iLounge

1

Ok, I have a question on the iTunes Match service. I realize that it is not public yet, but maybe some developers or beta testers can answer this (heck, it may have been documented somewhere, but I have not found it).

With this new service, all of your tracks (that can be found in the iTunes Store) are marked and made available in a 256 bitrate form. So, does that mean that once you access one of these tracks on your device(s) that the 256 version replaces the lower version you have stored locally? In other words, can this service be used to REPLACE any/all of your lower quality tracks (again, that are available in the iTunes Store) in your local library? If so, then this just became WELL worth the $25!It was already attractive…and I am certainly opting in. But this would be some great icing on the cake.

Posted by Mich on October 20, 2011 at 8:03 AM (PDT)

2

I haven’t tried it, but I believe that’s the way it’s supposed to work. 

What I’m wondering is if this might be a way to get rid of the DRM on the files I wasn’t able to pay to convert to iTunes plus.

Posted by hardcle on October 20, 2011 at 5:24 PM (PDT)

3

@2: Heh, you’d think so, but Apple knows what you bought from them, so unless deleting the DRM tracks after you burn to CD and re-rip fools the system, they earlier said you would just get the same 128 kbps DRM infested tracks from the cloud. They may have changed their mind in the mean time, but don’t hold your breath.

Posted by Code Monkey in Midstate New York on October 21, 2011 at 5:25 AM (PDT)

4

@3 and 2: Despite iLounge’s claim in their “Instant Expert” article on iCloud, you cannot re-download a track to get the iTunes+ version of a previously purchased protected (128kbps) track. I set up an alternate library on a different computer, signed into my account, and chose a few albums from my early iTunes days. Even though these albums are currently available in iTunes+ format, they came down as 128kbps protected tracks. Another commenter indicated that some tracks seemed to come down as iTunes+, but the results were spotty.

Unless this is because iCloud is in its infancy, it looks like we have to pay to replace DRM’d tracks.

Posted by rockmyplimsoul on October 21, 2011 at 11:45 AM (PDT)

5

@4: Rock, this is about the *match* service, which *might* let you use a non-iTunes version of something purchased from the iTunes store to qualify for the matched copy using the service.

Though I put nothing past Apple, it would be rather phallic of them to insist you could only download a 128 kbps protected version of a file while someone who downloaded the same thing off a torrent site gets the 256 kbps version - how are they to know you didn’t go out and buy the CD afterward?

Posted by Code Monkey in Midstate New York on October 21, 2011 at 1:25 PM (PDT)

6

@5: CM, I realize this News bit is about the iTunes Match service, but I was responding to the question above as to whether or not iCloud could be used to supplant your DRM tracks with iTunes+ tracks, and the answer is NO (at least for now).

But you bring up an interesting point about iTunes Match—if I later bought the CD version of an album that I previously bought under the early DRM rules of iTunes (I’ve done that, via used CD purchases), it would be rather draconian of Apple to *assume* that all I had was the DRM copy, thus *matching* me to something of inferior quality if I ever needed a replacement copy.

This may be one of those fringe issues that Apple will gladly ignore so that they can keep people from replacing DRM with iTunes+ copies.

Posted by rockmyplimsoul on October 21, 2011 at 3:49 PM (PDT)