iTunes Plus: a primer

iTunes Plus refers to songs and music videos available in our highest-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding (twice the current bit rate of 128 kbps), and without digital rights management (DRM). There are no burn limits and iTunes Plus music will play on all iPods, Mac or Windows computers, Apple TVs, and many other digital music players. iTunes DRM-protected music includes audio with a bit rate of 128 kbps and allows users to transfer songs and videos to up to five computers, burn seven copies of the same playlist to CD, and sync to an unlimited number of iPods.

In his piece, Lanxon reminds us that although there's no DRM (Hazzah!) on iTunes Plus tracks your iTunes email account is embedded into every track, just to keep you honest. He also notes that iTunes Plus tracks aren't MP3's but AAC's (.m4a) that will play on several players other than the iPod and iPhone. Supported players include the Creative Zen and Zen X-Fi, the Sony A series, S series and E series, the Archos 605 WiFi and Archos 5 (with optional plug-in), the Sony PSP and PlayStation 3, the Nintendo Wii, Sony Ericsson's Walkman phones and Nokia's XpressMusic handsets, the Logitech Squeezebox systems and the Sonos streamers.

As Apple goes all iTunes Plus by its self-imposed end-of-Q1 2009 deadline you'll be able to upgrade your previously purchased iTunes songs for $0.30 (video upgrades are $0.60) and albums for 30% of the album price. The gotcha is in the upgrade process. You cannot choose which songs, music videos or albums to upgrade individually. You must upgrade all music at once by using the Buy button shown on the Upgrade My Library page (iTunes link). This process replaces all music you've purchased on iTunes with iTunes Plus versions of the same music.

So, as the 31 March 2009 deadline approaches...

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