iTMS Coda

Well, the results of my query in my most recent "why is this person still posting after he shuttered this blog" posting (A: it's kind of "my thing") is conclusive - absolutely no one really gives "a hoot" about this blog, which ironically frees me to post to it when and as I wish... Which is to say, without any concern about contextual continuity or taming my innate love of constructing tortured, difficult-to-navigate sentences, rich with parenthetical asides and sub-clauses, that then trail indecisively into ellipsis...

So anyway, he wrote, applying one of the laziest of transitional phrases, I did, as I alluded to in the aforementioned previous post, slump on over to the iTunes Music Store by and by and forked over the premium in order to convert my modest collection of purchased music into DRM-free file formats. It's only fair to say that it has been a long time since I had any substantial technical issues with Apple's DRM. It's a matter of principle, maybe nominally of future stability, mostly it just bugged me that they were in there. Sitting there in their weird file formats with their invisible rules, looking like normal songs.

Which made it all the more irritating when I discovered that the library conversion process didn't quite clear the FairPlay out of my music library. A couple dozen misbebehavers didn't register on the iTMS conversion radar. Some of them obviously came from some sort of long-forgotten freebie download (free downloads don't qualify for the conversion deal, it turns out), some of them had disappeared from the store (victims of negotiation breakdowns with one off-brand label or another from Apple's DRM-free shift?), one album (P.M. Dawn's Greatest Hits) was inexplicable.

Intolerable. I rolled up my sleeves and set forth to do what I had thus far avoided, more out of laziness than principle: I violated the DMCA by circumventing copy protection software. Or did I? The territory, as usual, is rife with gray areas. I burned the offending tracks to an audio CD, which is legal. After dragging album art from the iTunes file information window into a temporary folder, I deleted the original tracks, which is legal. Finally I ripped the files from the audio CDs back to iTunes as AAC tracks. Which is normally legal, with CDs I own. But it's maybe illegal because I used the whole process to replace copy-protected files with unprotected ones? Yet it was legal for me to have unprotected CD Audio files on an actual CD? Whatever, if I'm a criminal I can only say, I did my best, but the iTMS just wouldn't cooperate.

I wonder if I will buy any more music from the iTMS. Amazon is just as easy now, and often cheaper. I suppose as is the shape of things, pretty soon I will be seeing artists releasing things digitally "exclusively on Amazon" or "exclusively on iTunes." Of course, given I'm currently on a music budget diet and not allowing myself any new music I'm not downloading from my eMusic subscription, for the time being it's a moot point anyway. All things considered I have a feeling it will be a long while before I buy another music track from Apple.

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The Tipping Point

It's just possible that there is that one crazy digital hermit out there who is living under a virtual rock, getting that one solitary, hopelessly attenuated thread of music news from the Phree Musique Blog. Sorry about dropping the ball, dude. For you, allow me to be the least prominent outlet to nod to the announcement that the iTunes Music Store is finally going all-DRM-free.

Listen, after the thorough flogging I gave iTMS I kind of have to announce this. And, I suppose, grudgingly upgrade their site rating from "Hate" to "Shrugs" (because your interface still SUCKS Steve Jobs! I was surfing it on the iPod touch on the free WiFi in my parents' town this Christmas and the mobile interface was RIDICULOUS).

Here's my review money quote:

The point I'm making here is that if Apple has attained Walmart-like retail status as a music seller, no mean feat, it is also delivering a Walmart retail experience. The user interface is a cluttered mess, selections based on personal data are shallow and perfunctory, searching is mediocre, and the location of the store within my music-playing software is actually kind of a pain in the ass. The failure to negotiate equal access with Amazon to DRM free major label catalogs was a big fumble, the pricing is largely uncompetitive, the surcharge on music in the Plus catalog sucks, and frankly, I'll shop there again when everything is DRM free and they offer me free upconversion of all my previously purchased, FairPlay encumbered tracks, which I'll otherwise probably expunge next time a major migration of the catalog is required.

Well I was a big old hypocrite and kept right on using iTMS, though a lot less than before, and I can't front: after I'm done wrapping this up I'm going to head right over there and pay those bastards their "30 cents per song or 30 percent of the album price" to convert my old iTunes tracks to DRM free. You Bastards!

Meanwhile: does anyone really give a hoot about this blog? I wouldn't mind keeping on, but I honestly just can't give myself a music-buying budget right now. So, if you think the reviews should continue, your job is to post an idea for how I can raise the meager "operating capital" I require to do so. If I don't get at least five UNIQUE ideas I'm shuttering it (with the occasional "just because" update like this one) with no further qualms. Caveat: advertising is not an option (been down that road) unless you are actually going to offer me money to advertise something. And don't ask me for site statistics if you are, because I don't collect them (I know, I know, it's not a business, okay?). To be continued! Or more likely not! Because I will eat my hat if this thing still has five unique readers! Incidentally, I will eat my hat online for music money!

See previous reviews and submit sites for review at the Index Page