Rotten Apple
I share living quarters with a fervent Mac enthusiast, but I think that there could be a valid 17200 deceptive business practices class action claim
out there against Apple. With each successive release/update of
iTunes, they’re taking away rights that I (and likely you) have already
purchased.
With each “upgrade” they claim that they are offering me a better
product, when in fact, they are modifying the terms of a license (for
which I’ve already paid) without offering me any real
consideration in return. Also, they don’t exactly provide
an explicit
notice, that these are the rights that I’m giving away with each
upgrade. it’s up to me to read and compare the Terms and Conditions (do
you even keep old T&Cs around to compare new ones against?).
Argh.
badxmaru
March 17, 2005 @ 1:21 pm
so yesterday i wrote this long response because this gives me even more reason to be an apple hater. And why I think everyone should have Super Shuffles instead!
http://www.luxpro-corp.com/e_575d.htm
Simon
March 19, 2005 @ 4:12 pm
I wonder just how much of this is due to pressure from record companies and the RIAA. If I recall correctly, one of the biggest hurdles to launching iTunes to begin with was negotiating with the major labels to secure a certain level of fair use rights for mp3 files. Apple makes very little profit from the sale of mp3’s over iTunes as it is, and I’m sure they want to keep each song at 99 cents as part of their marketing strategy. This means, I think, that to a certain extent, they are at the mercy of these major labels.
echan
March 23, 2005 @ 12:24 pm
Hm, yes, but pressue from labels is not an excuse for deceptive
business practices. I don’t really buy that “I’m just a middleman”
line. Also, Apple likes to poke fun at itself and litigation with record companies (or labels, in the case of the trademark fight with Apple Records.)