PAGE 6 � S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S � Thursday, March 19, 2009
Some
restrictions
(still) apply
Despite Apple's recent move,
some music downloads still
aren't universally playable
When Apple Inc. announced in January
that it would sell restriction-free music
files, that was supposed to mean consum-
ers could buy songs and play them on the
portable gadget of their choice.
Finally, music buyers would have in
digital music what they had with vinyl,
8-track and CDs: interoperability, mean-
ing the music could play on any device.
If your record or CD player broke, you'd
buy a new one.
Well, that's not the case with digital
music. If your iPod breaks, replacing it
with a Creative Zen may not work for you
if you want to hear all your music.
There have been strides to improve
this interoperability issue, and Apple's
move to sell digital-rights-free music was
a big step in the right direction.
But those "unprotected" songs from
iTunes, dubbed iTunes Plus, won't play
on every music player. That's because
there are different types of unprotected
music files.
Let me illustrate with the albums I
downloaded recently from three online
sellers of digital music -- eMusic, Ama-
zon and iTunes -- using software from
iTunes and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows
Media Player and Zune.
From eMusic: I downloaded new al-
bums from A.C. Newman, Andrew Bird
and Wee Hairy Beasties. I was able to
move the files into the music-playing
software from Windows Media, Zune and
iTunes with little trouble.
I then burned CDs of those three al-
bums. When I tried to rip them into
iTunes software on a
different computer,
song titles from two
albums did not appear.
(Few things are more
tedious than keying in
song titles.)
From Amazon: I
downloaded an album
from hip-hop band The
Knux and a classic re-
cording by Thelonious
Monk with John Col-
trane. The Knux eas-
ily went into iTunes
without prompting, but
Monk did not. But both
albums moved suc-
cessfully into Windows
Media Player and the
Zune software.
From iTunes: I
bought Charlie Haden's
"Rambling Boy." I was
able to move the album
into the Zune soft-
ware, but not Windows
Media. That means I
can't play the Haden
album on the nifty Zen
X-Fi music player I
used for this test.
One would think
that album would play
on both Microsoft
products.
Well, the problem is
that Apple's "unpro-
tected files" are in the
AAC format, which
Windows Media player
does not support. But
the Zune software does.
Unprotected AAC files
are not the same
as unprotected MP3 files,
which eMusic pointed
out when it retract-
ed a statement
applauding Ap-
ple's decision
to sell music
without digital-
rights-manage-
ment software.
Unprotected MP3
files, sold by Amazon
and eMusic, will play
on any music software or
any portable device. But
not all software plays un-
protected AAC files.
It would be easy to overlook
this fact if you read what Apple
says on its Web site: "With
iTunes Plus, you get high-qual-
ity, 256 Kbps AAC encoding. All free of
burn limits and digital rights manage-
ment. So iTunes Plus music will play on
iPod, Apple TV, all Mac and Windows
computers, and many other digital music
players."
Yes, iTunes Plus songs play on Win-
dows computers, just not with Windows
Media software. Which music players
work with iTunes Plus and which don't?
Apple won't say.
Does this really matter? Yes, if you
want options.
There are a lot of fine music players
that cost less than similar size iPods.
As much as I like iPods, I'm also fond
of the Zune (the 16GB model is $45 less
than the 16GB iPod Nano). And there's a
lot to like about the 16GB Creative Zen
X-Fi ($170 at Amazon, $30 less than the
Nano.) Another fine player is the 4GB
Sansa Clip, spotted recently for $50 at
Best Buy.
Meanwhile, a 1GB iPod Shuffle sells
for $50.
When I test music players from Cre-
ative, Sansa and others, I use Windows
Media to put music, videos and photos
onto those devices.
The important software provides
choice by allowing any gadgetmaker to
produce a music player. So it's pretty
frustrating that an album I buy at iTunes
can't play using Windows Media.
Does this really matter?
The Charlie Haden album I bought at
iTunes includes a bonus track. If I want
to hear the bonus song, I need the right
combination of software and player.
Not even the CD will help. Does that
matter to you?
--Eric Benderoff, Chicago Tribune

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