I just downloaded the Slumdog Millionaire soundrack for $8.99 and it came automatically in Plus format. The files themselves are considerably bigger than the average previous iTunes download and the quality is quite nice. Most importantly, however, there is now a “create MP3 version” selection when you right click on the song.
iTunes Plus is now standard and free for most music.
As you see here, right clicking on an old iTunes song gives you a warning. Clicking on this song simply converts it and plays a sound - no rigmarole. My only hope is that there will be a conversion or DRM stripping system for older music.
This is decidedly a breath of fresh air and will actually put Apple in a position to compete with the burgeoning Amazon MP3 store. It looked like most of the newer music was already iTunes Plus compatible and I wonder when they’ll drop the Plus nomenclature and just call it iTunes.
I’m confused - hasn’t the Plus format been around for a while? It’s just Apple’s DRM-free file format, for which they originally charged a premium, but were forced to rollback once Amazon sold DRM-free files for the original iTunes prices.
What am I missing?
iTunes plus existed but now it’s standard.
All pluses.. Thats Good News!
AR Rehman is awesome in Slumdog! although half of the music is from other Albums (e.g. Paper Planes (MIA), Aaj Ki Raat (Don) etc.)
3 songs out of 13 is half the music ;)
Great soundtrack, the movie is probably the best of the year. http://www.jobstaxi.com
WOW, you need to create the mp3 it doesn’t download to mp3 format :S.
Acutally AAC is MP4, the successor to MP3. I.E. it’s better.
The “create MP3 version” feature already existed and is based on what codec iTunes is set to rip to.
With iTunes being the leader in music sales, I am not sure it is accurate to say that this puts them in the position to compete with Amazon. Up to now, iTunes has been whupping Amazon with one hand tied behind its back. This puts them on equal footing in regard to offering DRM-free tracks.
The conversion for protected songs is you pay $.30 per song and you get to download them un-DRM’d. A total rip. Just use requiem instead and live with the slightly lower fidelity (but still better than burn and rip)
You get more than just DRM free files for your 30ยข, you also get twice the bitrate.
But I don’t think Requiem supports the current version of ITunes, at least not on Windows
Someone tell me this…It says you have to upgrade your WHOLE library, you can’t just pick and chose the album or so you *would* like to upgrade. Does this pull from your purchase history or the music you currently have in your library? I do not want to be forced to update and pay for some of the shit music I bought in the first place and deleted but do want to upgrade an album or two…Thoughts?
It pulls from your purchase history, and it’s all-or-nothing. Like you, there are a some albums that I have deleted for good.. But to purchase any upgrades requires purchasing all upgrades.
Thanks for the follow-up, Derek.
All or nothing — not a particular satisfying transition. Why, other than profit maximization, would Apple not permit iTunes users to select which tracks to upgrade to iTunes Plus?
Um, converting to MP3 (a lossy format) directly from AAC (a lossy format) kinda defeats the purpose of the higher quality files.
The “Create MP3″ feature has been present since (at least) iTunes 4.7 a half-decade ago.
Wow. A half decade. Wow.
yes, but now it works on iTunes tracks.
It works on non-DRM tracks like it has. These tracks are now just non-DRM. This is a function of iTunes and iTunes did not change. If you had tried to convert a Plus track in the past, it would have let you.
y’d you download the slum dog millionare sound track?
I’m really prefer the unlimited music services like Rhapsody and Napster with a flat fee per month. I just find iTunes sort of overpriced for my ever changing music tastes. To bad Apple won’t allow their iPods to work with these services.
From a biz perspective it makes sense to restrict iPods to only iTunes. Loving my Walkman these days, better sound quality IMO than iPOD, plus I have 10k songs that cost me $12.99/mo
Mr. John Biggs, have you been living under a rock or something? The “create MP3 version” has always been there.
i still won’t be using itunes until the songs I download are already in MP3 format.
Satish Kanwar,
iTunes files are AAC, the successor to MP3. Well, the protected ones were AAC with Apple’s proprietary copy protection. The new ones are completely standard AAC (IINM). And AAC’s quality at a given bit rate is better than MP3. That presumably means that the iTunes music is now better quality than Amazon.
Whooohoo! No more jumping through Amazon hoops for me. Uh, and stuff.
Bot
People seem to be missing the point and just scoffing at the convert to MP3 bit. Yes, you have been able to convert to MP3 since the first version of iTunes. However, now you can do it with any song you buy DRM-free from iTunes. This now makes iTunes compatible with pretty much every MP3 player on the market. Just drag and drop your music from iTunes to what ever MP3 player you have.
Jim
Thank you, Jim. I’ve been trying to explain this 15 ways so far. THERE IS NO DRM ANYMORE. YOU CAN BUY A CRAPPY MP3 PLAYER AND AS LONG AS IT PLAYS AAC FILES YOU CAN DRAG YOUR iTUNES SONGS TO IT. ALL OF YOUR YANNI IS FREE, PEOPLE!
With the convert to MP3 so conveniently located on the songs you can use any MP3 player, so long as it supports MP3… which I am pretty sure every MP3 player does… (although I wouldn’t put it past some companies…)
Jim
You don’t have to convert your entire library to 256 AAC. You can pick and choose any song you want. I wish people would actually read the ENTIRE story and press release before these half cocked responses go off. It’s the same as when they only offered DRM free songs the first time. Only this time 8 million songs are now DRM FREE and the other 2 million will be by April.
To the noob who does not like the apple uses AAC. Name ONE person you know that has a portable music device that is not an iPod. I bet it’s maybe one or zero, and chances are that person has a zune or a creative device. Guess what they can play unprotected AAC files out of the BOX. MP3 is dead. It’s inferior to AAC in sound quality and file size. I really don’t want to hear the MP3 v AAC argument again. AAC is literally supported everywhere. There is no excuse anymore.
MP3 is “dead”? That’s rich.
If your ears are so well trained that they can hear the differences between MP3 and AAC files, then you really should be listening to lossless.
Can’t pick and choose. It lists the albums you can upgrade and the individual songs, telling you how much each song or album will cost, but the only way to buy is to click the buy button, which updates your entire library.
FAQ says you can’t pick and choose.
Hey Guys,
Can someone explain to me why DRM is such a big deal, I know it is a novice type question but go easy on me :-) How is it different from my other itunes music? can I now copy my songs to as many ipods as I want? I fully understand the bit rate / lossless sound improvement, but don’t get the rest?
Thanks
I think what he meant was that you have to convert your entire library of PREVIOULSY PURCHASED iTunes songs, not all songs in the library. Obviously, the songs from CD’s are probably ripped at a higher quality. If there is a way to selectively upgrade prior iTunes purchases, why don’t you enlighten us all WithClue!!
Actually … as “WithClue” indicated, we do all have iPods in my house, but I also use Microsoft Windows Media Center, and a Media Center Extender that reads my MP3’s, and streams them to my rec room and my sound system. It does not have a Codec for AAC (or MPeg-4) … as Microsoft and Apple don’t play well together. As a result, I tend to rip in MP3 format, and at this point can’t play my iTunes downloads other than on my iPod. Amazon’s are fine of course. I know I can plug my iPod into my receiver, etc, but I currently can use my TV as a monitor and select songs or playlists via Media Center … which I prefer for this purpose. Hoping to find a plug-in for Media Center for AAC files. Not EVERYTHING is compatible, as you can see.
WithClue,
Nicely put, but I’d wager that your logic nonetheless is beyond the vast majority of commenters on this site.
I am continually surprised and the average level of idiocy in gadget-site comments.
Remember if you upgrade you’re going from 128kbps to 256kbps, and that as a result the file size will be effectively TWICE as large.
Nano owners with limited space be warned.
No DRM, just make it smaller
really, if you have an ipod saying you can hold 2000 songs, since itunes plus is making it 256kbps(twice the file size) you are only going to be able to hold 1000 songs!!!
Maybe its just me but I’m not paying for digital music unless its lossless, even if its DRM free.
about the not being able to upgrade songs individually what is that about is itunes just trying to rob us of money or what it is kinda tick me off! especially b/c i have songs that are already plus on there. Also if plus is now close to standard why are there songs i bought yesterday on there its like jobs enjoys squeezing me of every drop! I love apple hardware function everything but really some of it is just a little overworked
WithClue is without a clue, because, no, you can’t pick and choose which songs you want to upgrade to iTunes Plus. It’s your whole libary or nothing. Have you tried it in the past 24 hours? It’s no longer possible.
And, WithClue, I can not only name one person I know who has something other than an iPod, I can name several: I have a Sansa, my best friend has a Sansa, another couple of friends have Zens, my brother has a Sony, another friend has some other player that I don’t know what it is. My sisters have iPods, but everyone else in my immediate circle of friends opted for something else. iPods are NOT the best players out there; simply the most popular. Go to Anything But Ipod Forums and see how many people don’t have iPods.
The only reason AAC is “superior” to MP3 is because its variable bitrate compresses more efficiently than MP3. Well, guess what? There’s an MP3 variable bitrate encoder called LAME, which is what Amazon uses, and it’s just as good as AAC. Blind listening tests have shown that AAC only has an advantage at very small file sizes. At iTunes Plus file sizes, there is no advantage over MP3.
I do wish people would do their research before they start spouting opinions.
Rav, have you tried MusicGiants? They’re the only lossless download service that has all four major labels.
They sell their songs in Windows Media Lossless format. Lossless files are HUGE — can be as large as 30 or 40 MB per song — but they’re not intended for putting on an iPod, they’re intended for burning to CD or putting on a hard drive.
Most albums/songs on MusicGiants are DRM’d, but simply burn them to CD with Windows Media Player (which you can do up to five times), and that gets rid of the DRM. You can then convert them to any file type you want.
http://www.musicgiants.com
Brian,
I couldn’t get a clear idea on what pricing was like from the site.
For me it comes down to this: if I’m going to be paying $10 for a cd vs $10 bucks for mp3 files at a crappy bitrate, I would rather pay $10 for the cd. I will never buy an mp3, especially not for the “low” price of 69 cents.
Wait a minute - you still download a DRM’d version, but have the opportunity to create a SECOND version of the exact same song that’s in MP3 format?
I don’t get it? Does Apple figure that most people won’t be able to figure this out, so they’ll be forced to keep buying iPods?
Why not just let people download MP3s directly?
Apple’s knack for hiding the screwing of customers with stellar design is starting to wear thin.
You’re right about only one thing Jason. You don’t get it. Whatever you have just described has nothing to do with Itunes Plus. Your ability to come to the conclusion you just did, and then use that to come to the conclusion that Apple is “screwing customers with stellar design” suggests you probably shouldn’t leave messages in forums where people spell out entire words to communicate.
Before you leave a comment on an article which has actual, important ramifications that people will have real reactions to, try to understand enough to have an opinion. So far, you’ve got ignorance, and that’s about it.
I just picked and chose what songs I wanted and left the rest in the original format
As of January 29th of this year, you are allowed to select which songs you want to convert. I converted selected song last week. This is why Josh was able to convert his songs, and those prior to the 29th were unable to select which songs they wanted to covert to ITunes Plus.
ok so am i cunfused or is itunes plues the thing that lets u pull songs off ipod and put on the pc not just the ones u bought on itunes but ones from cds as well