Filed under: iTS, iTunes, Surveys and Polls
TUAW Poll: Will you upgrade your iTunes music?
Now that Apple and EMI have announced the pending availability of DRM-free music, we're wondering if you're going to upgrade your music. When the new downloads become available in iTunes this May, you'll be able to "upgrade" the EMI music you already own by spending an extra $0.30US per track. Yesterday, our own Erica pointed out just what you get for your thirty cents, and with that in mind, we ask: "Will you upgrade your iTunes music?" Leave your answer below and check back tomorrow for the results.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Quix said 10:27AM on 4-03-2007
How will I know which of the tracks I've already purchased are EMI (or EMI sub-label) tracks?
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jc said 10:29AM on 4-03-2007
I use Apple Lossless for 99% of my music (and still buy CDs).
256kbps sounds closer to 128kbps than what I currently use... however, I think this is a step in the right direction.
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stainboy said 10:37AM on 4-03-2007
you know, i really didn't buy tracks from iTunes before...i think i have less than a dozen that i purchased from iTS, mainly due to the low bitrate and DRM. the EMI deal makes me much more interested. i plan on checking out the DRM-free tracks and buying some.
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Carmelo Lisciotto said 10:30AM on 4-03-2007
This is confusing if you have an existing library of tracks.
Carmelo Lisciotto
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Joe said 10:39AM on 4-03-2007
I have only bought about a dozen tracks from iTS, but if any are from EMI then I'll probably upgrade them. I use a pair of powered monitors and I can hear the difference in quality between iTS songs and those I import myself (192kbps mp3). If I can get an album from iTS in a higher quality for $10, I'm all for it - the quality and overall experience is now better than buying a CD, aside from the tangible stuff like liner notes, which I don't really care about.
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Adam said 10:42AM on 4-03-2007
Certainly not because both Date Added and Play Counts are vital to how I organize my music and I can't mess either of them up.
Also, I use 128 for EVERYTHING to save space on my hard drive, and I really can't tell much of a sound difference.
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sterling said 10:52AM on 4-03-2007
I will just to get rid of DRM on the tracks (even though I could do it through other means) and to show support for the move. Plus, I don't really pay attention but I'm guessing I don't have much EMI music.
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Adrian said 10:44AM on 4-03-2007
The only tracks that I've gotten off of iTunes have been from free song cards that I keep getting from my Mac user group.
I'll see what I can buy DRM-free from EMI though. I like not being locked in.
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Alan Slattery said 11:00AM on 4-03-2007
I voted "Yes" in the poll but I will only upgrade certain tracks that I have purchased from iTunes, not all, that is, of course, if those certain tracks I want to upgrade are from EMI!
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Johnny said 11:18AM on 4-03-2007
I'd still like some clarity about downloading entire albums. It is my understanding that entire albums will cost the same for either DRM or DRM-free versions. If this is entirely true, sweet for me as I rarely buy single tracks. However, I doubt that upgrading existing albums would be free. If they are, no reason not to upgrade. If they cost, I really don't see the point in paying for music I already own (and doubt the quality difference will convince me). I'll definitely pay the extra for the few single tracks I might buy in the future. I wonder how many albums I have from EMI. Just in looking through a handful of my favorite artists, I found none.
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Tracy said 11:20AM on 4-03-2007
There should be a "Some" option. I might upgrade SOME of my music, but I most certainly will not upgrade all of it... I can't afford to (I've bought a lot of iTunes music!).
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Aaron Priven said 11:21AM on 4-03-2007
Adam -- when you re-rip an album from CD (say, if you originally ripped it in MP3 and want to re-rip in AAC), if the album title, artist, etc. are the same it knows to retain the play count and other information. I bet it will do that with upgrades from the iTunes Store as well.
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Hawkman said 11:50AM on 4-03-2007
If there's an option to only upgrade some of my tracks, then I will. I have a lot of music that I don't really care about any more, so it'll depend which tracks turn out to be from EMI.
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Elliott said 12:03PM on 4-03-2007
I'll pay extra for my new music, but the old stuff will stay put. I've already made my collection DRM free buy using the rip/burn method and despite paying hundreds of dollars for high-end audio systems, I'll admit that I only do it to impress friends because my ears can't tell the difference.
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Hervé S. said 3:07PM on 4-03-2007
no, because I systematically turned it to mp3 well before
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john russell said 12:29PM on 4-03-2007
The only tracks I get off of iTunes are the free ones. I still just rip my CDs to Apple Lossless.
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Jon said 12:44PM on 4-03-2007
This is only a small step in the right direction. iTunes is still overpriced as compared to sites that charge based on the filesize, sites that allow different formats (mp3, ogg, mpc, wma, flac) and end up being only a couple dollars per album for avg. bitrates. It is still forcing it's format. Unfortunately, the average user does not realize this, but I guess ignorance is bliss.
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Quix said 1:27PM on 4-03-2007
"despite paying hundreds of dollars for high-end audio systems" - Elliott
Heh, I believe "hundreds of dollars" and "high-end audio systems" are mutually exclusive. Some audio nuts spend "hundreds of dollars" (sometimes even thousands) on a cable. But I digress...
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Johnny said 1:32PM on 4-03-2007
Jon, I do agree with you about the pricing although I do feel like iTunes store offers more than most of the others and I am not personally interested in the subscription based services.
However, you are wrong about forcing the format (with DRM-free anyway). You can simply select any non-DRM track (or multiple tracks) and choose 'convert to mp3 (or pref setting of choice)' and then use it anywhere in any way you want. Anyway, lots of other players support AAC.
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dbTodd said 3:00PM on 4-03-2007
I've removed the DRM from my purchased music. Will I still have the option to upgrade those songs? How will iTunes know (they no longer show up in my "purchased" playlist).
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