iTunes Plus Upgrades Now Available on a Per-Track Basis
Macworld notes that Apple has instituted a new feature that allows iTunes Store users to upgrade their music libraries to iTunes Plus tracks on either a per-track or per-album basis.
At Macworld San Francisco, Apple announced a number of changes to the iTunes Store, including the immediate removal of digital rights management (DRM) from approximately 80% of available songs and the option for owners of songs containing DRM to upgrade to the DRM-free versions for a fee. At the time, Apple touted the ability for users to upgrade their entire libraries with a single click, but this method was the only one provided by Apple for users to upgrade their music libraries. This generated a number of complaints from users who only wanted to upgrade a portion of their libraries, but were faced with an all-or-nothing option.
This new policy provides users with additional flexibility to upgrade portions of their libraries, but does require that album purchases be upgraded as an entire album rather than allowing upgrades of individual tracks from a purchased album.
Macworld readers have also noted a few problems that have resulted in users being charged full price instead of the upgrade price, and they have recommended turning on 1-Click purchasing until Apple addresses this issue.
At Macworld San Francisco, Apple announced a number of changes to the iTunes Store, including the immediate removal of digital rights management (DRM) from approximately 80% of available songs and the option for owners of songs containing DRM to upgrade to the DRM-free versions for a fee. At the time, Apple touted the ability for users to upgrade their entire libraries with a single click, but this method was the only one provided by Apple for users to upgrade their music libraries. This generated a number of complaints from users who only wanted to upgrade a portion of their libraries, but were faced with an all-or-nothing option.
This new policy provides users with additional flexibility to upgrade portions of their libraries, but does require that album purchases be upgraded as an entire album rather than allowing upgrades of individual tracks from a purchased album.
Macworld readers have also noted a few problems that have resulted in users being charged full price instead of the upgrade price, and they have recommended turning on 1-Click purchasing until Apple addresses this issue.
Top Rated Comments
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40 months ago
Yay! Apple does something not greedy!
And it's about time they did this! More choice is always a good thing. (Time to upgrade 3 tracks of the possible 25 or so!)
And it's about time they did this! More choice is always a good thing. (Time to upgrade 3 tracks of the possible 25 or so!)
40 months ago
.........
Macworld readers have also noted a few problems that have resulted in users being charged full price instead of the upgrade price, and they have recommended turning on 1-Click purchasing until Apple addresses this issue.
You mean turn off 1-Click purchasing?
40 months ago
Excellent...I wasn't about to pay a couple hundred dollars to upgrade my library before.
40 months ago
You mean turn off 1-Click purchasing?
No. Turn it on if you use the shopping cart. Otherwise, you'll get charged full price for the album. I'm sure this is just a glitch, and they're working on it.
Successfully upgraded 1 album this morning for $3.00.
40 months ago
I still say "wait". When Apple goes to multi-level pricing and the track you like is selling DRM-Free for $0.89 and you already have the DRM'd track that you paid $0.99 for what will the upgrade price be. One might thing they'd pay you 10 cents to upgrade but I doubbt that will happen. But I'm sure given time Apple will have to do something half way reasonable for those who have already paid the higher than current price.
I buy most of my music from Amazon. Many times they will have a used CD for $5 or new ones for $7. I found a few I wanted for $2. All ofthose prices are much better then iTunes. I get the physical disc, no DRM and as many bits per second as I want. I typically rip to Apple lossless.
I buy most of my music from Amazon. Many times they will have a used CD for $5 or new ones for $7. I found a few I wanted for $2. All ofthose prices are much better then iTunes. I get the physical disc, no DRM and as many bits per second as I want. I typically rip to Apple lossless.
40 months ago
Took them a couple of weeks, but they got it right.
I was not willing to pay to upgrade the whole library, as I refused to pay (again) for DRM-free high quality versions of the Hawaiian songs I purchased for a party and other whimsical, special use purchases.
But now I will definitely upgrade at least half of my purchases.
Good job, Apple.
I was not willing to pay to upgrade the whole library, as I refused to pay (again) for DRM-free high quality versions of the Hawaiian songs I purchased for a party and other whimsical, special use purchases.
But now I will definitely upgrade at least half of my purchases.
Good job, Apple.
40 months ago
I'm sorry, but this whole "upgrade" to DRM free, 256 kbps seems like greed to me.
$0.30 per track adds up quickly. These iTunes Plus tracks weren't even available when I purchased the original tracks at $0.99. Now Apple wants to charge an additional $0.30 per track retroactively, when they only charge $0.99 for the iTunes Plus tracks today?
It's greed, pure greed. Loyal customers don't even get a price break. Apple has $billions in cash profits, yet they insist on treating their customers to such a shabby "offer". Oh they finally relent and let you upgrade by the track, because they weren't getting the huge cash bonanza they had hoped for by forcing you to upgrade your entire collection. Whoop-dee-doo-dah-day!
Sonically most people can't even tell the difference between a 192 kbps AAC track and a 256 kbps AAC track. So the real benefit is getting rid of the hated DRM. Is this really worth the potentially hundreds of dollars of cost to the customer?
I'm sorry but this leaves me with a bad impression.
$0.30 per track adds up quickly. These iTunes Plus tracks weren't even available when I purchased the original tracks at $0.99. Now Apple wants to charge an additional $0.30 per track retroactively, when they only charge $0.99 for the iTunes Plus tracks today?
It's greed, pure greed. Loyal customers don't even get a price break. Apple has $billions in cash profits, yet they insist on treating their customers to such a shabby "offer". Oh they finally relent and let you upgrade by the track, because they weren't getting the huge cash bonanza they had hoped for by forcing you to upgrade your entire collection. Whoop-dee-doo-dah-day!
Sonically most people can't even tell the difference between a 192 kbps AAC track and a 256 kbps AAC track. So the real benefit is getting rid of the hated DRM. Is this really worth the potentially hundreds of dollars of cost to the customer?
I'm sorry but this leaves me with a bad impression.
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