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

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 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.

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.

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

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.