Grooveshark

What is it with Apple? First they come out and tell us they are going to offer DRM-free music. The next thing you know, we are reading that our identifying information is being stamped on each song we buy. Don’t toy with our emotions Steve.

It should be noted that Apple stamps identifying information on all songs sold through iTunes, not just the DRM-free songs. The difference is that people weren’t even thinking about sharing DRM music. The concern now is that DRM-free music purchased through iTunes could find its way to P2P sites, either on purpose or accidentally, and then be traced back to the song’s original owner. This opens the door for identity-theft issues, because this information can be altered.

Not a First Time Offender

Now it needs to be clear. Technically, Apple is not doing anything wrong by embedding your identifying information in these songs. And while it does pose some questions, it doesn’t mean Apple is going to be hunting you down when your music ends up on someone else’s playlist. But we do want to know how the information is being used. After all, this is not Apple’s first run-in with privacy issues.

You might remember when Apple embedded its Apple MiniStore into iTunes and forgot to mention that the software was sending your listening habits back to Apple. Of course they later disclosed that the company does not keep records of the information transmitted by iTunes, which I’m sure we all believe is 100 percent true.

So now you want to know what you can do about this dilemma. You could convert all your purchases to MP3 sacrificing a generational loss in quality. Or you could download your music, burn them to CD and then lock them away forever in a safe somewhere. Better yet, you could skip this whole DRM-free Apple identity drama fest and join Grooveshark.

Del.icio.us digg reddit

• Posted in All of The Rest