Thursday, September 11, 2008

Has Apple restricted multi-user access to iTunes 8?

Before iTunes 8 came out I wrote that the DRM issues around shared libraries would be very interesting to watch. How would Apple treat the de facto family media repository?
iTunes 8: what really matters is the household library – and its DRM

... Apple can either continue to (very, very) quietly support this arrangement [sharing of libraries], or they can make things more restrictive, or they could validate household media libraries by allowing multiple accounts to add music and supporting multiple DRM accounts in a single media library.
Today's Apple Discussions had this post along with several similar complaints ...
Apple - Support - Discussions - itunes 8 and sharing libraries between ...

... Ever since downloading itunes 8 i haven't been able use a shared library between users. Is this a known issue with itunes 8? Is there a work around? I get a file locked/permissions pop-up whenever I try to open itunes from my account. I first downloaded and ran itunes 8 on my wife's users profile...should this matter?...
Yeah, it feels ominous. I'll look for more.

1 comment:

Rob said...

The DRM mess is a pain and Apple will have to face it at some time. Personally I buy from Amazon MP3 now. The songs are the same price or cheaper and come DRM free.

In the past all my iTunes purchases were converted from AAC back to MP3. The process on the mac is easy:

1) Create a playlist (that fits on one CD) of what you want to convert
2) Burn it to an audio cd (not a mp3 cd)
3) Rip it back (don't eject between steps 2 and 3). The resulting ripped songs will retain their metadata.

Do that and be free of the DRM mess while still purchasing all your music.