More On Account IDs In iTunes Plus Tracks

Posted by: Arik Hesseldahl on June 01

The BBC is today noting a brewing controversy over the presence of account ID information being embedded within the tracks of iTunes Plus music tracks. For $1.29 (or 30 cents if you already own the Fairplay-protected version) you can buy a high-quality song track that you can copy as many times as you like. But a close examination of the song files, has found, and as we noted briefly here two days ago, the songs have the full name and email address of the iTunes account holder embedded in them. That way, the theory goes, if the song winds up on file-trading sites, the person who originally bought it could conceivably be held responsible. But the same information is embedded into Fairplay-protected songs as well. Ars Technica noticed the presence of the account information as well.

Additionally the EFF has noticed a few other interesting technical details about the song files.

The obvious question, of course, is what does Apple and/or EMI and/or the RIAA plan to do with any of this information if and when these songs find their way to BitTorrent sites and elsewhere? Or worse, will people find themselves getting in trouble for sharing song files with friends and family members?

Seems to me the standard workaround would still apply. Burn to CD, re-rip as unprotected MP3, unless of course I’m missing something.

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