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iTunes Plus Upgrades Now Available on a Per-Track Basis

I cant hear a difference between I-tunes and I-tunes plus. but I guess there is , but i cant tell.
 
techmonkey said:
Quality will suffer. You are burning 128kbps songs to a CD, then ripping them again. The end result will actually be worse than 128kbps.
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True but I guess the individual has to decide if it's worth the money for the extra kbps. I personally can't hear much of a difference unless I crank it on my home stereo system.

As far as I'm concerned I already paid for the songs. No need to give them more money just to remove DRM. Seems kind of silly.
 
phoneboy said:
they're trying to charge 30 cents for a track I've already bought
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What you BOUGHT was a computer file — not a "track," not a "song." You paid 99¢ before for a 192kbps AAC with DRM. Now you are paying 30¢ for a 256kbps AAC without DRM.

What you're complaining about is like complaining that you bought an album on cassette and now Columbia Records wants you to PAY :eek: for the CD! GASP.

If you don't see the difference between those files as an upgrade, don't do it. And complaining now about the limitations of a file you bought two years ago — fully aware of those limitations — is just... well, stupid.

Apple has to pay for bandwidth and any number of other costs like every other business.

earthandtone said:
I cant hear a difference between I-tunes and I-tunes plus. but I guess there is , but i cant tell.
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Are you listening to them on headphones, or through good-quality speakers?

Chris Blount said:
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.
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Possibly, but (1) I don't want to have to waste CDs for a handful of songs, or (2) spend my time burning CDs and ripping them back, and (3) it won't be 256kbps.
 
Will be DRM free for FREE eventually...

First Apple releases the iTunes Plus upgrade as an "All or Nothing" deal. Now that they've gotten those customers updated and off their "DRM grid" they're dealing with the more reticent customers by allowing them to upgrade à la carte.

The next step is removing every remaining customer's DRM for free. Come April, Apple will not want to deal with DRM music because they won't be selling new music with DRM. They won't want to maintain a huge DRM system into perpetuity so that legacy customers can play their music.

I bet we'll see a free upgrade to DRM-less iTunes once Apple makes the switch to 100% DRM free.

Step 1 - iTunes Plus Bulk Upgrade
Step 2 - iTunes Plus À La Carte Upgrade
Step 3 - Free DRM removal for remaining customers in April *
Step 4 - Shut down DRM system, remove burden of responsibility to legacy customers

I'll wait 'til April, thank you very much.

*note: I don't think that the free upgrade will be 256kbps. It'll simply remove DRM from the song and leave it at 128kbps
 
Good move - and you are not only paying just for the DRM free aspect - it gives you the 256kbps version of the song
 
I am not pissed because I know this is 100% the recoring industry and at times Apple has to do some things they dont want to do to keep thier contracts with the recording studios in place. In regards to the recording industry this is nothing new as they have been screwing everyone for years. This is basically par for the course for them. They try and weasel every last penny from people. It has always been that way and it always will be that way. Its the price honest people pay by not downloading.

The bottom line is Apple rules and the recording industry sucks!!!
 
Chupa Chupa said:
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.
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I think you read it too fast. That's exactly what I mean. I only buy from ITUNES when Amazon doesn't have it. I'm a DJ and I need it to be in MP3 format for cross compatibility. Amazon rocks.
 
Melan said:
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.
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Agreed.

This could have been implemented from the beginning
 
reallynotnick said:
I understand why everyone is so upset but you paid for what you got and if you want better you have to pay to upgrade.
Just because you bought iLife '08 and had to 'suffer' with worse features doesn't mean you should get iLife '09 for free.
When the Blu-Ray version of a DVD comes out doesn't mean you have the right to own that too.

Everything is going to become better in the future, it's just a fact, we become more productive every year and technology increases. You can wait till you are 99 years old and then buy everything and you will probably be happy as you will die before something better comes out.

If you don't feel that 30¢ is worth it, then don't pay for it, the market adjusts to what people demand. I personally upgraded my library for $30 because I enjoy the higher quality and the ability to use my music on other devices, while I hated paying more I liked the added features it got me so I paid up.
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But it's not an upgrade for me. It's not about better; I could care less about the bit rate. From my perspective, I'm being charged for the right to play the songs I purchased on any device, which is something I would argue should have been within my rights from the beginning.
 
I tried to upgrade my iTunes DRM tracks. I only have about 40. It only did a portion which is understandable since they are in the process of doing the entire library. But there are six tracks I have that are available as DRM Free iTunes Plus tracks right now that did not upgrade or even show up in the upgrade section. I also have a music video currently available as iTunes Plus and it will not upgrade. I WANT to pay for these and do the upgrade to iTunes Plus, but it just doesn't seem to be working. I contacted iTunes Support and they had no answer. Glad I didn't buy into this fiasco too much. I prefer CDs anyway.
 
Upgrade!

I say upgrade - with the economy it is more likely than not you will be at home to listen to the sweet sounds of iTunes.... of course not between the hours of 10am to 11am while you watch the Price Is Right

wolfshades said:
Absolutely it's pure golden greed at work here. I just figured out the approximate cost were I to upgrade my collection. Only $1,200.00

Let's see: upgrade or go on a vacation?

Decisions, decisions.
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How Generous

And they even let me keep my OLD files on my desktop.... that is nice.

It looks like they are also pulling down files that I have lost on old mac.... at least the number of files I paid for were well more then waht was in y purchased folder.... that would make me love apple even more... assuming that is possible. I use a PC only becasue I get a check every two weeks... but that truly is the worst part of my job - I'm lucky....

Sweetbike40 said:
Excellent news. I had no idea this was coming. :)
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Jetson said:
I'm sorry, but this whole "upgrade" to DRM free, 256 kbps seems like greed to me.

$0.30 per track adds up quickly. These iTunes Plus tracks weren't even available when I purchased the original tracks at $0.99. Now Apple wants to charge an additional $0.30 per track retroactively, when they only charge $0.99 for the iTunes Plus tracks today?

It's greed, pure greed. Loyal customers don't even get a price break. Apple has $billions in cash profits, yet they insist on treating their customers to such a shabby "offer". Oh they finally relent and let you upgrade by the track, because they weren't getting the huge cash bonanza they had hoped for by forcing you to upgrade your entire collection. Whoop-dee-doo-dah-day!

Sonically most people can't even tell the difference between a 192 kbps AAC track and a 256 kbps AAC track. So the real benefit is getting rid of the hated DRM. Is this really worth the potentially hundreds of dollars of cost to the customer?

I'm sorry but this leaves me with a bad impression.
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You hit the nail on the head. It was okay when they first released DRM-free tracks because they were charging 1.29 for them. So charing 30 cents to upgrade made perfect sense. Now, it makes ZERO sense.
 
can someone tell me what drm does? how does it affect the song? i wouldnt know, i use limewire (you can all bash me for that, i really dont care). i just wanna know how drm affects your song
 
likemyorbs said:
can someone tell me what drm does? how does it affect the song? i wouldnt know, i use limewire (you can all bash me for that, i really dont care). i just wanna know how drm affects your song
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DRM is the devil. Basically if you buy a DRM track from iTunes, you can only play it on iTunes or a iPod. Digital Rights Management = Greed
 
techmonkey said:
DRM is the devil. Basically if you buy a DRM track from iTunes, you can only play it on iTunes or a iPod. Digital Rights Management = Greed
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are you serious? thats absolutely absurd, what's going to happen in 50 years? im sure itunes and your ipod wont exist anymore. then what are you supposed to do with your digital music library? all digital songs should be unlocked, whats yours is yours (especially when you pay for it). and for all the fanboys that think its ok for apple to charge an extra .29 to "upgrade" your songs to drm free, you're all crazy. the corporations LOVE customers like you.
 
likemyorbs said:
and for all the fanboys that think its ok for apple to charge an extra .29 to "upgrade" your songs to drm free, you're all crazy. the corporations LOVE customers like you.
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I agree. I love my MacBook Pro, but Apple really knows how to milk the fanboys...
 
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