I’ve generally avoided anything made by Apple like the plague, but somebody unaware of that fact gave me an iTunes gift card, and it was a very kind gesture so naturally I want to make use of it. I know I can download iTunes free for the PC, but my questions arise out of the evil DRM stuff - will I be able to buy songs and keep them on my computer? Then if I want to transfer them to another computer or my non-Apple MP3 player… can I do that? (I seem to feel like the answer to this is no) What exactly can I do with files downloaded from iTunes as a PC user who owns no Apple devices or products and desires maximum freedom? Is it pretty much just “you can download it to one device or computer and it has to stay there forever”? If I download it to my MP3 player (if it even lets me) will it try to erase everything else on there?
I would think your best bet would be to download the music in iTunes then use iTunes to burn the music to blank CDs. Once done you can rip the CDs back on to the computer in MP3 format and do whatever you like with them.
jjimm is right; there’s absolutely no need to go through the convoluted steps of burning a CD and ripping it back in. The files are AAC, which isn’t as widely supported as mp3, but it’s a standardized format and there’s no DRM. iTunes just downloads the files into a folder and you can do whatever you want with them, including using any sync software you wish. Transcode to some other format if you want, but other than that, there’s nothing special to do.
OK - so I will probably just get music downloads but in case I want to download a video, what happens then? He also says there’s no DRM on most iTunes music downloads, so if it’s one that does have it would that be somehow indicated?
ETA: also when I install iTunes is it going to put some kind of nefarious shit on my computer (i.e. spyware, bloatware)? You can tell I don’t trust Apple much.
I can’t say definitively, but I’m fairly sure that none of the music I’ve downloaded in the last 1+ year has had DRM. For a while they showed a + sign (for “iTunes Plus”) next to the non-DRM tracks, but then they made a big announcement that everything was going to be DRM-free and at some point that indicator went away.
As for videos, I’ve purchased very few, but I just tried playing one in VLC (which would choke on DRM, I’m pretty sure), and it worked fine.
I’ve never installed iTunes on Windows, so I can’t answer the last part. If you really distrust it this much, maybe you should just sell the gift card to someone else…
No. Why would it? I’m not an Apple fanboy, but do you have any reason to think they would? What reason do you have to distrust the company?
I don’t think it would have the billions of installations were it actually to do this. Unless you call setting a user account up “spyware”.
It’s definitely bloatware these days, and it does install some extra crap including Quicktime, something called “Bonjour”, “iTunesHelper.exe” and “iPodHelper.exe”, but all of these are deleted on uninstall. But that’s cock-up, not conspiracy.
Yeah, that’s exactly the kind of crap I’m talking about. Oh well, I’ll deal with it. Generally I would never support Apple’s Evil Empire but since the person who gave me the card already spent the money for it I’m not really supporting them any further by using it. I’ll probably uninstall the whole thing when I’m done anyway. Just having an Apple product on my computer makes me feel dirty.
Yes yes, absolutely horrible that they install other software programs that make the original program work properly. Of course, no other company on Earth does anything like this. :rolleyes:
ituneshelper.exe makes it recognize your iphone when you plug it in.
iPodhelper.exe makes it recognize your ipod.
Quicktime is a media player. Play a video in iTunes? It’s using Quicktime to do it. Bonjour is a service delivery protocal, used to find shared music, among other things.
If I were you (and I’m not, I looooove Apple products) I’d download all the music I could with the giftcard, burn it onto a CD (maybe burn a few copies just to be sure) then delete every trace of the program from my computer, and never speak of the incident again.
That way you have the music on a CD so you can play it on stereos and transfer it to new computer however many times you want, and basically do whatever, and you don’t have to keep anything Apple on your PC.
My main reason for hating iTunes has to do with the fact that is the only online store I’m familiar with that requires you to download software to use. And not just some really small bit of software, but an entire Media Center, especially one that is slower than any other Media Center out there. The older versions would add 5 minutes to my boot time to load, and it’s only gotten bigger and less efficient.
You know what Media Center I use? The one that came with my computer. Everything else, I just downloaded a codec. Why? Because anything else is superfluous. Apple goes out of their way to lock out software so that you use what they want you to use on their products, but then acts like a hypocrite forcing you to use their software instead of using what came with someone else’s product. Promoting a free standard web my ass. What standard is iTunes using, huh?
If I were the OP, I’d either sell the card, or, if I couldn’t get my money’s worth from that, I’d download iTunes into Sandboxie, go find everything I want, pay and download, move the files out, and then wipe the crap off, so I know it doesn’t add crap that slows down my computer the next time I boot.
Guilty of spyware? Probably not. Arrogance and general annoyance? Certainly. Bloatware aside, there’s the whole App Store approval process, iTunes DRM, the no-other-language stipulation for iOS development, Antennagate, etc. They have a general policy of “We can do no wrong” coupled with a tendency to whitewash things and behave in a completely non-transparent manner towards their customers. They have routinely denied common, lesser-known problems with various Mac models and other hardware, to the extent that they regularly delete forum posts. On the positive side, they do eventually succumb to pressure, but only after massive public outcries condemning them. They generally treat their customers like sheep, which is both a good and bad thing.
Try QuickTime Alternative in addition to this alternate iTunes installer. Much less bloat, but who knows if there’s spyware hidden in there… do you distrust Apple enough to trust some random guy on the Internet?