iTunes: Don't leave home with them

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
I don't believe it when Asher says it, no.

You don't have to take Asher's word for it. It's written in Apple's Terms of Sale

http://www.info.apple.com/usen/musicstore/policies.html

U.S. SALES ONLY
Purchases from the iTunes Music Store are available only in the United States and are not available in any other location. You agree not to use or attempt to use the service from outside of the available territory. Apple may use technologies to verify such compliance.

[Drake Tungsten]

It doesn't say that your files will be erased as soon as you leave the country. I'm relatively sure that the woman's files would stayed intact if she had not changed her contact information; how else would Apple know that she had left the United States? Like I said, I'll found out very soon.

[mrmitchell]

I don't know...maybe they could've checked what ISP she was using?

I'm not really sure how they handle that; if she connected to the iTunes thingemadoodad then they could've found out.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
It doesn't say that your files will be erased as soon as you leave the country. I'm relatively sure that the woman's files would stayed intact if she had not changed her contact information; how else would Apple know that she had left the United States? Like I said, I'll found out very soon.

When she moved to Canada, she had (obviously) changed her credit card address.

iTunes checked the CC address to "validate" her location, realized she no longer lived in the US, and erased the file.

I find it a tad bit ridiculous -- she bought the music when she lived in the US, for christ sake...

[Drake Tungsten]

I find it a tad bit ridiculous -- she bought the music when she lived in the US, for christ sake...

Why blame Apple for it? The iTunes Music Store is restricted to the US because that's what the record companies want, not Apple.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

I find it a tad bit ridiculous -- she bought the music when she lived in the US, for christ sake...

Why blame Apple for it? The iTunes Music Store is restricted to the US because that's what the record companies want, not Apple.

How do you know this? Nowhere in the policy does it say "The RIAA is making us do this." Unless other, similar services have the same rule, this would seem to be an unfounded assertion.

[Drake Tungsten]

How do you know this?

Because I've read articles on the subject?

The record companies didn't want to allow the lenient DRM standards that Apple had in mind, but they eventually went along with it due to the very limited nature of the iTunes Music Store (only Macs running OS X, only available in America). The record companies are using the iTunes Music Store as an experiment in online retailing; they certainly don't want it becoming a global phenomenon before they can interpret the results and plot their future course of action.

[mrmitchell]

Asher, don't go blaming everything on Apple. You have made the number one failure--whenever there are three or more evils are at work, the RIAA will be amidst them, and it will be the chief evil.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Why blame Apple for it? The iTunes Music Store is restricted to the US because that's what the record companies want, not Apple.

The RIAA said the service can only be used in the US -- it said nothing about using products acquired earlier by this service in other countries.

Even Apple's terms of service only say the iTunes music store can be used in the US, it doesn't say anything about you can't play them back outside of the US either.

Apple's not being very open about what they're doing.

[mrmitchell]

Asher--the RIAA enforces what it means, not what it says. It probably puts the actual songs under the service just to be an *******.

[Drake Tungsten]

The RIAA said the service can only be used in the US -- it said nothing about using products acquired earlier by this service in other countries.

Your splitting hairs here. As mrmitchell said, Apple knows what the RIAA meant and they're not going to jeopardize their lucrative stake in the online music business just to prove a point. If the RIAA doesn't want this service to be available outside America, then it isn't going to. They have all the leverage.

[Asher]

So? If that's what Apple's going to do, it should f*cking say so on their website.

It says nothing about deleting your files and not refunding you if you take it out of the country.

It just says on their website you can't use the iTunes service (which, to 99% of users, would obviously mean the iTunes Music Store they're reading it off of).

Apple needs a lesson on how to be upfront with people.

[Drake Tungsten]

It says nothing about deleting your files and not refunding you if you take it out of the country.

Again, I don't think you lose your files if you leave the country. You lose your files if you change your contact information and let Apple know you left the country. I really doubt my files are going to disappear when I move to Japan, because I'm not letting Apple know about the move. Even if I did, I would be sure to backup my files.

Apple needs a lesson on how to be upfront with people.

Like Microsoft? It took me forever to get rid of the spyware MS put on my computer when I installed Office. Hiding information collection software isn't very upfront, is it?

[Asher]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Again, I don't think you lose your files if you leave the country. You lose your files if you change your contact information and let Apple know you left the country. I really doubt my files are going to disappear when I move to Japan, because I'm not letting Apple know about the move. Even if I did, I would be sure to backup my files.

It uses your creditcard address to verify. So if you left the country to move somewhere, you update that address. When it validates your files, it realizes you're no longer in the US, so it deletes them.

Backing up your files is kinda useless if every time you run them while you live in another country they delete themselves, no?

Like Microsoft? It took me forever to get rid of the spyware MS put on my computer when I installed Office. Hiding information collection software isn't very upfront, is it?

Bull**** -- which part of Office is spyware?

[Drake Tungsten]

It uses your creditcard address to verify.

Why would it verify your files every time you turn on the computer? That doesn't make sense. It only makes sense to validate a file when it is first played in iTunes.

At any rate, I'll see what happens when I get to Japan. I'm pretty sure you're going to be completely wrong, as usual.

Bull**** -- which part of Office is spyware?

The Microsoft Database Daemon.