Remember in The Terminator when the gas truck explodes and you think the Terminator is dead? Then, moments later, the scorched endo-skeleton of the robotic killing machine rises from the ashes gunning for Sarah Connor one last time? Well, that’s kind of what happened today with iTunes and Digital Rights Management (DRM). It would seem the beast that is DRM exploded in a fuel truck, but that bastard robot came out for one last FU to consumers.
The exploding truck would be the removal of DRM from 10 million tracks on iTunes. Hurray! The unexpected robot assassin is the $0.30 charge tax you have to pay per track to get your existing iTunes library DRM-free. If you have a couple dozen tracks that’s not so bad (albeit still insulting), but if you have hundreds that fee can get high pretty darn quick. Way to go recording industry, make consumers pay for tracks they’ve already purchased. Jerks. I’m hard pressed to think of anything else that would make people flock to piracy more than this debacle. Wait, it gets better…
The option to make your existing library DRM free is all or nothing. That’s right, you either pay to upgrade all your songs or none of your songs. Put another way, you pay the recording industry, or you don’t. Anyone feeling like a hostage yet? This from the guy (Steve Jobs) who championed DRM-free music years ago. Say it with me, Gabbers…fail!
[...] there are some neato treats to be found regarding iTunes besides the DRM-fee people have to pay to un-DRM their current library. First and stupidest, the “Plus” moniker. Sounds [...]