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Jason Meserve

iTunes DRM free, but there's a catch

By Jason Meserve on Tue, 01/06/09 - 10:18pm.

There'a a lot to be happy about with the Apple's news that nearly the entire iTunes library will be available without Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection. For one, you won't have to count how many computers you've authorized. All your machines with iTunes will be able to play the purchased tunes.

But here's the catch: Not all portable devices will be able to.

iTunes music files are delivered in the AAC format, which obviously the iPod and iPhone support. But most non-Apple music players only support the older MP3 format. Meaning, just because you paid the extra to go DRM free with your iTunes purchases, chances are your Brand X MP3 player won't be able to handle the files.

Apple's not too worried about this - they've sold millions of devices so their potential customer reach is huge and they've removed one of the headaches to purchasing music through the iTunes store. For those not locked into the Apple portable devices, you're better off going to Amazon and buying DRM-free MP3 files from them.

All Zunes and most Sansas

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All Zunes and most Sansas play AAC.

iTunes music is drm-free

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iTunes music is drm-free now, but for the old itunes users, full of music must pay a 30-cent upgrade per song, 60 cents for video upgrades, it seems a bit expensive and isn't worthwhile, the very economical way I use is with this media converter, it can handle with all types drm and common video music files, and also supports batch conversion, works easy and great:)

http://www.wmatomp3-converter.com/digital-media-converter-pro.html#123

this just shows you the power of the people

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all these mega corps need to realizre its the poeple who decide with their dollars

DRM converter

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I know this DRM converter can free DRM music and video, it works pretty well for me.

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About Multimedia Exchange
Jason Meserve is Network World's multimedia editor.