iTunes is DRM-free, folks!
Mr. Phil hasn’t announced this yet, but after opening iTunes, we’re now presented with an option to upgrade our library (of UMG music) to DRM-free iTunes Plus status! It looks like it costs $0.30/song to upgrade to iTunes Plus, but this also includes music videos at $0.60/video! So there should be no DRM restrictions on those as well. So happiez.
Updating…
Alright, it’s just been announced, so here’s the run down:
- Pricing at $0.69, $0.99, and $1.29 based on the labels and how old the song is
- All songs in iTunes will eventually be DRM-free
- In addition to pricing, as previous rumored, you can now download all music from your iPhone over 3G instead of just Wi-Fi only!
Finally!!! this is awesome, now i can get rid of this damn iPhone!
whoop-whoop
Will it work if your music is not stored in the default iTunes folder?
Holy ****. While this is pretty sweet, I’m not sure if I’m yet ready to part with the $155.25 to upgrade my library. iTunes Canada is charging $0.40 per song and $0.80 per video. Yikes!
YES! I’m FREE!
I saw 21 songs available to buy, but when I tried it said they were no longer available. But they still show up on Itunes plus.
Does this mean the BlackBerry Storm can play music videos from iTunes?
where in itunes does it tell you to upgrade? My account doesn’t tell me about itunes plus
@ MP- when you go to itunes store look in the middle it says itunes plus drm-free
3g downloads now available for itunes, perhaps this is why they are bumpiong 2g from 850 and replacing with 3g?
As predicted! No more DRM. VZW still charges a lot more for OTA purchases.
Epic fail by apple
Will spur more blackberry sales. iTunes was basically the reason the get an iphone over a berry. That and great 3rd party apps like iFart.
Can’t wait to get home and pay apple to release me from the bonds of iEverything.
“Hello, iPod. Let me introduce you to Mr. SIG 9mm. I’m sure you two will have a blast.”
I got all wet when I read this post. But sucks that they are charging me like 50 bucks. I can put all my music on my G1 now. Yay!
Question, I’m only 17, no credit card, can I just buy a 50 dollar iTunes card to pay for the DRM Free thing?
“$0.30/song to upgrade to iTunes Plus” – this is one massive ripoff, much less the tracks are not high bit rate anyway… this should teach and pissoff so many people.
Actually it also upgrades the songs to 256
Psssst don’t tell anyone, but downloading via 2G seems to work
This is great news !
Absolutely lame, but leave it to BGR to spin this as the next coming of the Messiah. It’s beyond me why anyone would use iTunes over Amazon, where you can get high quality DRM-free MP3s since forever. Play them anywhere and everywhere since there’s no need to convert the file format. How many players natively play AAC? Right, thought so. And for any fanboy attempting to claim iTunes’ superior sound quality, you’re just full of Jobs’ hormones. Oh, let’s not forget the icing on the cake. All new releases will sell with a 30% premium on iTunes thanks to the record companies. And don’t get me started on iTunes’ bloatware performance on Windows. After several years, Apple developers still can’t make it lean and efficient? They simply don’t care. They’d rather spend millions on lame ads attacking Windows which were funny a long time ago. Apple used to be a marketing juggernaut, but they’re definitely losing their edge. They can’t sustain solely on their fanboy base without substance forever. OK, I’ll get off my soapbox now.
Why won’t it allow me to select which songs to upgrade? All or nothing, what a joke!
Definitely dowwnloading from the iTunes Store over EDGE on a first gen iPhone as I type. It’s not just for 3G anymore. LOL.
@ prof. moriarty AMEN BOTHER testify.
If you hate iTunes and Apple so much, why are you bothering to even read this post? Have fun on Amazon. Some of us actually want to listen to something besides the latest Kanye and Fall Out Boy. But, some of us are also over the age of 16. Although it is getting better, Amazon’s selection still isn’t what iTunes is. And let’s be honest, it’s a whole lot easier to buy from iTunes.
As to the bloated performance of iTunes on Windows. Yup, you are right. I wonder why they don’t bother to improve the performance much, on a platform that is competing with OS X. Hmm, that’s hard to figure out … Apple wouldn’t want to give you a reason to switch to the fruit, would they? And before you say you shouldn’t have to, you don’t. Buy your music from Amazon, put it on your Zune, and be happy with yourself. No one forced you to buy an iPod and use iTunes.
I can confirm the iTunes store works over EDGE using a first gen. iPhone
@Prof Moriarty who said: “OK, I’ll get off my soapbox now.”
Good. Especially considering your soapbox was on the verge of collapsing from the massive weight of your bullshit.
Amen, indeed, bitchboy.