't have minded paying to upgrade to get more flexibility in how I use them. It is an overdue revision of what was already a poor policy, and choosing this point in time to do it is just a further example of how sometimes they really slap their customers around.
I have little doubt that part of this is a response to our nation's economy and the realization the people would much rather buy new tracks than upgrade the old ones, so they better make it a more user-friendly option. I have let them know that for the extra step it takes to import into iTunes, the Amazon MP3 store has never given me issues like this, and so they will continue to be the first place I check for stuff. Quite often brand new things are SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper than iTMS... The new Coldplay EP, $6 on itunes, was $0.99 for over a week on Amazon. Several of their new releases this week are $3 - $6, as opposed to the usual $9.99. I thought the flexible pricing plan was now being implemented at the iTMS, funny how the prices aren't adjusting to compete with Amazon.
iTunes is the new Wal-Mart/Best Buy of music. And that's from a guy with, like I said, $400+ spent there on UPGRADES ALONE. Customer service and friendliness is a secondary concern.
Go to "Upgrade to iTunes Plus" and you should see on the page a list of albums that can individually be updated as well as a list of individually-listed songs/tracks.
