This is very strange. Most of the iTunes Store downloads either come with DRM or not at all. But the weekly free downloads seems to be exempted from this. They come in both flavours, depending on how you acquired those tracks.
After putting up the freebies post yesterday, I quickly rushed to see President Barack Obama’s inauguration via CNN Live. I have forgotten to download those tracks for myself, until this morning.
I realised that although the links I provided goes directly to the album version of the freebie songs, they are still DRM-ed and encoded at 128 kbps when you add them into the shopping cart. This affects only some of the freebie songs, currently, both Stop the Clock tracks. My Love Sees You by Beni was not affected.
Here’s some screenshots for your viewing. The top one shows the songs with the famous iTunes Plus logo. I came thru this page by simply following the usual links. The bottom screenshot shows the shopping cart, where the iTunes Plus logo mysteriously goes missing for the Stop the Clock track.
Since I have yet to download any of the freebies, I decided to try another theory. I purchased the Spanish version of Stop the Clock via the iTunes Store. As expected, the download is DRM-ed and encoded at a lower rate of 128 kbps. It’s sad to see the following screenshot, but I’ll try to solve the mystery that is dual-flavoured freebies. *grin*
For the remaining tracks, I decided to try downloading it via the mobile iTunes Store. Yes, download it from your iPhone or iPod touch. In my case, I’ll be using my iPod touch. I fired up Safari mobile, then accessed One More Tap mobile (yes, there is a mobile version of the site, more on this shortly) and tried the links again. The links work as expected, bringing me to the album page which shows the iTunes Plus logo across all songs.
Without further delay, I proceed to download Stop the Clock. Voila! Judging by the size of the download (around 8.7 MB), I can safely assume that this is the DRM-free version. I did the same for the other download, Beni’s My Love Sees You and it is the DRM-free version as well.
Conclusion? Currently, the most certain way to get the DRM-free version of the freebies is via an iPhone or iPod touch. It is weird to see Apple announce their DRM-free initiative, yet offer downloads that are of lower bitrate and sprinkled with DRM, while offering a free-for-all version on the other hand.
Lastly, I expect the iTunes Store to proudly showcased Jean’s Single of the Week download on the Featured page and decided to check it out. Boom! Clicking on it points you to the DRM-ed version. Oh well. End of March seems almost too far away, knowing that there exists such bug/feature. But I finally get to download the tracks as 256 kbps DRM-free versions. I hope you get yours too.
