iTunes Plus

[AgustusM]

Along with the announcement of making virtually the entire ITunes library DRM free, Apple announced a one-click solution to upgrade previously bought tracks to DRM free versions.

My whole upgrade was $126. Even though I have 9,000 tracks the overwhelmingly majority of it was stuff I imported off CD's I had collected over the years.

I was very impressed and happy about the upgrade option, I always disliked the fact that I had a small portion of my library that was DRM restricted.

others upgrading today to DRM free?

Apple - iTunes - What's New - Download DRM-free music (http://www.apple.com/itunes/whatsnew/)

Apple Announces Changes to iTunes Stores: DRM Free, Variable Pricing - Mac Rumors (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/01/06/apple-announces-changes-to-itunes-store/)

[Antmeister]

I wish they would also do this with movies, but that is going to be a long hard fought battle.

[Antmeister]

By the way, not quite understanding why I have to pay more for purchasing the DRM songs to begin with. Why are we being charged for this service while people are still paying the same price as we did for the same songs the first time around?

[stevew]

I don't get being happy about only having to pay 126 for this. How much Itunes stuff did you have? I guess if it was a thousand songs or something it might be worth it. Still seems like you're getting double dipped.

[DaddyTorgo]

yeah seriously. if i owned the CD's I'd be ripshit I had to pay $1 to get the stuff DRM free. Fuck that.

[DanGarion]

WTF they got you twice?

[AgustusM]

the 126 was for about 500 songs I bought at 99 cents and the upgrade price is to non DRM version price of 1.29 vs .99 so about 30 cents a song. There was also a upgrade value for full albums.

I think that is reasonable. I don't mind paying more for DRM free and I don't consider it being double dipped (If I would have had to pay full price, rather than the "upgrade" price I would have considered it being double dipped) I do appreciate that there was an upgrade price and the process was so simple (a single click, a confirmation e-mail and then another click or two for everything I had purchased from Apple in the past two years.)

This is not for any of the CD's I had ripped on my own(which represents 90% of my library)

The bigger news is that from this point forward ITunes is a DRM free music distributor which is simply huge news. Despite the various avenues to free music

I have always despised DRM, and I believe this will be the tipping point that kills it at least for music.

[AgustusM]

Plus the bitrate on all the songs was improved to 256

[AgustusM]

and it kept all the information like playlist, play count and changes I had made (for example I consolidated down to 11 genres for order)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Apple announced a one-click solution to upgrade previously bought tracks to DRM free versions.

Can I upgrade previously purchased music to iTunes Plus? (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1711)

Yes. Any available upgrades will be shown on the Upgrade My Library page (Music received for free is not eligible for upgrade.). You can upgrade all music at once by using the Buy button. This replaces all music you've bought previously on iTunes with available iTunes Plus versions of the same music. You cannot choose which songs, music videos or albums to upgrade individually. Song upgrades are available for $0.30, video upgrades for $0.60, and albums for 30% of the album price. iTunes Plus music will continually be added to iTunes, so check back often to find new music available for upgrading.

The bolded part seems pretty money grubbing on their part.

[ISiddiqui]

I don't get being happy about only having to pay 126 for this. How much Itunes stuff did you have? I guess if it was a thousand songs or something it might be worth it. Still seems like you're getting double dipped.

Yeah, totally. But then, I'm never amazed at how happy Mac fans are to give Apple extra money ;).

[Drake]

I don't think I'd pay to "upgrade" to DRM-free. My philosophy has always been that I'll buy your DRM'd version if that's all you're offering, but once I've paid, then if I want to go to a torrent site and download a non-DRM version I can actually use, then we're square.

I realize this doesn't constitute a legal argument, but it satisfies my moral requirement.

[samifan24]

I generally like and support Apple but not on this decision.

Why should I have to pay again to get songs I already purchased in a now standard format? There's a reason I haven't purchased any music from iTunes in over a year and it's called Amazon MP3. Remember when iTunes first went to iTunes Plus and some of the songs were DRM-free? Remember how there was a big fiasco about purchaser information being included in the metadata of each song? Whatever happened with that?

What Apple should do is make the conversion process to DRM-free on previously purchased songs absolutely free. Don't nickel and dime previous customers, Apple.

[Buccaneer]

I don't follow. Why would I want to upgrade to DRM-free?

[Antmeister]

I don't follow. Why would I want to upgrade to DRM-free?

Well I wouldn't pay for it, but the jist of having things DRM free is that you are no longer restricted on the devices/software you can play it on.

[Buccaneer]

Well I wouldn't pay for it, but the jist of having things DRM free is that you are no longer restricted on the devices/software you can play it on.

I can play all of the songs on my iPod, in my car and at my PC. What am I missing?

[stevew]

You can't move an itunes song to a sansa player without making it into a CD then re ripping it to an mp3

[samifan24]

Well I wouldn't pay for it, but the jist of having things DRM free is that you are no longer restricted on the devices/software you can play it on.

It's worth noting that choose to "upgrade" to DRM-free tracks does not mean you are downloading an MP3. You are buying DRM-free AAC files, not MP3s, so you would still have to convert those files to the more portable but lower quality MP3s to truly "take them anywhere" and you could do that already if you burned your existing, protected songs to disc and then ripping them back into iTunes as MP3s.

[jeff061]

iTunes has always brought Apple more money through iPod sales than the actual music download(which mostly goes to RIAA). Not surprising at all that they'd keep that limitation.

[Anthony]

I don't think I'd pay to "upgrade" to DRM-free. My philosophy has always been that I'll buy your DRM'd version if that's all you're offering, but once I've paid, then if I want to go to a torrent site and download a non-DRM version I can actually use, then we're square.

I realize this doesn't constitute a legal argument, but it satisfies my moral requirement.

that's a lot better than the argument i use to satisfy my moral requirement:

"i'll simply download the songs off torrent, not buy anything from itunes and you can get your money from some other sucker who'll pay you $126 to upgrade songs he already purchased from you." :cool:

[Buccaneer]

You can't move an itunes song to a sansa player without making it into a CD then re ripping it to an mp3

Oh. Then it's for people that use iTunes but doesn't have an iPod?

[Anthony]

Oh. Then it's for people that use iTunes but doesn't have an iPod?

i don't get it either, but it sounds like its for people who use itunes, have an ipod and insist on being able to play it on like several other different and redundant devices. once you purchase from itunes you already have it on two devices - your ipod and of course your pc. if you must play your ipod through your stereo you can buy an adaptor that'll let you do that, i don't see why you'd pay a premium to get a DRM-free song for that one device that isn't your ipod or pc that you absolutely must listen to the song on.

[ISiddiqui]

Yes... and, of course, there is always the small, but possible chance, that Apple fails sometime in the future (even if its like decades) and then, at least, you can still use your songs ;).

[Anthony]

Yes... and, of course, there is always the small, but possible chance, that Apple fails sometime in the future (even if its like decades) and then, at least, you can still use your songs ;).

the media is already in your possession, what would Apple deciding to leave Mother Earth for the new frontier in Mars have to do with anything that's on your PC or ipod? you don't log in to a connection to Apple when you play your itunes stuff. or was this a tongue in cheek, siddiqui? sarcasm doesn't come through so well in print. lol

[Anthony]

i never understood the whole drama behind DRM anyway. i really think its the people who have all these different gadgets and insist on being able to have convergence between everything. i understand the very idea of being restricted on something you paid for gets people's tits all twisted, but if you told me "those sneakers you bought can be used everywhere except for walking on the floor of the ocean", i'm not gonna protest. i'm not gonna say "no way - i bought these sneakers and i'm not gonna have anyone tell me what i can and can't do with them!"

ugh, geeks and internet nerds...*sigh*

[Tigercat]

HA, you realize that there are millions of people that use MP3 players but don't have an ipod? And that ITunes is the most assessible music store?

[MJ4H]

I would like the freedom to play my music in another player besides iTunes on my computer, on another player besides my ipod, etc. As it is, I can't easily do something like use music I bought and paid for in a video made on my own pc and viewed only by me because video editing software won't recognize it.

[SackAttack]

Yes... and, of course, there is always the small, but possible chance, that Apple fails sometime in the future (even if its like decades) and then, at least, you can still use your songs ;).

Well, it's like this.

1) This ain't subscription-based stuff like Rhapsody, where if the company fails, you ARE well and truly fucked if it's not stuff you've purchased from them.

2) The people who complain about iTunes DRM ignore the fact that it's pitifully easy to get around that if you have any desire at all to do so. If you're really that worried about the prospect, you've probably already *done* the burn-and-rerip bit, and probably also have embraced iTunes Plus (which has been around for almost a year now, FWIW) for any music you've purchased in the interim. All that's really changing here is that iTunes Plus is shifting from 'higher quality, no DRM' by comparison to simply 'higher quality,' since everything moving forward will be DRM-free.

Well, that, and it's an opportunity for Apple to make some extra money off of previous purchasers who want to get rid of the DRM without having to figure out that newfangled CD burner in the first place. ;)

[ISiddiqui]

the media is already in your possession, what would Apple deciding to leave Mother Earth for the new frontier in Mars have to do with anything that's on your PC or ipod? you don't log in to a connection to Apple when you play your itunes stuff. or was this a tongue in cheek, siddiqui? sarcasm doesn't come through so well in print. lol

Um... so you can play on another device. You don't think that iPods are the only MP3 player that plays .aac do you?! And if another company comes across with a kickass mp3 player that isn't Apple and plays .aac files, you can easily switch as long as it doesn't use DRM.

By making it not DRM, today you can use iTunes purchased tunes on the Sansa and Zune.

[ISiddiqui]

Players that play .AAC (which can, in April, play most iTunes bought songs):

Advanced Audio Coding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding)



Creative Zen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Zen) Portable
Microsoft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft) Zune (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zune)
SanDisk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SanDisk) Sansa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SanDisk_Sansa)
Sony (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony) PlayStation Portable (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Portable) (PSP) with firmware 2.0 or greater
Sony Walkman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkman)
SonyEricsson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SonyEricsson) Walkman Phones-W series, e.g. W890i (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W890i)
Nintendo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo) DSi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSi) To be released in America mid-2009
Slacker G2 Personal Radio Player
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Slacker_G2_Personal_Radio_Player&action=edit&redlink=1)


Sony Ericsson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Ericsson) phones support various AAC formats in MP4 container. AAC-LC is supported in all phones beginning with K700 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K700), phones beginning with W550 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Ericsson_W550) have support of HE-AAC. The latest devices such as the P990 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Ericsson_P990), K610 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Ericsson_K610), W890i (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W890i) and later support HE-AAC v2.
Nokia XpressMusic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_XpressMusic) and other new generation Nokia multimedia phones: also support AAC format.
BlackBerry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerry): RIM’s latest series of Smartphones such as the 8100 ("Pearl") and 8800 support AAC.


Palm OS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_OS) PDAs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant): Many Palm OS based PDAs and smartphones can play AAC and HE-AAC with the 3rd party software Pocket Tunes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_Tunes). Version 4.0, released in December 2006, added support for native AAC and HE-AAC files. The AAC codec for TCPMP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCPMP), a popular video player, was withdrawn after version 0.66 due to patent issues, but can still be downloaded from sites other than corecodec.org. CorePlayer, the commercial follow-on to TCPMP, includes AAC support. Other PalmOS programs supporting AAC include Kinoma Player and AeroPlayer.
Microsoft Windows Mobile (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows_Mobile) platforms support AAC either by the native Windows Media Player (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_Player) or by third-party products (TCPMP, CorePlayer)
Epson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epson) supports AAC playback in the P-2000 (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Epson_P-2000&action=edit&redlink=1) and P-4000 (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Epson_P-4000&action=edit&redlink=1) Multimedia/Photo Storage Viewers. This support is not available with their older models, however.
Vosonic (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vosonic&action=edit&redlink=1) supports AAC recording and playback in the VP8350, VP8360 and VP8390 MultiMedia Viewers.
The Sony Reader (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Reader) portable eBook plays M4A files containing AAC, and displays metadata created by iTunes. Other Sony products, including the A and E series Network Walkmans, support AAC with firmware updates (released May 2006) while the S series supports it out of the box.
Nearly every major car stereo manufacturer offers models that will play back.m4a files recorded onto CD in a data format. This includes Pioneer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Corporation), Sony (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony), Alpine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_Electronics), Kenwood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenwood), Clarion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarion), Panasonic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panasonic), and JVC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JVC).
The Sonos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonos) Digital Media Player supports playback of AAC files.
The Roku SoundBridge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundBridge) network audio player supports playback of AAC encoded files.
The Squeezebox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeezebox_%28network_music_player%29) network audio player (made by Slim Devices (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slim_Devices), a Logitech (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logitech) company) supports playback of AAC files.
The PlayStation 3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3) supports encoding and decoding of AAC files.
The Xbox 360 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360) supports streaming of AAC through the Zune software, and off supported iPods connected through the USB port
The Wii (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii) video game console supports AAC files through version 1.1 of the Photo Channel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_Menu#Photo_Channel) as of December 11, 2007. All AAC profiles and bitrates are supported as long as it is in the.m4a file extension. This update removed MP3 compatibility, but users who have installed this may freely downgrade to the old version if they wish.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference">[10] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding#cite_note-9)</sup>
The new DSi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSi) (an updated version of Nintendo's popular DS handheld) will be able to natively play AAC files from its new SD card slot.
The Livescribe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livescribe) Pulse Smartpen records and stores audio in AAC format. The audio files can be replayed using the pen's integrated speaker, attached headphones, or on a computer using the Livescribe Desktop software. The AAC files are stored in the user's "My Documents" folder of the Windows OS and can be distributed and played without specialized hardware or software from Livescribe.

[Anthony]

DRM limits :
Played on up to five computers

Synced with your iPod

Synced with or streamed to your Apple TV

Burned to audio CDs or DVDs (as part of a playlist) up to seven times

Also if you lend the song to someone they will need your apple password to play it.


WHAT? this is ludicrous. played on up to 5 PCs? that's more than enough. if DRM really bothered you you would've purchased an external HD and housed everything on that, allowing you to change PCs all you like and you just plug and play. this is more than enough. considering you have the ability to burn to a cd (and then can in turn use that cd to rip the song to mp3 an unlimited amount of times) you have all the access to your song that you like, DRM or not.

[ISiddiqui]

then can in turn use that cd to rip the song to mp3 an unlimited amount of times

Which, of course, degrades the quality.

[Buccaneer]

I knew I was missing something - a different portable player in every room of the house. :rolleyes:

[ISiddiqui]

You are missing the forest for the trees, Bucc. The ability to purchase any mp3 player you want and transfer your iTunes purchased music over without having to burn to a disc and reburn as mp3 or WMA, resulting in a good deal of lost quality is a big deal.

[Buccaneer]

Squiddy, I know that. I would also suspect that many people with mp3 players had simple ways of getting their CDs into their player (like built-in Windows software), and that mp3 files are very easy to get (from amazon and other sites). I know the superiority of iTunes software but I always had believed that there were a larger body of music available than what Apple exposed to us, not to mention such files being around much longer than aac. I had always thought the end results was the thing, not how one gets there in regards to portable music.

[RainMaker]

I don't get the big hoopla with iTunes. Just use Amazon. They are DRM free and still cheaper than iTunes.

[Mota]

considering you have the ability to burn to a cd (and then can in turn use that cd to rip the song to mp3 an unlimited amount of times) you have all the access to your song that you like, DRM or not.

Converting from one format to another is horrible for audio quality. You're losing quality on top of lost quality.

That's like cooking a nice steak, and then taking a dump on it. Then you wonder why it doesn't taste so good. ;)

My biggest concern with Itunes or any proprietary format is that who knows what form factor or player will be dominant 10 years from now. I still prefer to buy my CD's on a physical medium and control the conversion myself, that way I can convert to any format based on how I want it.

[RainMaker]

My biggest concern with Itunes or any proprietary format is that who knows what form factor or player will be dominant 10 years from now. I still prefer to buy my CD's on a physical medium and control the conversion myself, that way I can convert to any format based on how I want it.

That's what scared me away from iTunes. With cell phones becoming MP3 players, I didn't want to have to force myself to signup with AT&T and buy an iPhone just to listen to my music.

[Drake]

I just hate using iTunes. The interface makes me want to chew my own eyeballs out.

[AgustusM]

2 years ago I made the leap to ITunes and purchased my first DRM tracks, prior to that I had always bought CD's and ripped them. When I got an IPhone the inevitably led me to changing from WMP to ITunes for my library. Funny thing is I hated ITunes at first, but now find it far superior to the competition.

Bottom line for me is I want to own the things I pay for free and clear. DRM didn't allow for that and while I know how to make them DRM free (via burn and rip or one of the many utilities) when dealing with a large library who has the time for that.

I like this development for two reasons:

1 for me it was well worth the money to convert the files with a few clicks. My time is worth way more than the amount of money. Not everyone of course feels this way, but for me it was a no brainer.

2. I think DRM is a failed evil idea whose time has passed.

When the largest distributor of music in the world converts from a predominantly DRM format, to a predominantly DRM free format that is significant and I believe we will look back at this day as the day DRM died.

[ISiddiqui]

Squiddy, I know that. I would also suspect that many people with mp3 players had simple ways of getting their CDs into their player (like built-in Windows software), and that mp3 files are very easy to get (from amazon and other sites). I know the superiority of iTunes software but I always had believed that there were a larger body of music available than what Apple exposed to us, not to mention such files being around much longer than aac. I had always thought the end results was the thing, not how one gets there in regards to portable music.

How one gets there is highly significant as well. I wouldn't necessarily call it the superiority of the iTunes software... more, the popularity of it (subtle difference, but important). This allows people to easily get new music from the most popular service and put that on any player they'd like. So, to me, that's a huge deal.

Though, of course, I buy all my music on CD for a physical backup.

[Drake]

Aside:

I was doing a fresh backup of my PC the other day to my external HDD, and it was taking forever once it hit the 30 gigs of music on my home box. Realize, this is stuff that that I've mostly ripped from CD's and migrated from PC to PC over the years as I got new ones.

So I'm waiting for the backup to finish and caught myself thinking: "Man, I wish I didn't have to keep moving all of this stuff/backing it up/etc. I wish there was like a portable storage solution where I could put each album in one place and just listen to that one when I wanted to rather than having to save/store/catalog all of this stuff on my PC."

The very next thought, of course, was, "Duh. Do you mean like a CD?"

:)

[Antmeister]

Squiddy, I know that. I would also suspect that many people with mp3 players had simple ways of getting their CDs into their player (like built-in Windows software), and that mp3 files are very easy to get (from amazon and other sites). I know the superiority of iTunes software but I always had believed that there were a larger body of music available than what Apple exposed to us, not to mention such files being around much longer than aac. I had always thought the end results was the thing, not how one gets there in regards to portable music.

That was not always the case. iTunes used to have a larger library than Amazon and most my iTunes files are a few years old.

[Anthony]

Aside:

I was doing a fresh backup of my PC the other day to my external HDD, and it was taking forever once it hit the 30 gigs of music on my home box. Realize, this is stuff that that I've mostly ripped from CD's and migrated from PC to PC over the years as I got new ones.

So I'm waiting for the backup to finish and caught myself thinking: "Man, I wish I didn't have to keep moving all of this stuff/backing it up/etc. I wish there was like a portable storage solution where I could put each album in one place and just listen to that one when I wanted to rather than having to save/store/catalog all of this stuff on my PC."

The very next thought, of course, was, "Duh. Do you mean like a CD?"

:)

i would assume once you put it on the external HDD you won't have to do it all the time you change PCs (which is the whole point of portable disk space). i want to get a Terrabyte external HDD and put everything on it and never have to worry about space ever again.

[Daimyo]

I haven't purchased anything from iTunes in at least a year even though I use it as my music player and catalog because, IMO, Amazon's mp3 offering is so much better.

As for Apple's DRM:
1. You only get five activations for your music which allows you to play it on a computer. I'm pretty sure you can deactivate your music from an old computer to reclaim the activation, but if you forget to do that or your computer crashes and you are unable to do it you will lose the activation forever. Several of my songs from iTunes are on their last activation already.
2. You can do the burn-and-rip trick to clear the Apple DRM, but you lose quality AND you have to manually re-label all your music. Do people really have time to mess with that?
3. iPod is best-in-class today, but I think history has shown someone else will develop the product that ultimately dethrones it. Do you really want to have your music assets locked onto one platform forever?

[Daimyo]

DOLA, I imagine my #3 above is large reason Apple feels justified in charging to take away the DRM. Making it easy for you to switch MP3 players in the future is not free for them in terms of future value. Charging a 30% premium now is insurance against that risk.

That's from Apple's perspective, of course. From my perspective it sucks big time. Amazon has been selling 256kb, DRM-free music for at least a year at lower prices ($0.79-0.99) than Apple has charged for their 128kb, DRMed music.

[samifan24]

3. iPod is best-in-class today, but I think history has shown someone else will develop the product that ultimately dethrones it. Do you really want to have your music assets locked onto one platform forever?

It's worth noting that the AAC files that iTunes sells can be played on a variety of major music players, stereo systems, game systems and TVs. I believe AAC is considered to be a higher quality file, too. Obviously DRM protected AAC files don't factor into this equation if you have to rip them back in MP3 format from a burned CD but still something to think about.

[RainMaker]

Amazon has a daily album sale. Usually it's $1.99 for the entire album. Today is Bon Jovi: Crossroad. Phenomenal album.

Amazon.com: Cross Road: MP3 Downloads: Bon Jovi (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000V63B5E/ref=amb_link_83306971_2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=browse&pf_rd_r=17DSM71F6DWVG38NJ8YD&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467008071&pf_rd_i=678551011)

[Daimyo]

It's worth noting that the AAC files that iTunes sells can be played on a variety of major music players, stereo systems, game systems and TVs. I believe AAC is considered to be a higher quality file, too. Obviously DRM protected AAC files don't factor into this equation if you have to rip them back in MP3 format from a burned CD but still something to think about.

Other players can play them even with DRM or you mean the newer DRM-free ones?

I've read some claims that AAC is better than mp3 on some genres of music at lower bitrates (<=128 kb), but it isn't universally better for all genres and all bitrates. Most of my collection is actually ripped in AAC format and I can't tell a difference even for the ones at 128 and 160kb. At 256kb (where Amazon has always been and iTunes is just now at), I'm guessing no one could tell a difference between MP3 and AAC in a blind test.

[Drake]

I've purchased Ipod's for my kids, but for Xmas, my two youngest pooled their cash and got me an 8 gig Sony Walkman. I've got to tell you, in my opinion, it kicks the ass of their Ipods. I love it to pieces.

[samifan24]

Other players can play them even with DRM or you mean the newer DRM-free ones?

I'm referring to the new DRM-free ones from Apple, although I believe it's possible to burn CDs into the AAC format as well, so people do have other options to acquire AAC files besides Apple. The main point is that electronics companies are now recognizing AAC and making sure their units can play it, along with MP3.

[flounder]

Just bumping this thread because now you can update your songs to itunes plus one song or album at a time.