var json_comments = new Array("
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Devidence
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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This will always be a downside to buying digital only. My CD isn't going to erase itself. They should have some permanent policy in place for customers.

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7 replies
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winshape
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@Devidence: Steam does a great job of this.

Just for kicks, I downloaded Steam onto my new laptop. After logging in, I was still able to download Half-life 2 - a game I bought many years ago.

I think XBOX has the same deal, you can redownload anything you've purchased under the same gamertag. Luckily I haven't had to put that to the test yet.

Apple should allow you to redownload anything associated with your login.

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Riff Raff
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@Devidence:

Your CD could easily become scratched and unplayable, or worse, even unreadable by a computer. What then? Good luck getting the RIAA to replace your CD free of charge.

Backing up a digital music collection is as simple as having your hard drive backed-up. Granted, your backup drive needs to be functioning in order for this to be possible.

Anyway, I agree with you. With DRM-free music, I don't see what the problem is in allowing multiple downloads of a purchase. You're already free to copy the file any way you want. Downloading it again isn't going to make a difference. Besides, the only time I could see someone re-downloading a song would be to restore their collection.

Wait, if someone had to re-download their song, and pay for it, the RIAA gets more money. Forget everything I said. The System is \"working as intended\".

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thisistobehelpful
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@Riff-Raff: Unless you're a friend of mine and both of your external harddrives fail and wipe out all your music. If you have receipts for a digital purchase and something that's DRM is lost, you should be able to redownload it. At least with a physical purchase of a CD, there's normal wear and tear and you can assume you'd need to replace it at some point. Things purchased on itunes up until a short while ago are nontransferable without permission by the customer and it's a max of five devices.

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shepd
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@Riff-Raff:

Yup, your CD could be ruined. However, for the cost of an archival-quality CD-R (not as expensive as you'd think), you can purchase an insurance policy against that, and you will be happy to know it will work for the rest of your lifetime. If we move away from CDs within your lifetime, you can also be assured you will be able to move your music from CD to whatever is newly popular without too much trouble.

Now, lets look at the nicest form of DRM: DRM'd music that lets you redownload it as much as you like. What happens when the store goes out of business? Can't download it. If you've backed it up, okay, you're alright.

So, at best, you can break even with DRM. However, most DRM also locks the item either to a PC/device, or requires phoning home to make it work the first time.

The latter means your backups are garbage if the store goes out of business, and the former means if the store goes out of business you'll need to keep your player device working perpetually.

I'll stick with Books and CDs, and I'll buy my games in boxes, and only for consoles (since most PC games require online activation). Steam is the least offensive of all DRM, but still suffers from the fact that when it goes out of business you will only be able to play those games as long as that specific PC keeps working.

Windows is the only activation-ware I use, and since I rarely use it for anything substantial, I don't care if MS goes out of business or refuses to re-activate it. At that point I'll be glad to be released from the chains of using it that work binds me with.

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mosammey
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@shepd: Not sure if you bought any music lately, but most of it is DRM free. Zune allows you to restore anything (video and music) that was previously purchased, including the DRM free tracks. I wish Amazon had a recovery system as well.

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temporaryerror
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@Riff-Raff:
If your CD gets all scratched up you can always try the resurfacing kits or services.

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sumocat
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@Devidence: Actually, any CDs you have from the early 90s could be erasing themselves now. Disc rot was common among early CDs, and the problem has not been completely eliminated. A few of my wife's CDs, including her copy of Metallica's black album, are really bad.

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Devidence
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@sumocat:

Yeah, you both make valid points. Overall though, it would be incredibly easy for Itunes or Amazon to keep track of these, and let you re-download tracks. As Riff-Raff said, if it is DRM free there should be NO reason to stop you.

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fantomesq
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@Devidence: Sure it would be EASY for iTunes or Amazon to do this but what's the chance that the content providers (RIAA etc) have written into their contracts that Apple can't provide a multiple download service? I mean, if NO digital music provider provides this (otherwise obvious) advantage over their competition, there probably is a reason...

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unchi
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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itunes only restores purchases they still sell. i lost all my itunes purchases a year and a half ago (new hdd died and apple care covered it) and they restored all my songs and videos they still sold. it took about 3-4 days to download them all, but there wasn't a problem. it was quite nice. the apple staff pointed me to the link to fill out the form when i brought my imac in. they mentioned its buried pretty deep, a google search for the right key words takes you right there.

the only problem is at the time my purchases were restored, itunes had stopped selling nbc videos. to restore my nbc purchases when nbc came back, they told me i needed the exact receipt number for my purchases 2-3 years ago from that date.

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2 replies
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tubedogg
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@unchi: \"they told me i needed the exact receipt number for my purchases 2-3 years ago from that date...\" That info is in your iTunes purchase history, that would be trivial to get.

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unchi
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@tubedogg: it would be trivial for them to get as well.

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MostlyHarmless
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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Someone needs to tell Pecan Pi that theres a Roomba on sale for $130.

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4 replies
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pecan 3.14159265
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@MostlyHarmless: Where?! Morning Deals? I may cave on that one. $130 is a pretty good price, but we did just talk about cutting our Christmas gift budget so I doubt I'll get it.

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Kimaroo - 100% Pure Natural Kitteh
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@pecan 3.14159265: Since we're being off topic to talk to you: Have you had any luck with getting on twitter? Allthough I guess I should start warning you now, if you join us your twitter will be very full. LOL.

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pecan 3.14159265
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@Kimaroo - Fortified with Kittydus Purrularis: I totally forgot about Twitter, actually. Now I've fogotten my password entirely.

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Kimaroo - 100% Pure Natural Kitteh
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@pecan 3.14159265: I want to bribe you into making a new account just to talk to us, but I can't afford that Roomba.


Twitter won't send you the password in your email?

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bigd7387
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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I don't see how this is even a topic, really? Companies should have to give back what is lost through hardware changes whether upgraded or failures. It's time digital media is treated like physical media if we are to move towards this market. Apple did nothing that it shouldn't do, period.

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3 replies
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ionerox
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@bigd7387: If they had treated the digital media like physical media, it would not have been replaced.


Really, is it so hard to create a back-up of your digital media? Or to transfer it from your old computer to your new computer? Guess what, it's not. The OP not transferring or backing up his iTunes is like tossing all your CDs in a random box somewhere and losing it in a move.

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Trai_Dep
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@bigd7387: Bandwidth is FREE?! Yay!
(we should reward companies doing the right thing, or next time, they may shrug and say, \"Why bother?\")

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DangerMouth
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@bigd7387: Huh, not sure if your argument makes sense. No one will replace cds or dvds if I lose or break them, why should digital media (or software) be replaced if they are lost thru no fault of the original seller? Physical media is treated as very much a 'you buy it, it's your repsonsibily' type thing.

OTOH, there's an actual cost to replacing a physical thing, whereas digital media can be sold a million times without actually having to 'manufacture' it past the first time.

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techknight
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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You don't have to beg - it's normal Apple policy to give everyone one free re-download of their iTunes purchases.

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4 replies
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Brontide
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@techknight: When you buy the music from iTunes they agree to provide you with the 1 download. It is their customer service policy that they will grant users 1 additional download, but it's still their own discretion and could discontinue the policy at any time ( I doubt they would ).

Apple will also allow you to \"reset\" your authorized computers once a year as well. Customer service policy will also allow more resets, but you have to give them a good reason.

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schance
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@Brontide: You can reset your authorized computers at any time. You can authorize (up to your limit) or deauthorize any machine from within iTunes, or you can deauthorize all machines on your account from the account interface in the iTunes store, then reauthorize just the ones you want. There's no \"once a year\" or \"good reason\" about it.

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Brontide
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@schance: If you can't deauthorize a system and you reach your 5 system limit you have to reset them all ( which you can only do when you reach 5, and can only do once a year through the provided interface ).

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Nick1693
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@techknight: Yeah, I've done it before. I don't know of any other companies doing it, though.

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Trai_Dep
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@techknight: It'd be interesting to see if everyone, in fact, offers this. If not, it's pretty damn awesome of Apple.

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idip
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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I have a friend who's computer crashed, she called Apple and they kicked her to the curb. They would not replace the songs and she was out several hundred dollars as she had one of those \"Classic\" iPods with thousands of songs.

:-/

For the reason, I'm not a fan of buying songs off of iTunes. I think I have maybe 4 or 5 songs. The rest of my music comes from CD's.

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2 replies
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Trai_Dep
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@idip: Songs purchased from the iTunes store?
And, I hope your friend learned her lesson and is now backing her data up? It'd be the responsible thing to do, y'know.

That said, I share your preference for CDs.

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pecan 3.14159265
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@idip: It's really, really easy to get free software that will take the songs on your iPod and deposit them into your iTunes. We transferred songs from an iPod to a Mac in about half an hour.

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ExtraCelestial
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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iTunes has been nothing short of spectacular with all my clicky issues. I've had a few idiot accidental purchases and deletions that they've taken care of very promptly and professionally. It almost makes me want to get ALL of my downloads legally. Almost. (Go back to .99 across board and I'll at least be open to negotiations)

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ModernTenshi04
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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From what I understand Apple has had this general practice for quite some time, and they'll do it for you more than once, so long as it's not every couple of months for example.

I read sometime back about some guy who's had to do it like 3 times, and each time he was able to without any problems from Apple.

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1 replies
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BridgetPentheus
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@ModernTenshi04: Itunes says in their terms of service they won't do it for you but I've never heard of anyone emailing them and not getting their purchased items back. Basically with Apple if you ask nice enough (and then angry enough) you will get whatever you want.

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Colonel Jack O'Neill
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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One word:

BACKUP

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1 replies
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Nick1693
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@Colonel Jack O'Neill: If you're a Mac, two words. Time Machine! =)

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Cameraman
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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Apple did the same for me. I bought a Touch about a year ago, and downloaded a good $35 worth of music... mostly because it was so much fun downloading music over the air directly to my new, shiny, mp3 player (I can be dumb like that).


I faithfully synced all the music to my laptop, of course. Unfortunatly, the HDD died like a week later. I bought a new drive, popped it in, used my recovery disk, and all was well... until I tried to sync my Touch, because iTunes replaced all the music on the Touch with the music on the computer itself. Now, all my (legally purchased thankyouverymuch) ripped CDs were on my external hard drive, but the purchased music was not.


One email to Apple (I didn't pay for Apple Care), and they quickly authorized my account to redownload all music. I was so impressed that I sent back an email saying that I deal with the tech support departments of dozens of companies, large and small, in my job, and my first contact with Apple was top-notch.


I now copy all the spur-of-the-moment music I download onto my iPhone to a folder on my external drive, and a folder on my backup external drive (yes, I'm a belt-and-suspenders kind of guy).

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1 replies
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Eat A Peach
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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@Cameraman: I had almost the same experience this past June. I got a new laptop when the disk drive in my old pc died along with the backup external drive. I contacted Apple and they let me download all my music that I had purchased over the years as a one time courtesy. I now make sure that I have 3 copies of the paid-for downloaded content in case of malfunction. You can also deauthorize all 5 computers on your account once a year (in case you authorize computers and forget to deauthorize them before selling or trashing them or if you're unable to deauthorize them due to a crash).

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in2insight
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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Wow, this is so not the same iTunes I have been dealing with.
When a 50 song credit that I had got pulled, due to an expiration date that was not viewable to anyone but their system, emails to both iTunes support as well as executive CS and finally, Mr. Jobs, yielded no results and no love.
Totally tainted my view of Apple as a company that cares about it's source of income.
Amazon.com digital downloads, here I come!

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Cant_stop_the_rock
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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\"Thanks to Nathan's work?\" This has been a not-very-secret secret for years.

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AnthonyC
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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I keep multiple backups of all my data- 2 on desktops, 1 on my iPod, and 1 on an external hard drive. I hope soon to keep that external HD off-site.

Still, it bothers me that Apple doesn't let us automatically re-download already-purchased still-available content, especially since they already limit you to playing purchased songs on a maximum of 5 authorized computers. The actual download costs them far less than a penny. CDs can't work like this, for obvious reasons, but downloads should, for equally obvious reasons.

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Trai_Dep
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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Apple is so routinely full of Win that other computer/mp3 player/music retailers* should blush in shame, apologize for not being Apple, then close up shop as a service to their customers.

* Except Amoeba Music, of course!

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happywaffle
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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FYI, your mileage may vary… I don't know iTunes Store support policy, but I believe you get one of these total unconditional re-downloads. The second time around, they'll say \"Sorry\" and suggest that you back up next time around.

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Skaperen
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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Magnatune.com lets you download the songs you buy any time you want, or even stream them to play. And you can download in multiple formats, including open OGG and FLAC, and lossless FLAC and WAV.

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CentralServices
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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People actually pay for highly compressed, DRMed music that can't be legally resold? Wow, where do I get in on this wonderful opportunity?

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Duke_Newcombe sez íViva la Revolucion de Chihuahua!
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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I don't see an original explanation from the OP, so I'll ask here: How exactly did he think that the music would make it to his new computer from his old one?

I ask for informational purposes only.

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RedCatLinux
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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Hard drive osmosis. You hold the drive from the old machine up to your monitor.


How long you have to hold it varies on the speed of the hard drive and the monitor resolution.


It's the thing I hate about download only purchases. I don't mess with them unless I can burn them to my own media and re-load them at my leisure. Of course, you can do this with iTunes purchased music. But I don't know how many people blow this off because it's an extra step. Just like system backups.

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MitchV
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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www.backblaze.com - it keeps my tunes, pictures, and other valuable digital archives safe.

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mosammey
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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This can be done with the Zune Marketplace as well. I can restore all of the movies and music that I have purchased. I wish Amazon had a feature like that though.

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seamer
November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
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I had a similar story published here about a year ago. I had an external drive crap out on me, Apple re-enabled everything that was still available for download.

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