---
title: "iTunes Does Indeed Do DRM"
date: 2003-04-29T19:10:37-04:00
url: https://blog.lmorchard.com/2003/04/29/itunes-does-drm/
author: Les Orchard
---

# iTunes Does Indeed Do DRM

How unobservant am I?  It took 
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/30458.html" target="_top">an article from The Register</a>
to make me realize that this new Apple music store does indeed
use DRM to lock up purchased music.  The files aren't mine.  (Though, whoopie, I'm 
<a href="http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93014" target="_top">allowed to use them on up to 3 computers</a>.)
Crap.  No thanks.  I guess
that 10% of the catalog doesn't look quite so attractive at a buck-a-song now.
<br /><br />
I mean, I've already destroyed one computer 
<a href="http://www.decafbad.com/blog/misc/thirsty_ibook.html" target="_top">with a tumbler of water</a>, why would
I want to lose all my music with the next one I douse?  And what happens in 10
years or so, when I want to listen to all those hypothetical Talking Heads
tunes I bought?  Of course, I'm still listening to CDs and tapes I acquired back
in junior high, and I don't need to query anyone's permission to do so.
<br /><br />
I hereby bestow this award to the Apple Music Store:
<br /><br />
<a href="http://www.scotlandsoftware.com/blog/?post=/personal/bah.html"><img src="07bb648421aa.png" border="0" /></a>
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<div id="comments" class="comments archived-comments">
            <h3>Archived Comments</h3>
            
        <ul class="comments">
            
        <li class="comment" id="comment-221088850">
            <div class="meta">
                <div class="author">
                    <a class="avatar image" rel="nofollow" 
                       href=""><img src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=999df7a021c04f7c7efca06796bf49b2&amp;size=32&amp;default=http://mediacdn.disqus.com/1320279820/images/noavatar32.png"/></a>
                    <a class="avatar name" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="">Dane Knecht</a>
                </div>
                <a href="#comment-221088850" class="permalink"><time datetime="2003-04-29T18:22:22">2003-04-29T18:22:22</time></a>
            </div>
            <div class="content">I already deleated a few songs that I had purchased and recovered them by e-mailing Apple and they reauthorized them for download.  Atleast they are nice about DRM.</div>
            
        </li>
    
        <li class="comment" id="comment-221088853">
            <div class="meta">
                <div class="author">
                    <a class="avatar image" rel="nofollow" 
                       href=""><img src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=6d355e104620bc654d37e02f8b524c8d&amp;size=32&amp;default=http://mediacdn.disqus.com/1320279820/images/noavatar32.png"/></a>
                    <a class="avatar name" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="">clarence</a>
                </div>
                <a href="#comment-221088853" class="permalink"><time datetime="2003-04-30T08:55:19">2003-04-30T08:55:19</time></a>
            </div>
            <div class="content">If I read the link in your post correctly it appears you can authorize 3 computers at once. When you want to no longer use a computer you deauthorize it. SO when I get a new computer I just deauthorize the old one. If you destroy a computer I am sure support can deauthorize it for you.</div>
            
        </li>
    
        </ul>
    
        </div>