iTunes is a wonderful tool to suit your musical needs. With millions of songs and videos, and the new Genius feature, it becomes easier to download anything your heart, and ears, desire. If an awesome song is released, you have the option to purchase only that song instead of its entire album (as opposed to CD’s). Most aspects of iTunes have been convenient and enjoyable, but there are exceptions. Apple had armed their iTunes content with DRM (Digital Rights Management) in order to protect music from illegal mass-distribution. That sounds reasonable, but there’s a huge problem with it. If you ever transfer your music to a non-Apple phone, DRM will not let you play the music on that phone, which can be quite a sticky situation. DRM prevents certain activity such as adding music to an iTunes that’s not authorized under your account, using music on non-Apple devices, and making the transfer of files from one computer to another very complicated.
Apple has decided to let up on this security measure, and now has DRM-free “iTunes Plus” music! However, the songs that you’ve already downloaded will remain under DRM unless you pay the 30¢ per song upgrade price. The cost to remove the DRM from a music video is 60¢. To remove the DRM from your iTunes Plus eligible music follow this link.
The iTunes Plus upgrade charge is only for songs you’ve already bought, and iTunes Plus songs that you haven’t purchased yet are the same price as DRM-protected ones. Remember to look for the little “+” next to the price of a song on iTunes to see if it’s an iTunes Plus (no DRM) song!
Thank God, finally!!!
But I dont really like the fact I now have to pay to “upgrade” my current library to the new standard….
@Riot Punk
It is cruel, isn’t it? To make us pay more for something that should have been there from the start!
However, is this really something new for Apple? Think of all the big bucks they’re getting for this. What about when Apple charges for major firmware upgrades for iPod touch users? They know almost everyone is going to pay the upgrade price, so why not?
The truth is, Apple has their consumers tied into their products, so they can pretty much charge what ever the hell they want to. It’s a sad truth.
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They should do that for free. They put the lock on and gave nobody any choice.
In cydia there is a mod that will allow you to sync your iphone with multiple itunes libraries. Does this remove the DRM?? What about freeware like senuti, that seems to slove any transfer issues i have had so far
@dominickc
The DRM is a “lock” on the song, only allowing them to do certain things(like sync with ONLY the purchaser’s iTunes account).
the absence of DRM means you could really do anything you want to with the song. Removing the DRM potentially makes creating free custom ringtones(by clipping it to 30 seconds with audio editing software) simpler. Like I said, without DRM, you can almost do anything with the song. DRM EXTREMELY restricts songs’ capabilities.
@ZGOZZ
I agree, however; this is nothing new for Apple. It’s just another way to make money. That’s their style.
Rather late, and rather rude to expect me to pay to unlock tracks I already own, but a step in the right direction.
@ dominickc
What is that mod called and what repository do I find it in? The one for syncing multiple itunes libraries?