iTunes going DRM Free

So yesterday I read that iTunes is going DRM Free, to which I thought: Finally!

I have a question though. How do I know what music is DRM free and what isn't? Is it all under iTunes Plus like before, or have Apple decided to keep it all under the "standard" iTunes section?

Hopefully that makes sense, because I can't actually find the iTunes Plus link now.

What about the music you've already bought from them with DRM? Will they let you download a DRM free version of that so that you are completely free, or are they going to say "too bad" to the unfortunates who already bought infected music from them?

You can upgrade, but at a cost.

I'm thankful i've bought all of my music (Well, it's only one album, I mainly use Spotify nowadays) from 7digital.

Excellent post from Mr. Jenkins, I am sooo going to blog about this!

Yeh I don't understand the cost I think it should be free now I'm paying 99p for upgraded songs when before it was completely free.

I also hope the british store will follow the US store because there songs are now alot cheaper that can be chose through tiers of some sort now I think music companies have a choice of $0.99 or $0.69 (lolz 69) which should be brought over here to compete with 7 and amazon

Pokeh, you'll know a song is DRM-free when it says 'iTunes Plus' above the BUY ALBUM button at the top of an album's page. Or by noticing the little grey plus symbol next to songs in search listings and other lists of available songs.

David, you can upgrade your library at a cost of 20p per song. New versions will be downloaded without DRM, replacing the DRMed instances in your library, maintaining play counts, ratings, playlist appearances and so on.

Okay, thanks for clearing that up.

Indeed. Makes me very pleased I am not an iTunes customer.

I'm still debating with myself if I should switch to iTunes for music downloads in the future or if I should stick with 7digital.

On the one hand, happy days, .aac is higher quality than .mp3, but I don't have a good idea of how many applications and how many other devices like mp3 players and phones support the format. It's not a problem for me now, but if it becomes a problem in the future i'll be quite miffed.

As long as you know how to drag and drop files, I see no compelling reason to become an iTunes customer.

iTunes has the convenience of being an all in one solution. Although to me at least, I see the freedom of being able to choose the best download prices (i.e. shop around) and which hardware you want to use as an even bigger convenience.

I think Apple have shot themselves in the foot by not allowing the iPod Touch to have a mass storage device mode. They should see that their hold over the music download market is going to slip away, in which case, they could still sell their hardware to people who don't buy music from them. Although in typical Apple style, they instead punish people who don't do things their way.

Pokeh, if you use an iPod, considering the superior format of AAC and the pricing, I actually think it's a decent offering. I've always persuaded people avoid iTunes for downloads, but now on the odd occasion I buy a track online, I'll use it instead of the competition.

Nate, what other hardware supports AAC?

I'll look in to which devices support .aac. I can't see me ever buying a cheap mp3 player, and i'll be sticking with my iPod Touch for the foreseeable future.

Actually now that i've thought about it I have absolutely no idea why i'm worrying about .aac. I'll never buy an mp3 player on the cheap, i'm smart enough to check if said mp3 player would support .aac, iTunes plays it and I guess that there are plugins at least for other media players.

But what if I decided to get rid of iTunes because, I dunno, say 7digital offered the same quality music but at a cheaper price - would I have to keep iTunes to put the music on my iPod/MP3 Player? Or can I just view the files in Explorer and drag and drop?

AFAIK, Apple did not include mass storage mode on the iPod Touch, which is what I was talking about in my earlier post for Apple shooting themselves in the foot.

General rule of thumb: if you ever want the freedom to change how you do things in the future, don't use Apple.

Ack, true.

Sony Walkmans, some Creative players, and many music phones.

Thanks, that's more than I thought actually.

It's more than most people seem to think.

No, ipods do not support drag and drop. You have to use an ipod manager, e.g itunes. However, if you just want a lightweight ipod manager there are unofficial alternatives, for example Yamipod. Unfortunately, most of the unofficial managers do not work with the ipod touch/ iphone as yet.