Ouch. - Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)

I'd see this at charity, really. :) Benefits would be just to take in the music on iMovie or something. No major reason... - Louis Gray

apple is nice and all but its pricing strategy got a bit too aggressive - Fatmanur Erdogan

Well, I'm a firm believer that the music you buy is yours to do whatever with, so my vote is no, don't give them more money for the songs. :P - Jon, the Beartato of FF

No... I still don't understand why DRM-free costs more than DRM'd. Piracy Protection Tax? Does the fact that we pay more for DRM-free mean that there is an implicit "Hey, copy it around, dude"? (no, that would break the law, but you know what I mean...) I don't pay extra money for DRM-free CDs that I can play anywhere - why do that for MP3s? Another example of #musicindustryfail... - Andy Bold

I am also very curious to see how long it would take to download more than 2,000 songs, or at least just to update them. :) - Louis Gray

Even though it is higher quality, I see this as such a ripoff, if you're already using Apple products. It's not right to have to pay more for DRM-free files, anyways. - adamsonx

the music wants to be free. - Thomas Hawk

Thomas, you're cheating. No copy/paste. :) - Louis Gray

Wow, if you do, I hope you have a good collection... be shame to pay that much for crappy music. :) - Sid Burgess

No. If anything, you should be getting your music out of that library into some open format that doesn't depend on a single company and their products. - April Russo (app103)

Paying the money is probably the easiest thing to do. There are other ways to rid yourself of the DRM-ness--Unless you just don't want to hassle with it. I don't think I would do it though. - Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)

Sid, it's good music. And April, that "single company" is Apple, so decisions are acceptable to defy logic. - Louis Gray

No. - Anne Bouey

They want you to pay for the people who don't. Whether you give them copies or not. - Aron Michalski

I bet it'd be cheaper on Lime Wire. - Thomas Hawk

Louis, I didnt have quite as many songs to upgrade, but I paid the money for better quality and so I could play them on non Apple "approved" devices. I can't judge the value to you, but to me it was worth it. For those that say you shouldn't have to pay again--the reality is you do have to pay again, unless you want to bypass the current DRM or download the songs another way. - Ryan Petty

No. You already bought that music from them. You shouldn't have to buy it again. - xero

"No major reason", then why bother. it sounds like a waste of money - Kiran Patchigolla

I stopped using iTunes for music once the Amazon interface became as easy. Good way to win customers. - Aron Michalski

Louis, forget about itunes. Just bring a bottle of wine and head over to my house with a 750GB hard drive. I've got 100,000 of the best high bit rate DRM free mp3s and friends, er I mean off site backups, share. - Thomas Hawk

If apple decide to shut down their DRM servers the way Walmart did--it will become a "major reason." http://arstechnica.com/old... - Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)

So that's what you get for being honest? You should get a gift certificate for putting up with the limitations of DRM all this time, and being a valuable customer. - Willem (@wim66) ☠

I paid near $100 the other day to do that. Not sure why, but being DRM-free does feel good. New songs I always purchase from Amazon MP3 though because of this. - Jesse Stay

It's like the alimony you pay because you married the wrong woman :-) - Sanat Gersappa

LOL! you should take care of the woman so you may be catch more - friendgods

I wonder what they'll charge next year for going to lossless. - Erik Erkelens

iTunes PLUS is the new STANDARD? Fer crying out loud. - John Field

Wow! I sure as hell wouldn't. But I also don't have that kind of money. - David Cook

Apple should be converting these for free. This is a rip-off, considering they are selling many tracks for the same or less with no DRM. - Bill Kinney

What? $400? I I transferred my Apple music files to MP3 for free using FairTunes and FairPlay. Apple can kiss my pattootie on that. :p - Helen Sventitsky

It is just expensive licensing pushed onto us the consumers. Sometimes, I am amazed that they (Apple) have any customer loyalty at all! - Kevin J Hatton

It costs about $3/album to upgrade from the old iTunes format (128kbps with DRM) to iTunes+ (256kbps and no DRM). Sometimes more, sometimes less. If you have 125 old-format albums in your library, upgrading them all in one go might cost $380. - Pat Rice

I use The Pirate Bay :p - Patrik Johansson

To legally go DRM free, upgrading in iTunes would be cheaper than buying new from Amazon MP3 or other sources. As to do you need to? If you are listening on an iPod of some sort, the extra quality of + tracks probably won't be all that noticable due to the craptacular DAC and earbuds most people use. If you listen on a computer with proper speakers, then the quality aspect might be useful to you. If Apple shuts down their DRM servers (unlikely, but you never know), presumably they'd announce it with enough time for you to upgrade your library then if you really wanted to. The biggest thing that going DRM-free means is you don't have to be hassled with which machines you have authorized to your iTunes account (assuming you have more than 5), of if you have a non-iPod PMP that you want to listen to these tracks from. Personally, I upgraded my library, but then I've purchased so little from the iTunes store, I think it cost me all of about $5. Most of my music I've ripped from my own CDs, or purchased from Amazon MP3 as they were DRM-free to begin with. - Christopher A. Wichura

Just buy from Amazon MP3 and actually own your purchase - andy brudtkuhl

Absolutely not. <sarcasm>But... it's Apple, so just give them ALL your money</sarcasm> :) - Tim Hoeck

It's only 256kbps? It should have been proper DRM free waves for such a price! - Tibor Holoda

I wonder how much of that is really Apple and not the record labels. The DRM free prices seemed to vary a great deal based on the Artist (some only had DRM free). While it does impact quality, you can always just burn them to RedBook and rip them back again. - Mark Woodson

I like to pay double for apple products... http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveabl... - DC Crowley

The quality difference between Amazon's MP3 and iTunesPlus is amazing. Amazon's quality is unrivaled. Can't imagine buying up in iTunes. I'd almost rather just buy the CDs i'm missing than pay $200 to update to iTunesPlus - Karoli

I have several hundred CDs stacked up in one of my closets. When I purchase a new album, I rip it and then toss it in the closet to collect dust. I never buy music through iTunes or Amazon because I don't want to be beholden to any particular format or vendor. - Aaron Brethorst

I'd use doubleTwist to convert those files to mp3. - Rodfather

Yowza. That's a whole lotta digital dollars right there. - Jason Huebel

Thats a ripoff, there are so many other services like .FM and Spotify that do a better job - Bill Masson

I guess they are trying to lose customers since ITunes is going for to high of a pricepoint. - James Stratford

So you can pay $0.18 to apple for 256k AACs or $0.99 each to Amazon for 128k MP3s. Which sounds like the better deal? - dthree

Or you could have paid $0.99 each for DRM-Free 256kbps MP3s from Amazon originally and never bought the crap Apple sells. - xero

[insert obligatory sarcastic comment about Apple, pricing, and monopolistic behavior here] - Richard ¿digame? Walker

Sure, that really help Louis, telling him to go back in time before he bought 2000+ songs from itunes. - dthree

So you should spend $400 for music you've already paid for? And the music business wonders why it's fucked... - Suburban Oblivion

I was just being snarky in response to your comment. To "upgrade" a personal collection, I would just run the files through a converter to standard MP3, screw paying for it again. - xero

You must be off your game to even consider it. Can I have some of whatever drugs you're on??? - Paul OFlaherty

iTunes downloads the DRM-free tracks and then offers to backup or delete the DRM tracks. You'll probably have to do several downloads; make sure you have plenty of disk space if you do it. - Peter Warnock

I would download individual songs as needed for other devices. - Peter Warnock

To get rid of DRM and send a message that this is what you want, I say yes. Vote for non-DRM sources of music with your wallet! - Dusty Wilson

No. No. No. - michelle lamar

I like how this is still getting comments. Yet oddly, the more that say no, the more I want to say yes. :) - Louis Gray

Say NO to iTunes - give $36 to Pandora and surrender to the music genome project - it rules! - Rob Commins

wow, $400 just to upgrade your music? mine was like $60... would i upgrade $400 myself, that a tough question... i would go though and ask myself which songs are worth the upgrade - Bryce Campbell

I'm honestly curious to see how long it would take. But am I THAT curious? Not sure. - Louis Gray

...price is too steep - .LAG liked that

it's only worth it if you are a serious audiophile with the money to burn. I admit, I probably spent a couple hundred over a year to update mine as they became available... worth it to me! - Steve Arrowood