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story category iTunes Dumps The DRM
Changes pricing structure for new, old songs...
03:22PM Tuesday Jan 06 2009 by Karl Bode
tags: legal · prices · business · content
Tipped by nasadude See Profile
Apple today announced several changes to the iTunes store, most notable of which is that the company is eliminating digital rights management (DRM) from their downloads. The change comes at a cost however, Apple bending to the recording industry's long-standing demand for variable pricing. Apple's now delivering single tracks for 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29 -- with the price tag determined by the major labels and a song's popularity and/or age. Apple also announced that iPhone users can now preview and purchase the entire iTunes Store via AT&T's 3G network, something previously restricted to Wi-Fi.

update:It looks like you'll be paying thirty cents extra to convert your existing catalog to non-DRM format.

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Forums » iTunes Dumps The DRM
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jjoshua
Premium
join:2001-06-01
Scotch Plains, NJ

1 edit

Finally

Something reasonable. And legal.
RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11

Re: Finally

No kidding. And way late. Amazon, eMusic and 7digital (among others) had been doing this for quite awhile now.
--
Toolmaster of La Grange.

Count Zero
MD2Be
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Re: Finally

said by RadioDoc See Profile :

No kidding. And way late. Amazon, eMusic and 7digital (among others) had been doing this for quite awhile now.
And the DRM-free part wasn't Apple's fault. Besides Apple's iTunes Store is still the single largest music sales force in the market PERIOD.
beaups

join:2003-08-11
Hilliard, OH

the 256kbs bitrate is exciting too. I could never imagine paying $1 for a DRM'd 128kbps song. I would think if you want people to pay for something when the competition is "free" then you better at least make sure the product is just as good. This is good.

Sly
Premium
join:2004-02-20
Johnson City, TN
clubs:
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2 edits

Re: Finally

What they charge for a song is what I pay for an album... One song? 18¢... DRM free and high variable bitrate.

»www.mp3count.com

One song? 18¢... DRM free and high variable bitrate.

--
"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."
- Plato -
quatrix

join:2005-02-11
Davie, FL
It was already legal, but I'm sure you knew that.

sousademiami

join:2003-02-04
Miami, FL

Re: Finally

I think the point is, before the options were reasonable OR legal, now we have something that is both reasonable AND legal.
--
OASAASLLS

N3OGH
Bear patrol must be working like a charm
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join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs
·Verizon Online DSL


1 edit
Considering most of the music I like is old and unpopular, I expect to be paying less for more.

All I've got to say is if teenage girls start listening to Steely Dan and Oingo Boingo, I may have to get Medieval on someone quick....

Edit to add "I like"
--
Petty people are disproportionably corrupted by petty power…

Grail Knight
Who Dares Wins
Premium
join:2003-05-31
Erie, PA
·Verizon Online DSL


1 edit

Re: Finally

quote:
Considering most of the music is old and unpopular, I expect to be paying less for more.
What you consider unpopular more then likely is someone else's favorite music.

I listen to Classical & Symphonic music and have always paid dirt cheap prices only because others deem it unpopular.

IMO the price across the board should be a fixed rate of say .50¢ per song.

Edit*
--
"The little things are infinitely the most important."

Oleg
Bellsouth Fastaccess
Premium
join:2003-12-08
Birmingham, AL

Re: Finally

I am only into 80's and 90's music.

Grail Knight
Who Dares Wins
Premium
join:2003-05-31
Erie, PA

Re: Finally

To each their own.

BF69

join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN

said by Grail Knight See Profile :

quote:
Considering most of the music is old and unpopular, I expect to be paying less for more.
What you consider unpopular more then likely is someone else's favorite music.

I listen to Classical & Symphonic music and have always paid dirt cheap prices only because others deem it unpopular.

IMO the price across the board should be a fixed rate of say .50¢ per song.

Edit*
Really 69 cents is not that much. Hell 30 years ago I was paying $1 for a 45 single. That's about $2.50 in today money.

Grail Knight
Who Dares Wins
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·Verizon Online DSL


1 edit

Re: Finally

As I said across the board as in one set price.
Not .39 here and a buck and change there.

I really do not care if it is a dime or a buck something per song just level the playing field IMO.

Edit*
--
"The little things are infinitely the most important."

ialsoagreeee

@ameritech.net

Re: Finally

I agree, 50 cents across the board for 256k mp3 is a fair price, considering it doesn't cost them anything since it is a "copy" and not a resource. Also this will attract more customers and spur demand.
Surfinusa
Premium
join:2001-02-08
said by jjoshua See Profile :

Something reasonable. And legal.
Agreed

RangerTX
Premium
join:2006-05-17
Los Angeles, CA
Hahahaha....like that will make a difference.

Oleg
Bellsouth Fastaccess
Premium
join:2003-12-08
Birmingham, AL
I may start using itunes again.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Question is now will they begin inching up the pricing. To me even $1.29 seems pretty high for an .mp3

Count Zero
MD2Be
Premium
join:2007-01-18
Warner Robins, GA

Re: Finally

Now that Apple has agreed to this pricing scheme expect it to become the norm in all of the online music stores in the near future.

Xizer

join:2004-02-05
New York, NY

said by jjoshua See Profile :

Something reasonable. And legal.
$1.29 for a lossy format audio file is unreasonable.

insomniac84

join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN

Re: Finally

Interesting theory. I wonder how people justified buying records and cassette tapes.

Xizer

join:2004-02-05
New York, NY

Re: Finally

said by insomniac84 See Profile :

Interesting theory. I wonder how people justified buying records and cassette tapes.
Are you proprosing that we actually regress when it comes to audio technology? That's absurd.

The technology for lossless audio is readily available and has been for many years. It is unacceptable for it to not be used.

Ebolla

join:2005-09-28
Dracut, MA

Re: Finally

Think the point was that at the time when cassettes were king that people said "hmmm $x.xx is reasonable for this format" when they could also borrow tape and dub from a friend. I don't think his point was lets go back to a format that doesn't make sense due to technology advances.
Lineage
rawr?
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said by Xizer See Profile :

said by jjoshua See Profile :

Something reasonable. And legal.
$1.29 for a lossy format audio file is unreasonable.
I have 256k MP3 files and can't hear the difference between them and an uncompressed WAV. 128k is another story altogether though.

Cheese
Premium
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL
clubs:

How much....

Does it cost to buy Itunes? Since the whole store is for sale, i'll buy it and jack up the prices! MUAHAHAHAHAH

tad2020

join:2007-07-17
Orange, CA

Re: How much....

That'll be second most expensive AT&T iPhone bill we've ever seen.
apollo80

join:2002-01-31
Richmond, VA

For those that have iTunes DRM songs already...

Anyone know if iTunes will allow for a download of the drm free songs for free or for a small fee for those that have already purchased drm songs?
iansltx

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Re: For those that have iTunes DRM songs already...

The fee used to be 29 cents per song, but may have gone away or changed to a lower amount by now.

By the way, I'm predicting that AmazonMP3 &c will drop their prices for some songs to match iTunes' 69-cent collection.

$1.29 though...gimme a break.

Jehu
Premium
join:2002-09-13
MA

said by apollo80 See Profile :

Anyone know if iTunes will allow for a download of the drm free songs for free or for a small fee for those that have already purchased drm songs?
They are charging like 30 cents per song to "upgrade" to the DRM free version.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

Re: For those that have iTunes DRM songs already...

said by Jehu See Profile :

said by apollo80 See Profile :

Anyone know if iTunes will allow for a download of the drm free songs for free or for a small fee for those that have already purchased drm songs?
They are charging like 30 cents per song to "upgrade" to the DRM free version.
Thats how it should have been IN THE FIRST PLACE!
--
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wifi4milez
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said by apollo80 See Profile :

Anyone know if iTunes will allow for a download of the drm free songs for free or for a small fee for those that have already purchased drm songs?
quote:
iTunes offers customers a simple, one-click option to easily upgrade their entire library of previously purchased songs to the higher quality DRM-free iTunes Plus format for just 30 cents per song or 30 percent of the album price.
--
Комитет государственной безопасности

See 7 replies to this post

NPGMBR

join:2001-03-28
Arlington, VA
If you want to convert your tracks to the DRM Free format you'll have to pay an additional .30 and I think that is per track.

Matt
Quitting Caffeine - Argh
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Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..


1 edit

$1.29 iTunes Plus?

They've been offering iTunes Plus songs with no DRM at $1.29 for a year or so ... was that limited to certain songs and now this new pricing scheme has been pushed to all songs?

It would have helped if I had read the article first.
b10010011
Whats a Posting tag?

join:2004-09-07
Bellingham, WA
·Comcast Formerly ..


1 edit

They will adopt the RIAA's backwards economics pricing plan.

Where popular music cost more than obscure, old, or less popular music.

Since there is in essence an unlimited supply. Basic economics would dictate that popular music costs less because they will make up the differece in volume.

Less popular, obscure, and old tracks should cost more because people are willing to pay more for hard to find and rare tracks.

See 6 replies to this post

SLD

join:2002-04-17
Los Angeles, CA
·Comcast

Is this viable?

Apple also announced that iPhone users can now preview and purchase the entire iTunes Store via the 3G network, something previously restricted to Wi-Fi
How many users purchased the entire iTunes Store via Wi-Fi? Did they have it on sale, say for $5 million?

TSI Gabe
Premium,VIP
join:2007-01-03
Chatham, ON

Nice

This makes the service worth paying for finally.

IM1811

join:2001-08-20
Haverstraw, NY
·Verizon FIOS

It's all about the Beatles

At least the Beatles had some balls and held off until those no-good money grubbing shysters over at Apple dropped the DRM and one price nonesense.
The Fab Four do it again!

--
»www.bartgordon.net

See 11 replies to this post

mod_wastrel

join:2008-03-28

Use iTunes?

No. Pay money for MP3 lossies? Hell no.

See 10 replies to this post

Dogfather
Premium
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA

Which means anything good is a 30% increase

No thanks.

imwhite

@comcast.net

$1.29

Bahaha! 0.99 per song was somewhat reasonable, but to simply not have DRM and pay 1.29 is a bit steep.

Confused

@rogers.com

Re: $1.29

I'm a little confused here - apple's ACC (lossy) is the .m4p file extension; but some wiki articles regarding lossless also make note of apple's lossless format .m4a

So the question is: isn't the .m4a format that they will be subsequently selling, lossless?
nchaimov

join:2005-06-07
Portland, OR

Re: $1.29

No. m4a is the extension for files in the MP4 container format, regardless of the type of compression used. m4p is an MP4 container which is managed by the FairPlay DRM. An m4a *can* contain Apple Lossless format audio, but the files sold by iTunes are AAC, not Apple Lossless.

Count Zero
MD2Be
Premium
join:2007-01-18
Warner Robins, GA
That's just a container file - it can contain MP4 or Apple Lossless audio streams.

Pirate515
Premium
join:2001-01-22
Brooklyn, NY

said by imwhite :

Bahaha! $0.99 per song was somewhat reasonable, but to simply not have DRM and pay $1.29 is a bit steep.
I agree. But this time around, the record labels are the ones setting the price, so if they do not get much sales from these $1.29 tracks, hopefully they'll take a hint and lower the price to 99 or 69 cents.

The shame is that Apple will be losing out if the same track that will be selling on iTunes for $1.29 will be selling for $0.99 or less on AmazonMP3, Napster and the likes.

I also wish that now that Apple has dumped DRM, they just go MP3 as the rest of the DRM-free sites do. That way they can sell music to much wider audience and not just iPod/iPhone users.
--
Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies...
A MESSAGE to the RIAA and the MPAA: You shouldn't wound what you can't kill...

PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
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Re: $1.29

said by Pirate515 See Profile :

The shame is that Apple will be losing out if the same track that will be selling on iTunes for $1.29 will be selling for $0.99 or less on AmazonMP3, Napster and the likes.
Apple is famous for selling similar products for twice the price, i.e. phones, digital media players, and computers. Apparently they don't think they're losing out, as it's kept them in business (prosperously) for quite some time.

Right now, I can build a $500 pc that will run Leopard, but a similar system from Apple would cost $1,000. I can get a Creative Zen for $100, but a similar iPod would cost $200. This is the way Apple has always done business, because they put so much hype into their products that people think the price is worth it (I'm NOT saying it is or it isn't, I'm just saying that's what they do). Why should they model their music business any different? They won't be losing out, because people will still buy from them just the same as they always have. If anything, they'll make more money than other, cheaper stores.

fonzbear2000
Premium
join:2005-08-09
Saint Paul, MN

Why use itunes?????

When there's limewire, edonkey, bit torrent, and newsgroups with FREE music!!!
--
»For TRUTH and REALITY...

See 20 replies to this post
GPSrob

join:2007-05-21

almost there, but not quite

alright, well someone finally realized it didn't make sense to sell drm locked digital when you can buy physical media unencumbered by such things...

I'm still waiting for my dream internet record shop that I've wanted for a decade or longer. I want to buy a record online, have it drop shipped to my house and have the tracks be immediately available for download and/or streaming. I guess I'm not part the "new" generation of single-loving hipsters, but surely there a lot of people that want to consume and collect music as art or as fans of their favorite artists. When I buy a record, part of the joy is listening through it and reading the liner notes, etc. That hasn't changed since I started buying tapes then CDs, then digital. Only thing with digital is I'm stuck reading the laptop or desktop instead of a 2oz paper booklet that's more easy to relax with.
dougau
Premium
join:2007-08-09
Dickson, TN

A rip off if you already have "Fairplay" DRM protected songs

Upgrade for 30 cents per song or 30% of the album purchase price, what a crock of shit!

Jigsaw
Stardust We Are
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Cleveland, OH
·Cox HSI

Re: A rip off if you already have "Fairplay" DRM protected songs

said by dougau See Profile :

Upgrade for 30 cents per song or 30% of the album purchase price, what a crock of shit!
Yes it is its like buying a Car(Somewhat)And then them telling you the keys are 30% more.IMHO you already payed for it why do you need to pay them to take the DRM off.Even if they make em 256bit its still a rip-off...IMHO
--
"It's called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it."-George Carlin

JoneeSJ

join:2004-10-23
Wenonah, NJ

Will Limits Change

Dumb question... Will itunes change or drop the 5 machine authorization (deauthorization) limit, or the CD-burn limits built into their license/TOS.

Sorry, to ask, but I haven't bought/DL'd any itunes for a couple of years. (Just ripping my CD-collection into the itunes app.

JoneeSJ

join:2004-10-23
Wenonah, NJ

Dumb question... Will itunes change or drop the 5 machine authorization (deauthorization) limit, or the CD-burn limits built into their TOS.

Sorry, to ask, but I haven't bought/DL'd any itunes for a couple of years. (Just ripping my CD-collection into the itunes app.

GlobalMind
Domino Dude, POWER Systems Guy
Premium
join:2001-10-29
Hollywood, FL

Really what it does is open up the options for those folks who want to have a good digital music system in the home.

Now iTunes DRM won't be as much a limiting factor to whether you pick say a Sonos unit vs AppleTV or whatever. I don't have to think about burning iTunes tracks to CD and then ripping again to get DRM-free or trying to strip the DRM.

Sure you could have bought the tunes in other ways but that's not really the point of the discussion.

Frankly I am shocked the industry might actually be getting some bit of a clue. Will it stop piracy? Doubt it. Will it make customers happier? I think so.

I'm not overly thrilled with dropping the $40 to upgrade what I've bought, but I suspect I'll end up doing it at some point.
--
TheGlobalMind.com / Speed costs money. How fast do you want to go? / Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason. - Ralph Waldo Emerson / Free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity.

beta user

join:2008-11-10
USA, CA
·Charter Pipeline


1 edit
Now I should be able to find most of the songs I need. It always seems that if Amazon doesn't have what I am looking for, iTunes does, and vice-versa.

I am interested to know what I do with these songs that I have that are already DRMed, though.
--
Not quite a release candidate.

GlobalMind
Domino Dude, POWER Systems Guy
Premium
join:2001-10-29
Hollywood, FL

Re: Good.

said by beta user See Profile :

I am interested to know what I do with these songs that I have that are already DRMed, though.
Launch iTunes and go into the store it's supposed to seek & find what you have that can have the DRM removed. They give you a price to make that happen.

Supposedly come Q2 the whole catalog will be DRM-free so you're likely to go through the payment process again if what you have isn't all covered in the first run.
--
TheGlobalMind.com / Speed costs money. How fast do you want to go? / Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason. - Ralph Waldo Emerson / Free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity.

beta user

join:2008-11-10
USA, CA
·Charter Pipeline

Re: Good.

It looks like I had to "upgrade" to iTunes Plus? Well, it searched my library, but I didn't have to pay anything additional - though most of my library is from my CD collection anyway.

Thanks!
--
Not quite a release candidate.

GlobalMind
Domino Dude, POWER Systems Guy
Premium
join:2001-10-29
Hollywood, FL

Re: Good.

Yep I guess it depends on what all you have.

We've got around 330 purchased tracks of the 3500 in the library. All the others are CD rips so no biggie there. They want $39 to upgrade what will upgrade today...not sure if I'll bother yet.

Doctor Four
My other vehicle is a TARDIS
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Is retool that bloated POS iTunes application that also wants to install Safari and Quicktime into something more compact like Amazon MP3's download manager, and change the way their music is downloaded. They could use a web interface like that of Amazon MP3 and eMusic.

Oh and $1.29 for new, popular music will in no way compete with piracy, when if it is that popular and can easily be found in all the usual places.

Still, I suppose they will get some who will buy from there.

I do download from Usenet and torrents a lot, but I've also gotten music from Amazon MP3 that I could not find for free.
--
"The trouble with computers, of course, is that they are very sophisticated idiots." - Doctor Who (from Robot)
Mark F

join:2007-08-01
Fort Wayne, IN


1 edit
From movie and TV clips, hard to find and seldom heard music, songs put to home made videos, and groovy platters and stacks of wax spinning endlessly, it's on You Tube. If there was a way to easily download those tunes, they could be burned to CD and DVD.

But, what about just downloading music from You Tube, Brian's Doowop Fix, Michelle's Rockin' Oldies, Night Hawk Music, Patchy's, Mike's Oldies, Rose-Mar International, The Hound, and many other similar sites- simply to listen to songs offline that you couldn't listen to otherwise? Such as-

»www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTuNO9DjjqM

Mark F
Forums » iTunes Dumps The DRMpage: 1 · 2


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