Macworld 2009 -- No Big Steps Forward For Apple, But No Steps Backwards, Either.

“As of today, iPod and iPhone owners will have no reason to buy music [downloads] from anyone but Apple,” says Jupitermedia analyst Michael Gartenberg. “This is not great news for Amazon.”

Good thing I won't buy an iPod or iPhone... that way I won't be locked into anyone's DRM crippled music.

I use an open mp3 player/video player from Creative Labs, that costs less, has a smaller footprint than most, and doesn't require a whole bloated malware infested Apple/Quicktime/Itunes/Apple Taddleware onto my system. Instead, I use an MP3/MP4 player that provides me drag and drop functionality, playlist functionality,and more, without ANY installed applications.

I think that most iClones who need iTunes and apple are just that. Clones. But then again, AOL was popular too...

I don't understand why the popular misconception that Dc0de has espoused persists. I have an iPod, and I use iTunes.

All of my songs are mp3s. I have no songs from the Apple store save some free Pepsi songs back during those promotions, and nothing else.

Why do people still think that if you use iTunes, you're locked in for life or something? I can take my entire library and play it in a different operating system, using a different music player, or use a portable device other than my iPod anytime I choose. There's no lock in anywhere. (And indeed, I access my library from Linux regularly.)

There's no lock-in anywhere, here, folks.

Excuse the pedantry, but one does not tow a line, but rather one toes it, I believe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toe_the_line

I have several hundred songs on my ipod loaded via one PC. If I connect the ipod to a different PC, iTunes wipes out all the loaded songs. Is that going to change? Will I be able to load and keep songs from several PCs onto my ipod?

If Apple wants me to buy music from iTunes all they need to do is get rid of the sales tax that my stupid state charges.

Apple iTunes will soon be wiped out by Spotify anyway, in my honest opinion.

Unless apple step up and allow unlimited streaming of full legnth songs from iTunes, they will lose.

The only draw back with spotify SO FAR is that you cannot download the track onto your computer to do as you wish, or burn them on disk or transfer to mp3.

If spotify allowed this, they would become a massive iTunes contender, i can really see big things coming there way!

Not only that, but iTunes has sold DRM-free music in the form of iTunes-Plus tracks for a couple of years now--higher bitrate and DRM-free.

Dc0de, you really don't know anything, or read much it seems. As this article pointed out DRM is gone from iTunes, you now have the ability to buy any song off iTunes with no DRM, thus allowing you to play iTunes songs on any player and as many as you want. Also, Apple and is products are anything but full of malware, there are still no viruses for Macs, this is evident by the fact that almost no mac users have antivirus or adaware type applications on their computer, and yet their computers run just fine. Also, most people would like the computer to sync with the ipod or iPhone, and not need to worry about manual organization, with for so many movies, podcasts, music, photos, tv shows, etc, will get quickly disorganized and out of sync with your computer. But if you want, you can manually control these things through itunes if you really want. Creative, Sansa's and most other players have no syncing ability, and if they do, it requires you to sync everything on the player every time, as opposed to syncing what changed from the previous sync. I usually don't do things like this, but hate it when people like Dc0de spread disinformation about a product they obviously hate on and have obviously never used. And yes, my mom owns a Sansa, my friend uses a Creative, and I use to have a Creative, so I know about these products.

Wow. Talk about not even reading the article before posting. I'm not an apple fan boy, but geez... I quote:

"Also, iTunes songs will no longer be weighed down with Digital Rights Management software; labels have long since recognized that limiting consumers’ ability to do what they want with their music was not the way to boost sales."

itunes is the best and will stay that way.
Apple stays on the cutting egde and force
Everyone else to catch up.

The block isn't with ITunes. You can play anything you have in ITunes in any other media player (such as real player, winamp, windows media player, etc).

The block is with DRM purchased music (and in this case, DRM music specific from ITunes). If you purchase a DRM song from ITunes, you can only play that song from an Apple product (itv, ipod), and up to 5 registered machines under your apple store user ID. If the file is not DRM (some songs you can download from ITunes Plus without DRM), that is not an issue, you can play it on anything you want.

If I say, import a CD to ITunes, that is *not* locked in any way and I can play it in whatever I choose because it is not DRM.

Way to post an utterly asinine and ignorant comment, Dc0de.

iTunes is the bomb and Steve Jobs is a genius. Keep on doing great work!

I'll take a Sansa over an overpriced iPod anyday. and I"M SICK of all the stinkin' forced software that Apple tries to periodically autoupdate your computer with just 'cause you have iTunes installed. NO for the millionth time - i DON"T WANT Safari installed!!

I wonder if they will allow me to convert the $$$$ worth of songs I bought from them, into mp3 format? That would only take a little change in Itunes.

Or do they expect me to pay a 30% premium on all my music, for the privilege?

Ted,
Yes you have always been able to convert all the music in iTunes to MP3...simply burn them to CDs, easily and simply.

Did Apple say anything about removing DRM from their Movies and TV Shows? Or was there ever DRM for these?