For 4 & 5 – iTunes will be made a available for the Windows platform (I vaguely remember a date of November, but I’d have to check the issue of MacWorld that I was reading to be sure.)
iTunes and a couple other legal sites do have provisions that allow you to burn the music on to CD. iTunes allows you to register up to three Macs on one account (allowing you to play the music on any one of those computers), and unlimited iPods. You can burn the music onto CD for your perosnal use as long as you are burning from one of the three computers.
Buymusic.com (owned by Buy.com) was recently released, and their rules vary from song to song. Some can’t be burned on to CD (presumably, some tag in the file (which, by the way is Windows Media format, not mp3) prevents it) and some can only be burned a limited number of times.
iTunes does not let you download MP3s. They sell AAC files, which are DRM protected. I’ve heard that a license to release AAC decoding software runs up to $15,000, so forget about finding a free or open source player.
Mr2001, discussion of file sharing software is restricted on these boards.
While we allow limited discussion about file sharing software, we appreciate that you keep within permitted boundaries [as defined in the FAQ], and do not offer information on specific file sharing software.
Sorry. I thought it would be okay to mention software that specifically was not useful for trading MP3s or videos.
A general answer to #3 then: Yes, there are a few P2P services that provide anonymity. I’ve only used one and it was too slow, unreliable, and unsearchable to be anything like an anonymous replacement for Those Other Services.
There’s another program with a similar design that claims to be more anonymous and also adds a searching capability, and at least one other service which is based on an existing, non-anonymous P2P network, but I don’t know how anonymous or functional either of them really are. From what I’ve seen, there’s a big tradeoff between convenience and anonymity.
Sorry, I should have made that clear in my answer. Quite true, iTunes is acting as a distributor for downloaded music, but it is not in MP3 format. I was addressing the terms of use that allow you to burn the music that you’ve paid for onto CD in a very user-friendly way.
The RIAA is sticking with getting those who share and its doubtful if they can nab downloaders… even the legality is against them there.
Apparently its basically random selection, but obviously heavy sharers will be at the top of the hit list.
There are many many many ways to stay clean. Don’t share music online! Certain services - - - leave you way open and the RIAA has also been concentrating there. I dabble in hacking circles and there are other ways but I’m quite sure I’d be stepping over the bounds to mention them.
iTMS makes it better in the long run to just buy music… unless you live outside the US.
Thanks everyone… as far as iTunes goes then… if they put out AAC files, will it be possible to burn them on a CD to play on a medium other than my PC, such as the CD player in my car?
BlackPheonix, discussion of file sharing software is restricted on these boards. Offering information on specific file sharing programs, or ways to circumvent the laws, is prohibited.
Further, our mods are human. Trying to be 3l33t to circumvent the rules of these boards is a bannable offense. Do that again and you will lose your posting privileges.
Yes. iTunes tries to limit the number of times you can burn a particular playlist (not the actual songs, just the sequence), but I hear it’s trivial to get around that.
Burning them to CD, and possibly ripping the CD and re-encoding as MP3, seems like a great way to avoid the disadvantages of iTunes and AAC: only being able to listen on 3 computers, not being able to listen on most portable players (i.e. anything but iPod) or any car/stereo component players, having your files self-destruct if you move out of the country, etc.