Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

digital transfer

George Hotelling, who, as mentioned earlier, was trying to sell a track he purchased via the iTunes Music store, posted an update about what happened with the sale, and how he finally ended up transferring the song to the new owner. (“Impractical” - 09/09/03) Hotelling ended up having to go through an insane amount of rigamarole to give the song to the buyer, ultimately transferring his ITMS account to the buyer.

Meanwhile, an Apple representative told Cnet that while the transfer of a song purchased with ITMS is perhaps legal, the process someone would have to go through to do so is impractical (as Hotelling’s experience demonstrates). (“Apple: Reselling iTunes songs ‘impractical’” - 09/08/03)

An Apple Computer executive on Monday downplayed recent questions over the download resale policy of the company’s iTunes Music Store, saying technical if not legal barriers would largely prevent such transfers from taking place.

“Apple’s position is that it is impractical, though perhaps within someone’s rights, to sell music purchased online,” Peter Lowe, Apple’s director of marketing for applications and services, told CNET News.com in an interview…

Apple’s Lowe left unaddressed the question of whether a transfer would violate iTunes’ terms-of-service contract, focusing instead on technical and other barriers to such a sale.