--- Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:21:03 -0400 X-Image-Url: http://shawnyeager.com/public/photo-small.jpg Subject: Apple's Music Store policy -- the fine print for expatriates From: Shawn Yeager <mailat_private> To: declanat_private, daveat_private Declan and Dave: I just received a harsh lesson in DRM and record label-driven policy that may be of interest to those on your lists who are Apple customers and may be leaving the United States in the future. Having purchased a number of songs from the Apple Music Store while in the US and using a US funds credit card, I regrettably didn't read the fine print. I've now discovered that if you leave the country, your songs may just disappear, as mine have. I've recently moved to Canada and just this week had a problem with my PowerBook that called for me undertaking a reinstall. After firing up iTunes and attempting to play purchased songs, I was asked to reauthorize those songs, using the Apple ID associated with the purchase. No problem, I thought. This is the Apple Music Store, not PressPlay or MusicNet. I paid for these songs and they're mine. Silly me. Apparently, if you change your contact address and/or have your US credit card address changed, as I did, you are no longer able to play the songs you paid for while on US soil. After going back and forth with AMS customer support, they pointed me to the terms of sale policy, and there it is in the very first paragraph: <http://www.info.apple.com/usen/musicstore/policies.html> So, shame on me for not reading the fine print. But if you're spending money with Apple and plan a departure from the States any time soon, your money would be better spent on little round platters. Shawn -- shawnyeager.com +1 416 305 4142 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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