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Apple to offer EMI tunes DRM-free (Read 1186 times)

jEfFgObLuE


I've got a fever...

    Apple will start selling tunes from the EMI record label free of all copy protection / Digital Restriction Management in May. The songs will be $1.29, and will be encoded in 256kbps AAC instead of the current 128kbps. So $0.30 extra gets a much higher quality recording with no restrictions on how to use it. (Don't abuse it!) Big grin Missing from today's announcement was The Beatles (who are distributed by EMI, and recently made peace with Apple Computer). But here's what I think (and you heard it here first) -- remastered Beatles CD's and digital downloads will arrive June 1. Why June 1? 40th Anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper, and 20th anniversary of the original release of their stuff on CD. Cheers, Jeff

    On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

    zoom-zoom


    rectumdamnnearkilledem

      Interesting...I'm not sure that I would notice the increase in quality, since most of what I download is played on my iPod with sport headphones or on the craptacular speaker set-up connected to our 'puter. k

      Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

      remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

           ~ Sarah Kay

      jEfFgObLuE


      I've got a fever...

        Interesting...I'm not sure that I would notice the increase in quality, since most of what I download is played on my iPod with sport headphones or on the craptacular speaker set-up connected to our 'puter.
        True, but you won't have any more limits on how many CD's you can burn it to, or how many computers are allowed to play it on. You could even put it on a non-iPod player if you wanted to (not that I would encourage such behavior Tongue ). Plus, programs like that Tangerine that I posted about would no longer gack at the sight of iTunes-purchased tracks (at least not the ones from EMI). To me, the removal of DRM, and thus having the right to do what I want to do with the music that I pay for, is the key thing, and the quality is gravy. Hopefully, this deal will pressure the other major labels to kick DRM to the curb. Cheers, Jeff

        On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

        zoom-zoom


        rectumdamnnearkilledem

          Hopefully, this deal will pressure the other major labels to kick DRM to the curb.
          Yeah, that would be sweet. Just to use a BPM program would be worth it for me, I think. Too bad it wouldn't work retroactively. k

          Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

          remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

               ~ Sarah Kay

          jEfFgObLuE


          I've got a fever...

            Too bad it wouldn't work retroactively.
            It will work sort-of retro. Apple's gonna offer a one-time shot to upgrade all your purchased EMI-music for $0.30 a song. So if you want to go DRM-free, you won't have to completely re-buy the song, just pay the difference... Big grin Also, I just read that the album price isn't going up, at least initially. So paying the same price for a DRM-free high quality album is gonna make this bad boy think twice about buying more CD's.

            On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

            zoom-zoom


            rectumdamnnearkilledem

              Hmm...I wonder how many EMI tracks I have. Do they have a list of EMI artists?

              Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

              remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                   ~ Sarah Kay

              jEfFgObLuE


              I've got a fever...

                Hmm...I wonder how many EMI tracks I have. Do they have a list of EMI artists?
                Here you go... This might be more accurate...

                On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

                zoom-zoom


                rectumdamnnearkilledem

                  Cool...I will have to go through and see if it's worth upgrading any of those... k

                  Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

                  remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                       ~ Sarah Kay

                  jEfFgObLuE


                  I've got a fever...

                    Also, I think when the whole thing goes down in May, the iTMS will tell you which songs are eligible for upgrade.

                    On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

                      It will work sort-of retro. Apple's gonna offer a one-time shot to upgrade all your purchased EMI-music for $0.30 a song. So if you want to go DRM-free, you won't have to completely re-buy the song, just pay the difference... Big grin
                      Can't you just burn it on a CD and reimport it to get rid of the copy protection? Or does that diminish the sound quality in some way? (You seem to know a lot about it and I've always wondered).
                      jEfFgObLuE


                      I've got a fever...

                        Can't you just burn it on a CD and reimport it to get rid of the copy protection? Or does that diminish the sound quality in some way?
                        Yeah, you lose a little quality doing the burn-n-rip because you're re-compressing a piece of music that was already compressed to begin with. If you re-import as a WAV, AIFF, or Apple Loslesss, you won't lose anything, but the file will be huge. Besides, the whole burn-n-rip technique is kind of pain. Though it is a good workaround in a pinch. Cheers, Jeff

                        On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

                        jEfFgObLuE


                        I've got a fever...

                          FYI, the high bit-rate DRM-free songs from EMI are now available on iTunes. It's called iTunes Plus They said they'd come out in May. Nothing like waiting for the last minute, eh? You have to download the latest version of iTunes to access. I only had 9 purchased tracks eligible for upgrade. But I sense I will buy more music online now that a lot of it is higher quality and DRM-free. Also, I look forward to buying more classical and jazz online, where you really can tell a difference between 128kbps and 256kbps files.

                          On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

                          shyrunner07


                            i have 66- all of which i lost in the great syncing snafu in april...which makes me wonder- if i were to click upgrade, would the files be redownloaded to my library, or would it just change the licensing to the tracks? I never did purchase one of those "I emptied my recycle bin but i changed my mind and really want my stuff back" restorers (though i should because i just know i will make the same mistake again and again...*not really much for learning lessons the first time*). However, hubby did bring home from work a nice roomy external h/d...Big grin
                            jEfFgObLuE


                            I've got a fever...

                              i have 66- all of which i lost in the great syncing snafu in april...which makes me wonder- if i were to click upgrade, would the files be redownloaded to my library, or would it just change the licensing to the tracks? I never did purchase one of those "I emptied my recycle bin but i changed my mind and really want my stuff back" restorers (though i should because i just know i will make the same mistake again and again...*not really much for learning lessons the first time*). However, hubby did bring home from work a nice roomy external h/d...Big grin
                              Good News! If you upgrade, you download all new tracks at $0.30 apiece (the price differential between the $0.99 you already paid, and the $1.29 price of the high bit-rate, DRM-free files). Big grin One word of caution. The tracks are DRM-free -- there are no restrictions on how many computers they play on, or what music players they can play on (as long as the player supports AAC). But to discourage piracy, they encode the file with your username/email address. This means that if the file gets uploaded to P2P file-sharing service, the RIAA or some other entity can trace the file back to it's purchaser. No word if the old burn and re-rip technique strips this watermark.

                              On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.