Q & A: New Music Rights in iTunes - Gadgetwise Blog - NYTimes.com
Q & A: New Music Rights in iTunes
By J.D. BiersdorferQ: What does it mean when iTunes music is “D.R.M.-free”? Does that mean I can play the files on other types of music players?
A: “D.R.M.” stands for digital-rights management, which is the copy-protection software built into many songs purchased from the iTunes Store; tracks labeled “iTunes Plus” are free of it. Songs with D.R.M. can only be played on a certain number of computers and have other specified limits for use.
But earlier this year at the Macworld Expo, Apple announced that it was making all of the music in its iTunes Store D.R.M.-free over the next few months, which means there are no software restrictions on what you can do with a purchased song.
D.R.M.-free songs from the iTunes Store should play on other music players besides iPods and iPhones. Tracks from the iTunes Store are in the A.A.C. (Advanced Audio Coding) format. If the non-Apple music player cannot play A.A.C. files, you will have to convert the tracks to MP3.
You can actually do this right in iTunes: go to the iTunes preferences (found under the Edit menu in the Windows version and under the Application menu on the Mac) and click on the General tab. Click on the Import Settings button and change the import format to MP3. Then, select a track you want to convert in the iTunes library, right-click on it and choose “Create MP3 Version” from the menu. This makes a duplicate version in the MP3 format.
Although the copy-restrictions are gone, copyright law is still in effect. And another thing to remember before sharing iTunes music with the world at large: the name and e-mail address from the iTunes Store account used to buy a song are embedded in the purchased song file itself. You can see the information by selecting the track and pressing Control-I (Command-I on the Mac) and clicking on the Summary tab.
Q & A: New Music Rights in iTunes - Gadgetwise Blog - NYTimes.com
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