What happens to my content if Itunes goes out of Business?

Question

What happens to my content if Itunes goes out of Business?

Just thinking, I've bought a LOT of music, movies and video from Itunes, all of which have Apple's fairplay DRM, which seem to be the least obnoxious of the protection schemes out there.

What would happen to my investment if Itunes went out of business, similar to another online service's video debacle? Their answer was that you are stuck with the final machine you have content on and can never migrate to a new PC.

This scared me a bit, since I have a lot of bucks invested in content from Itunes and don't plan on stopping anytime soon (Apple TV rocks).

Does anyone know what the policy would be on how you would be able to keep accessing your purchased content in the event Itunes stops at some point?

Silly, I know, but would like to know my options.

Thanks,

-Dan

Gateway, Windows XP

Posted on Jul 6, 2008 5:44 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 6, 2008 5:59 PM in response to Dan Whitehouse

Hi, Dan.

A What If ...? question, eh?

That reminds me of the the old Marvel comics of that name. You know, "I am the Watcher. For countless millennia, I have observed the birth of worlds, the rise of civilizations and the deaths of galaxies. I see all that is and all that is to come. It is my solemn duty to observe, but never interfere with, the planet Earth and its surrounding solar system. But I am able to peer into alternate realities to glimpse what might have been or could possibly be. Worlds where familiar events often have very different outcomes!"

That really doesn't help you though, does it?

To answer your question, let's go straight to the Terms of Service we all agree to in opening an account with the iTunes Music Store. The clause that I think answers your question is:

9 d. You acknowledge that some aspects of the Service, Products, and administering of the Usage Rules entails the ongoing involvement of Apple. Accordingly, in the event that Apple changes any part of the Service or discontinues the Service, which Apple may do at its election, you acknowledge that you may no longer be able to use Products to the same extent as prior to such change or discontinuation, and that Apple shall have no liability to you in such case.

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Answer 2

ed2345

Level 9

63,608 points

Jul 7, 2008 5:21 AM in response to Dan Whitehouse

Good question. And, they do not need to go out of business; they only need to discontinue supporting the format. For a precedent, you can look at the Sony website and see what happened after they decided to stop supporting ATRAC with OMA DRM. Everybody who was stuck with their songs had to burn them to audio CDs or else lose the ability to play them. Sony did not go out of business.
There is no good reason to still buy DRM-protected songs. Non-DRM songs are readily available from amazon.com and other online stores. They sell MP3 tracks that can be played in a wide variety of players and programs, and are not tied to any particular vendor's hardware or software. Many songs available with DRM at iTunes are available without DRM at amazon.

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Answer 3

varjak paw

Level 10

182,668 points

Jul 7, 2008 8:48 AM in response to Dan Whitehouse

For audio that's copy protected, burn the tracks to audio CD. Then you'll have access to them even in the unlikely event that the iTunes Store completely ceases to be.

Video content will be another issue; should Apple drop the iTunes Store at some point in the future, any video content will not be playable on another system. But that's true for any video download store; it's all copy-protected and could at some point become unplayable. It's a risk we all take; that the content we buy will at some time become inaccessible (remember Betamax?) You have to decide what amount of risk you're willing to accept.

Regards.

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Answer 4

Jul 7, 2008 3:08 PM in response to ed2345

Non-DRM songs are readily available from amazon.com and other online stores.

Indeed.

And at the risk of dating myself, ed2345, I can remember there used to be concrete buildings known as "record stores" that sold sound recordings on "compact discs". For the most they were DRM-free and considered to have better audio quality than files sold online.

There are reportedly a few of these record stores still around and I always like to encourage the younger people today to track them down and check them out ... But I don't seem to have a great deal of success. : - (

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Answer 5

ed2345

Level 9

63,608 points

Jul 7, 2008 5:15 PM in response to The Mimico Kid

TMK,

Actually my reference was to the MP3 Download Store at amazon.com, which has millions of songs for sale in MP3 format with no DRM, from thousands of independent labels and all 4 major labels.

But it is also true that most CDs are DRM-free, and are quite durable to boot. 😉

Ed

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