iTunes is now DRM-free, here’s how to upgrade your library
By Ronald O Carlson
From Tuesday, January 6, Apple began offering 8-million DRM (digital rights management)-free songs and will add another 2 million by April. If you are like me, you have more than a few tracks in your iTunes library that are in the old 128K FairPlay format—here’s how to update your songs and how much it will cost.
Apple could easily have negotiated a deal with Universal, Warner and Sony (the three labels that previously refused to sell “their” music DRM free) that only allowed for new sales of iTunes Plus content without providing a cost-reduced upgrade path. That said, downloading upgraded DRM-free, 256K songs cost 30¢ each, about one-third the 99¢ price of a track purchased a la carte.
Although I’m not particularly happy about having to pay another 30¢ each for songs I already “owned,” I’d be seriously cheesed if Apple hadn’t negotiated any upgrade path from the notoriously parsimonious record label bastards, which consider every format a separate license and every play a performance.
Getting it done
First things first—open iTunes and click on the iTunes Store in the left hand tray. In the right hand column of the store, locate the Upgrade My Library link (image at right).
“It’s definitely a step in the right direction. DRM is the reason piracy is very popular, because people want to own the music they buy,” Jason Barry of Macworld told Wired.
See also Apple’s press release—Changes Coming to the iTunes Store
See also Apple’s iTunes Plus FAQ
After clicking, I discovered that 44 of the hundreds of songs I had previously purchased in iTunes are now available in iTunes Plus format (ie some tracks aren’t yet upgradeable). Unfortunately, you cannot choose which songs, albums and videos you want to upgrade—it’s an all-or-nothing deal. That sucks considering that I’ve downloaded pretty every Single of Week, Discovery Download and Canción de la Semana since these free music features became available on the iTunes Store. Obviously, there’s going to be a lot of “stuff” in there that I’d rather not pay to have upgraded.
One solution? Well, check what upgrades are available and then go back into your library and remove the the songs you don’t want upgraded manually. That said, you can gather all the crap into a song list and burn it as either data and / or music disc (CD or DVD) before you delete it from library.
[Update] An AppleInsider write up confirms some of the information posters have provided in comments—deleting songs from library doesn’t remove “junk” you’d rather not upgrade from your iTunes Store history file:
None of the promotional songs I got for free (like the Singles of the Week, or that “Back to School” cross-promotion with Facebook from a few summers ago) are appearing in my upgrade offer, although we have read reports from people who are seeing those. iTunes uses your account’s purchase history to present this “special offer,” so you’ll still spot songs you long ago banished to the Trash in disgust.
Proceeding again, after you click the “Buy” button, iTunes will ask you what you want to do with the old 128K FairPlay-encoded songs, offering you the choice deleting them or saving them to the desktop.
Now, navigate to one of the upgraded songs in your library, select it and press Command (⌘) + I (get info). Note that what was a “Protected AAC” track is now a “Purchased AAC” track—after all these years your music really is yours.
So, I just dropped another $10.50 to upgrade my iTunes library to iTunes Plus format. Worth it? Well, Beck’s Guero has never sounded better…
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Stumble It!
January 7th, 2009
Apple’s determining which songs to upgrade based on what you’ve bought, not what you actually have in your iTunes library. So… the upgrade is all-or-nothing, even if you’ve long since deleting the music from your library.
January 7th, 2009
About time, i was trying to export songs from itunes to my PS3 but it wouldn’t let me which was ridiculous (i assume it was down to DRM, but can’t be sure)
January 7th, 2009
Yeah, it doesn’t matter if you delete songs you don’t want to upgrade…if they’re in your history, you have to pay for them.
Also, you have to upgrade promo singles, like if you pre-ordered an album, and got 1 track early, you have to pay to upgrade the single song, and the same song as part of the album…I don’t care that much, but it’s nice to see the labels wringing out every possible cent, as I’d expect nothing less from them…”those limos out back ain’t free!”
January 7th, 2009
In Canada the upgrade price is 40¢–5¢ above the exchange rate adjusted price. Is gouging us for a nickel really worth the ill-will it creates? I’m thinking…NO.
Never mind the fact that new buyers can now get the same 256 DRM-free song for $.99 that upgraders will pay a total of $1.39 for. This is a money grab and a slap in the face.
January 7th, 2009
Was the DRM really that restrictive? Was being able to play a song ONLY on five computers really so bad? Who was burning more than seven CDs off a single playlist? And if you are trying to use an MP3 player other than an iPod/iPhone, why are you using iTunes anyway?
There was actually a funny “news” article on this topic… “People with six or more computers rejoice over iTunes DRM changes”
http://www.maccomedy.com/people-with-six-or-more-computers-rejoice-over-itunes-drm-changes/
January 7th, 2009
How about 2 cents a track for a DRM free tune?
DRM can be stripped by burning a DRM’ed track to a CD and then re-ripping that CD into a MP3 back into your computer. What does a blank CD cost nowadays?
10 cents? So it would cost you 10 cents to burn and re-rip 20 songs into a 20 MP3’s or about 2 cents a song.
Of course once it is the MP3 format, ANY MP3 player will play it.
No one is aware of this????
January 8th, 2009
omg, it is really a good news for us, i finally can put itunes songs to my mp3.
i don’t buy songs and video from itunes store often.
because i have Aiseesoft iPod Movie Converter.
i found it few monthes before and then i really don’t need itunes store. it can convert all the popular formats to iPod video
formats.
have a try here:
http://www.aiseesoft.com/ipod-movie-converter.html
here is also one for mac user:
Aiseesoft iPod Video Converter for Mac
get it here:
http://www.aiseesoft.com/ipod-video-converter-for-mac.html
January 9th, 2009
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
January 9th, 2009
Ralph: You can do that, but you’ll lose some quality going back and forth like that. A 128Kbps AAC file going to an audio CD and then getting re-ripped is not going to sound as good as the original 128Kbps… it’ll sound a little flatter — you can even tell just listening through PC speakers.
I’ve ripped far more than I bought so it’s no biggy for me. If it really bugs you, I suppose you could bittorrent the DRM stuff (and at higher bitrates) you already paid for in a non-DRM format: since you’re already licensed, it’s not really pirating, right?
January 26th, 2009
Burn your iTunes to a CD, then rip the CD. No DRM. Use old software if you have it.
February 3rd, 2009
“Worth it? Well, Beck’s Guero has never sounded better…”
Yes it has. Much better. Compare it to the CD!
April 18th, 2009
I always use this media converter to convert my iTunes music and video, it works pretty well all the time.
http://www.youtubetoipod.biz/drm-remover.html
May 12th, 2009
Do you need some laptop accessories? come here:http://www.sunvalleyus.com
May 12th, 2009
I use Nidesoft iPod video converter to convert videos into iPod. it works really really good. you may free download it here to have a try:
http://www.nidesoft.com/ipod-video-converter.html
June 20th, 2009
“the notoriously parsimonious record label bastards”
hahaha, couldn’t have said it better
I wish the old catholics in the country would deal as deftly with greed as they did with witchcraft in centuries past!