What’s the deal with DRM?
Photo by dusk-photography 
For Apple users, the beginning of January is usually an exciting time. It’s the annual MacWorld Expo, and as a devoted “macolyte,” I anxiously read transcripts of yesterday’s final keynote address in anticipation of Apple’s “one more thing.” Despite a larger MacBook and updates to their iLife products, there wasn’t much to hold my interest–that is, until I read that music in the iTunes store would now be DRM-free. I’ve never really understood the Digital Rights Management restrictions on iTunes music-I just had a vague idea that there were limits on how much I could copy or burn the tunes I bought through the music store. What exactly will lifting these DRM restrictions mean? How will it affect me and my extensive music collection? For the answer, I turned to you. Here’s what I found.
Answers user jenacg must have also heard the news. She just asked a very similar question, and has already received some great answers. According to the_brain_of_the_purple_mountain, DRM software “controls how you can play, copy or burn music you have downloaded.” He also notes that it can limit the number of MP3 players the songs will play on, and will only allow you to burn the song to a CD a certain number of times. (This only applies to music downloaded from the iTunes store, not music you’ve imported from CDs or other sources.)
Of course, there have always been ways to circumvent the system. In my searching, I found gads of questions and answers about software to remove these restrictions, as well as recommendations for other retailers who already provide legal DRM-free downloads. But iTunes has one of the broadest selections of music, not to mention some great exclusive content-this move to DRM-free downloads is good news for those who want more freedom with the music we purchase.
Now, the big question is what happens with all the DRM-protected music I’ve already purchased? I know some of the music I’ve bought was already unrestricted, but most was not. (If you are not sure, blackmagic 8201 gives some good tips for discerning which files are protected and which aren’t.) For the answer to that one, I had to head over to the Apple site. Apparently, upgrading your currently protected music to the DRM-free version will cost 30 cents per song, or 30% of the entire album price. I suppose that’s alright, but it does seem a little ridiculous to have to cough up more money for music I’ve already paid for. I guess I’ll have to look at it as a small price to pay for the future of digital freedom.
What do you think of Apple’s move to remove the DRM restrictions from songs in the iTunes store? What effect will it have on the way you use your music?
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well thats a breath of fresh air! its about time itunes sold DRM free tracks. i bought an ipod becasue i wanted to be able to take my itunes music out and around without my computer, but couldnt put it on my mp3 player. things are getting better in the world already!
FINALLY! Someone cleared that up, I was so confused about DRM for the longest time. Thanks!
When you upgrade your music you also get a higher bit rate so I suppose that’s what you’re paying for.
Why are they going to charge 30cents per song that you already have downloaded with drm on it. I would just delete all the drm , and re-download the same exact songs from iTUNES drm free!
One gripe about having to pay to “un-DRM” — I bought some music just a couple days before the announcement. Why do I have to fork out any more than I already did, while the guy downloading the same thing today gets it DRM-free for the same price(maybe even cheaper… you didn’t really get into the new tiered pricing)?
This was the most exciting thing about such a lackluster macworld and i cant believe it cuz its their last time there and without steve.
But yeah, you can only play it on iPods through itunes and cant just put it on a flash drive and give music to a friend or move to another of your computers unless you authorize your account through itunes on that computer and you can only authorize 5.
Its a shame that you have to upgrade your libraries for 30 cents a song so people who decided to be good instead of limewire everything have to pay more even to upgrade which should of been in the first place. Im not even going to upgrade mine probably cuz im 15 and dont have a credit card to blow money away on.
DRM is in other things too and doesnt just come from itunes im pretty sure unless they were the only ones still selling DRM.
Appple got agreements from the 3 biggest music labels to let them sell DRM free music.
OMG FINALY!
But the part were it says that i need 30 cents to unprotect from DRR is kind of dumb.
Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks
If you surf the web you can find plenty of programs that remove the DRM for free. Paying the extra 30cents would be a waste of money, and per song are they out of their minds. And yes there are tons a musicstore websites that do sell uncopyrighted music just look around. A friend of mine does a subscription on the site he uses, $15 unlimited downloads I personally prefer buying a cd and ripping it to my computer so I can have my files and my cd. If it wasnt for my ipod id try to avoid itunes all together. Shop People
I say you are dumb if you pay that additional price for freeing the DRM of your songs.
It was foolish to buy DRM’d music in the first place.
Go here on more info about why DRM needs to end:
http://drm.info
I always found that the best way to circumvent the Digital Rights Management in the music purchased from i-Tunes was to burn the files to an audio CD (CD-RW) using WMP or another media player, ejecting the CD, then reloading the CD and ripping the music off of it using the same media player used to burn the CD.
Yeah, its nice but I only want to un-DRM one album but I dont have that option – only all or nothing
Why not just burn each of the CD’s you wish to keep, then reimport without the DRM? Otherwise check Download.com for a converter program, switch all of your songs over to MP3 or ACC, and reimport those files? This seems like kind of a rip-off if you ask me. They should have no right to charge you to continue using music you already purchased. What a load of crap!
I’m not a geek about computer stuff I don’t care
I also logged on to iTunes this morning, and saw they were having a big push on what they call “iTunes Plus,” which is supposed to be CD quality and DRM-free.
There was also a link on my account allowing me to “upgrade” over 100 prior iTunes album purchases by replacing them with “iTunes Plus” tracks, at a very reduced cost – about $3.00 per album rather than the usual $9.99. Now, a lot of these non-Plus albums I purchased were probably at a reduced price – $5.99, or $6.99 – which is one reason why I bought them! But some were not “discounted” at all.
So I’m happy to be able to buy DRM-free music for new purchases, but consider it somewhat of a ripoff to have to pay for the same tracks again if I’ve already shelled out the money. One can always burn the DRM tracks onto CD and then re-rip them and have DRM-free music, and to my ears there is NO difference between the two iTunes formats.
My conslusion, perhaps cynical, opon seeing the invitation to spend “only” $450 for over 2,000 DRM-free copies of songs I already have was that Apple was cash-strapped and looking for money. If they weren’t, they’d be one of only a few businesses in America that was not!
PS I do find that iTunes is the best overall music management system. I “import” or rip CDs and burn them with it. I just make sure I set the controls so the tracks are imported in MP3 format, which is playable on more machines than whatever format (M4P, or something like that) iTunes uses.
I like the Roxio program too, but it takes up too much memory on my four-year-old PC. I have to spring for a new one some day, maybe after Windows 7 replaces Vista.
So I read the iTunes Plus FAQs and it said you could only burn the same playlist to a CD 7 times. So does that mean if you create different playlists each time, you can burn your purchased songs as many times as you want? Is there any way you can check how many times you’ve burned a specific song to a CD?
Also, does anyone know any programs to remove DRM from my iTunes music files?
I’m not a fan of the upgrade price. 30 cents (1/3 the cost of the original song) just to convert it to DRM free? Most folks don’t care about the higher bit rate – they just want the right to play the music they purchased on any digital device. The higher bit rate is Apple’s excuse for charging people for something they really should be giving the customers.
I’m Apple’s not the only one to blame – record companies are probably seeing most of the revenue generated by this scheme. And they wonder why people choose to steal music.
If I were a famous musician, I would be pissed to hear that someone is being charged for music of mine that they’ve already purchased.
Personally, after 4 years of continued support for iTunes, I am switching to Amazon. While I will continue to purchase Apple computers and iPods, I feel the music store has swindled me, and doesn’t value me as a long time customer who helped turn them into the #1 music retailer in the U.S. I’m not going to continue supporting a venture who chooses to punish loyal customers.
I’ve never understood people complaining about DRM and bitrates – you know what’s DRM free and comes at the best quality bitrate possible? CDs! And they also come in a nice little box with booklets sometime containing interesting information, photos and lyrics. People have forgotten how to listen to music. Sitting in front of a computer clicking away and hearing the odd tune out of context from it’s tracklist brethren through a pair of crappy speakers. That’s no way to appreciate music. And iPods – don’t get me started, abomination to music. Not so much the iPods themselves, but Apple earphones are just dreadful. Try listening to anything you’ve been used to listening to as an mp3/ma4 on CD on a proper stereo or decent headphones and you’ll think you’re listening to a completely different version of the same song – so much of the music is lost.
i think $0.30 is ridiculous for music i already bought.
Let’s hope Microsoft takes a hint here. Good job Apple for making our online experience a bit less frustrating and miserable
I think Apple are just trying to copy Amazon now. Amazon launched the MP3 store first and now Apple are copying to try and keep up. They’ve realised that people are fed up with being forced to buy an Apple iPod or iPhone to listen to their iTunes on the move, when there are cheaper standard MP3 players out there. I think though Apple are being really cheeky asking for 30c to unprotect the music now. That’s like mobile phone companies who charge you to unlock a mobile phone, but here we’re talking about music files. Stuff that off there are ways to remove the DRM protection anyway if you Google it, which if you have a lot of DRM protected stuff from Apple might be cheaper. I started using Amazon MP3 store before Apple announced they were removing the DRM, and I think I’m going to carry on using that and not switch back to iTunes as Amazon were the ones that brought about the revolution, if Amazon hadn’t launched the MP3 store in the UK do we really think that Apple would have removed DRM from there songs?
DRM only gives pain to the users that buy their music. All the others can have their music free.
And as I buy my music, was about time someone stop this joke. DRM isn’t about protection. Is to give pain to legitimate users.
Glad Apple start it, hope others will follow too.
To the user said CD’s are free from DRM. Has ever heared about rootkits? And CD’s are protected too.
a week ago i bought a converter online for 34 bucks. It was called sound taxi. I used it to transfer my 2800 songs in itunes to windows media player, so i could listen to them on a different mp3 player. It took 3.5 days to complete the task but it worked.
DRM-free tracks might be cool and all, but you’re paying more for that gained “freedom.” DRM or no, I refuse to buy music from iTunes until they offer music in a higher quality than 128kbps. I’m not asking for an ALAC standard, but V2 files aren’t that large and are of much higher quality than what iTunes currently offers.