DRM-free Music from Apple? Not So Fast

You might say Apple was being sneaky. Apple’s latest iTunes Plus service lets consumers buy unprotected music tracks, free from the restrictive DRM that plagues the rest of the online music landscape. However, what they don’t tell you is that your name and other identifying information are still embedded with each track.

This means that if the songs are uploaded and shared on the Internet illegally, Apple and EMI can figure out where the tracks came from. This raises privacy concerns; at the very least, Apple should make it clear before purchase that this is happening.

Still, Juniper Research analyst Michael Gartenberg said in this AP article that he does not think Apple planned to use the personal data as a secretive tracking tool.

“I think it’s more of a way of retaining a proof of purchase,” he said in the story, adding how the identifying tags on copy-protected tracks likely facilitated Apple’s ability to approve user upgrades to previous song purchases.

Still, you can’t deny the shrewdness of this approach. “‘DRM-free’ means I’m not restricted from putting the songs on other devices anymore, but it doesn’t give users a license for piracy,” Gartenberg said in the article.

‘DRM-free’ iTunes songs raise concerns [AP via CNN]

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.