when will iTunes output mp3 files?

[sixto]

I know I'm ranting but hasn't this game gone on long enough? They've sold enough iPods.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

There is a ton of software to convert MP4 to MP3.

Apple is doing the same lame crap that they accused Microsoft of doing.

[MTI]

Originally Posted by sixto

They've sold enough iPods.

Isn't this like complaining that Epson printers won't take HP ink cartridges?

[Ashman]

to me it doesnt matter.

You can take the Protect files, burn an audio cd in itunes, then rip them to your hard drive with media player and voila no more protected file.

I use a CDRW cause I can erase it and make another cd to convert the protected files.

Alon

[sixto]

Originally Posted by MTI

Isn't this like complaining that Epson printers won't take HP ink cartridges?

It's more like complaining that I can't pour ink from a Costco size bottle into a proprietary printer cartridge. I understand your point and I respect Apple's position. I do what Alon does. I'm curious if Apple is giving up more by protecting iPod's momentum than they'd get by broadening acceptance of iTunes.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

[MTI]

Unfortunately for Apple, the iPod/iTunes package is a huge success, but it is only resulting in a modest gain to their other products . . . computers. Apple faces a bigger problem . . . oversaturation. With even Pres. Bush sporting an iPod, it's obviously time for "the next big thing" from Cupertino. Gates has chided their success by giving speeches on the topic that Apple will struggle when the integration of media players and cell phones becomes the norm . . . unless there's an "iPhone" that the different phone makers would want to license (gasp . . . Apple license a technology?) and market.

[Botnst]

French plan would open iTunes to other devices
Mon Mar 13, 2006 1:44 PM ET

By Astrid Wendlandt

PARIS (Reuters) - France is pushing through a law that would force Apple Computer Inc to open its iTunes online music store and enable consumers to download songs onto devices other than the computer maker's popular iPod player.

Under a draft law expected to be voted in parliament on Thursday, consumers would be able to legally use software that converts digital content into any format.

It would no longer be illegal to crack digital rights management -- the codes that protect music, films and other content -- if it is to enable to the conversion from one format to another, said Christian Vanneste, Rapporteur, a senior parliamentarian who helps guide law in France.

"It will force some proprietary systems to be opened up ... You have to be able to download content and play it on any device," Vanneste told Reuters in a telephone interview on Monday.

Music downloaded from Apple's iTunes online music store currently can only be played on iPods.

The law, if enacted, could prompt Apple to shut its iTunes store in France, some industry observers say, to keep from making songs vulnerable to conversion outside France, too.

"The person who will have converted iTunes songs will be able to make it available elsewhere," Marc Guez, head of the French Collecting Society for Music Producers rights (SCPP) told Reuters.

Apple officials in France and Britain did not return calls seeking comment.

The law would also mean that other online French music retailers such as Fnac, part of PPR, would have to make iTunes songs available on their Web sites.

DIGITAL SALES BOOST

Vanneste said the draft law aimed to fight piracy, encourage the development of the online digital music market in France and benefit legal online music retailers.

Record sales tumbled 8 percent in France last year while digital music sales rose fivefold.

Digital sales comprised 5.3 percent, or 259 million euros ($309 million), of total 2005 revenue for Universal Music Group, the world's largest record company, which is owned by the French group Vivendi.

Under the latest version of the proposed law, people who download material illegally would be subject to a fine of 38 euros and those sharing illegally downloaded material with others would be subject to a fine of 150 euros.

People who make and sell software for illegal file-sharing and content downloading would remain subject to a maximum fine of 300,000 euros and prison sentences of up to three years.

Police agents can monitor music exchange Web sites and trace back the email address of beneficiaries by asking the Internet service provider for it through a court order.

The proposed law would also secure private copies of legally downloaded material, but the number of private copies could be limited and have yet to be determined. DVDs are expected to be excluded from the law, Vanneste said.

The new legislation is triggered by France's need to transpose the European directive on copyrights into its own body of law, which it failed to do by the December 2002 deadline.

Vanneste said France and Spain were the only two EU countries which had yet to make the move.

Guez, from the rights group, said the law would probably not come into force until June. It would still need approval by the Senate, the upper house.

An earlier amendment that would have legalized the use of peer-to-peer networks to download songs and films for a flat monthly fee of several euros has been shelved, Vanneste said.

That proposal was fiercely opposed by music artists, film production houses and record companies.

Some legalized versions of peer-to-peer networks are starting to crop up, however, including one expected to be launched in Germany by Warner Bros, part of Time Warner Inc.

[G-Benz]

Originally Posted by MedMech

There is a ton of software to convert MP4 to MP3...

...including iTunes own conversion utility...but none of it is any good for iTunes Store-downloaded material, which is copy-protected. Since I download for future play on CD devices in the vehicles or my daughter's mp3 player, I'm pretty much doing what Ashman's process entails.

[TheDon]

i like the idea with itunes only for ipods.. thats it.. if you want a great product then get an ipod and use its great software. if you want the music off itunes get an ipod.. deal with it. if you cant afford one then save up or live with napster.

lil OT but has anyone heard about the new 6th gen ipod video.. full screen with touch screen.. i want

[sixto]

Originally Posted by TheDon

i like the idea with itunes only for ipods.. thats it..

Just for argument's sake, how does it diminish the virtues of iTunes and the iPod if iTunes allows direct conversion to MP3?

Sixto