Apple fans why can't you just be happy?

You got what you wanted!
By Oli on Friday, 01st June 2007. More information. Comments.

After Apple introduces DRM-free tracks into iTunes people are getting in a hissy after they found out their personal information is injected into bought tracks

Anybody that's read any of my Apple posts before, especially those that have read the posts that I haven't published, know that I have a certain dislike for Apple. More accurately I dislike the fanboyism aspect inherent in 99% of Apple fans. It's a disease that no amount of rounded corners can cure...

Apple this week found out that they're more than willing to bite the hand that feeds when several people lashed out on discovering that the new DRM-free tracks on iTunes contain personal information about the buyer which could then be used to identify them when the song gets found on a file-sharing site...

Oh shut up! shut the fuck up

Now I'd like to run to the defence of Apple here and tell everybody that's bitching and whining to shut the fuck up. I apologise for my language but seriously! You got what you wanted... You can use the music how you like within the realms of the law.

The only reason you're making so much fuss is because you can't break the law unchecked. Don't get me wrong, I hate DRM as much as the next person but just because you can copy something doesn't mean you should.

If you knowingly buy something to redistribute it on a file-sharing network, you *should* be busted because you're an incompetent fool. DRM-free does not license you to copy things around for anything but personal use. Live with it.

Technical argument

From a technical point of view, Apple could have easily embedded a numerical identifier to do the same thing so you have to ask the question: why are they sticking names in?

The only conclusion (I can reach, anyway) is that they want people to find this — they want people to know that they can track what you're sharing with other people because that's clearly not covered in the licensing terms when you buy a track.

Although I'm not saying I've never copied anything, as a content creator, I have to respect the model these guys have and I would be severely peeved if somebody ripped my stuff and redistributed it onto a load of people.

Nevertheless this doesn't mean that every iTunes customer is going to know about this information. I'd wager there are certainly a few lawsuits on the way helped by this sort of embedded data.

Grav

Written by Oli on Friday, 01 June 2007. Tagged with apple, drm, <rant>. Read 1514 times. If you liked it, please give it a digg.

#1 /* 15 months, 1 day ago */
To be honest i agree with you... people are getting their music and given freedom to do as they will with it; however if they break the law then they can be traced. Seems logical just not to break the law?
Born to make you happy
#2 — Author comment /* 15 months, 0 days ago */
I think lots of people (including the industry) were getting confused with two issues:

  1. copy protection wrecking the ability to use things on multiple platforms, and
  2. people copying things for illegal distribution.


Certainly, up until now, content producers have put a higher value on the second one. They see stopping distribution as the most valuable target and see DRM as the cure. As I and many people have said: DRM doesn't work and perhaps they're realising that by delivering a higher quality product, people might start to respect it.

The other side is made up of people who want higher quality lossless, DRM-less audio but also people who have a taint of anarchy who want everything for free or not at all. I reckon that a lot of the people I'm aiming this post at use the first as their argument for removing DRM but are whinging on so much because they really ally with the second too.

Adding traceable information doesn't stop you using your media as much as you want and it's not a privacy issue unless you, yourself leak that file out onto the internet.
#3 /* 15 months, 21 days ago */
"defence" is not a word
#4 — Author comment /* 15 months, 21 days ago */
Seeing how you put it like that... No hang on a minute... What do you mean? Of course it's a word.
#5 /* 15 months, 21 days ago */
Welcome to jolly old Great Britain, Mr. Eat Me. Be careful, or the Brits will baffle you with their bizarre spelling of "center"... they spell it c-e-n-t-R-E!

The differences in spelling can be quite "humourous" at times, eh?
Cross me and be thagomized.

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