It's been a long time coming. So how could we resist giving the new higher quality, DRM free
iTunes Plus music service a whirl? After all, we're geeks, and loaded with all kinds of audio devices (not just iPods or Macs and PCs running iTunes) which we'd like to make use of with
our purchased media. Certainly you've heard of the Zune, Xbox 360, PS3, Vista Media Center, Walkman W880, Slingbox, PSP, or even the VLC media player right? Ok, then you understand our angst. So off we go, into the land of Fair Use lollipops and DRM-free candy canes. Click-on to see how it all goes down as we upgrade our iTunes music library.
The first thing we see after firing up iTunes is the "new" iTunes Plus quick link off to the right-hand side.
Clicking on "iTunes Plus" prompts iTunes to ask if you want to make iTunes Plus your default location. Sure, why not. Click through the EULA and here we are to a new wing of the store which is notably skinny, lacking most of the 5 million or so tracks on the main, DRM-locked site. Remember, it's only EMI at the moment. Hey, that Upgrade My Library button looks interesting, let's click it, credit be damned!
There it is, the $3.00 upgrade for a test album we downloaded earlier in 128kbps format.
128kbps AAC files. Surely we can do better. Let's search the store for The Good, The Bad & The Queen.
Ah ha, here are the same songs listed in both their 128kbps and 256kbps formats. We bet you can tell which are DRM-free?
Let's go back and click "Buy" so we can take our music on the road.
Click "Buy."
Processing, only a minute or so.
"Move To Desktop," natch, unless you're the trusting sort (which we aren't).
Here they come!
Almost done... look at those file sizes.
You can see the last track being swapped out for the new higher bit rate version.
Good idea.
The original 128kbps files safe and snug in this desktop folder but removed form the iTunes catalog. It says "1 item" since it contains a single folder titled "The Good, The Bad & The Queen" with all the old tracks.
See the differences: old file on the left, new on right? The updated file lacks the dreaded padlock and features a new .m4a file extension.
And twice the size. Now the real test: how do they sound? We're no audiophiles but we can certainly tell the difference. Golf claps all around. Better yet...
It plays in any device or media player with AAC support. At last.
And here we have the iTunes purchased track running on RealPlayer -- we couldn't resist.
Finally, WMP 11. Doesn't matter what you use, as long as it supports AAC playback.
All done.
posted May 30th 2007 11:05AM
I don't take "If a company has at least one DAP that supports AAC, then I'll take that as a company which supports AAC" as a valid response to "the majority of DAPs do not support AAC", even among the companies you named, only the most recent Archos players support AAC (and only with an optional plug-in), and I know most Sandisk players don't (I didn't even know there was one, but maybe there is). Not everyone has the latest model of everything. And of course there's also Cowon, Meizu, iriver, Rio, Samsung, MobiBLU, Trekstor, Insignia, who don't have any players that support AAC as far as I know, and there are more obscure companies I didn't mention. And that's just going back to players, say, under 3 years old, which is a reasonable amount of time for an DAP to last. Trying to pin down a number isn't that important anyway, the bottom line is that MP3 is a much more widely supported format, and they could have used it for greater user flexability. They could have even gone with an option to download Apple Lossless, so at least you could transcoding could be done without additional degredation of a lossy format.
This is awesome. The new tracks have a much richer sound... I'm hearing things I hadn't heard before. Getting rid of the DRM helps too, considering that I stream my iTunes library from my Mac to my Xbox 360 in the main room. Hoping that other labels will follow suite soon.
"tech-ingnorant"
Ha! Priceless.
anyone who's got facebook and ilike (you really should) will know why CDs are soon to be dead and buried, at least for the 15-25s
Bhaal @ May 31st 2007 6:48AM
anyone who's got facebook and ilike (you really should) will know why CDs are soon to be dead and buried, at least for the 15-25s
------------
Honestly, I don't understand this logic. CDs and simple, free software (even itunes itself) can rip to formats you desire with no restrictions.
Some people state you can convert from AAC to something else. Sure, if you like generational quality degradation - like making a photocopy of a photocopy. AAC is a lossy codec. Any other lossy codec you convert to is going to degrade the sound even more.
Ripping from the CD itself in any format you choose is dead, how? The highest quality sound available to Average Joe is dead, how? Replaced with AAC/MP3 sub-parness just so they can make a dollar off you while abandoning materials and virtually all physical distribution costs?
If the demographic you speak of are really abandoning CDs, maybe it's time for them to get smart before growing up and see what they are really paying for?
Apple finally delivers me a reason to go back to iTunes, 6 months after I got my Archos 504.
Nice.
the "all or nothing" upgrade policy is VERY lame. especially since they will be adding more stuff later. for example, i have 2 tracks available for upgrade right now. i'm not interested in upgrading.
but if a month from now they add an album i bought previously - i can't upgrade that album without paying for the other 2 songs to be upgraded too.
now in my case, we're only talking about .60 cents, no big deal. but for someone else who purchased a lot more tunes...the lack of choosing which songs to upgrade sucks.
When you purchase the upgraded music, it'll no longer appear in the upgrade your library.
So you can upgrade your 2 songs now. And then when the album is available DRM free, you will only need to upgrade that. The 2 songs won't appear in the Upgrade your Library.
Still, I would like the ability to upgrade songs. There are a few albums iTunes wants to upgrade, things that the wife burned to CD and I don't want to upgrade. So it's $18 to upgrade my library, when all I want is to upgrade my $8.80 worth of songs.
So has anyone else had problems actually playing these new files on AAC supporting phones/devices?
As per my post here: http://www.shasam.net/archives/58
I've tried to play some back on a Nokia N95, Nokia E65, Motorola V3xx and Sony Ericsson M600i - all wouldn't play, but they play fine on my iPod and in iTunes.
Anyone else experiencing this?
Thanks,
Shane.
Ok, how did you get WMP 11 to play the DRM free itunes songs. I can not get them to play at all.